Sudden first layer issues
Hi there, since a few weeks (i'm not printing on a regular basis right now) I get weird artifacts/salmon skin and/or irregular extrusion on my first layers. Today I tried to print a larger part, but stopped it during the brim. I'm not sure if those issues are extrusion related, or if it could be a mechanical issue - i suspect something in between because for me it looks like the extrusion - especially in X - is squiggly/wavey. On the other hand i've also seen similar patterns that where caused by a faulty extruder.
I'm using an Orbiter 1.5 and a Dragon SF on a V-Core 3.1 300. Today was the worst i've had yet, before the print i leveled the bed and recalibrated the z-offset at room temperature (tried a new bed plate). Before I proceed and take half of the printer apart, I thought why not ask if someone experienced something similar and could guide me in the right direction.
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looks like it's classical "nozzle too close to bed", even though i did the paper test and all that stuff. so i guess i'll re-calibrate it later, check my probe position and if it's mounted sturdy and then do a calibration print. if that doesn't help it's my old friend z-axis drift again...
tried a basic 3x3 test pattern over the whole print area, guess it's the plate itself that's uneven. either because i botched the glue-job, or it's just generally uneven (.3 mm FR4 glued to spring steel). for the print i have to constantly adjust the offset between +0.1 mm and -0.05 mm, and even then it's inconsistent inside the test squares itself. one edge too high, middle perfect, other edge too close and crap like that. guess i'll try a different build plate and see how i could fix this plate to make it usable. either sand it down, try to press the FR4 on better or something like that.
welp, guess i found my culprit, one of my z-axis-couplers on the left side developed a defect over time, as it seems. i used third-party flex couplers (the beefy ones from Kis3D) and one of them didn't spin centered, so the whole left z-axis was off-center. plus those are in general problematic with oldham-couplers from what i've heard, so i'm going to switch all my couplers to the rigid ones from RR. then we'll see if this improves things.
well, now it's working. reproducable test-print, any high/low spots now are comming from the build surface (FR4 on flex plate).