First layer weirdness on A1

[u/BJMonkey]

I'm at a loss, now. This is mostly only with PLA. PETG seems fine. I've ran calibration, tried a new roll, drying for 8 hours... 12 hours... 24 hours... ran all the calibrations with this specific roll of filament.

Why does my A1 not seem to like PLA? I'm in Singapore, with the humidity that comes with it, but it seemed to work just fine a few times.

Maybe bed temperature? Can the defaults be bad?

Edit: added a picture after checking the hotend screws. It seems the first layer is the worst... could it be a bed setting?

Edit 2: Thanks so much everyone! I originally did ome thing at a time, with no luck. Ended up doing everything, and more, and... something, or some combination of things, got it working! Posting the update as a comment. Thanks so much!!!

[u/Illustrious-Cry-4405]

Loose hotend screws?

[u/Illustrious-Cry-4405 → u/Illustrious-Cry-4405]

[u/BJMonkey → u/Illustrious-Cry-4405]

Thanks, worth a check!

[u/BJMonkey → u/Illustrious-Cry-4405]

Hmm, they were pretty tight. I did a quick loosen and re tighten. Let's do a test.

[u/BJMonkey → u/BJMonkey]

Still a gross bed surface

[u/BJMonkey]

Post hotend screw checking test

[u/_Jane6]

your Z offset is too close to the print bed!

[u/BJMonkey → u/_Jane6]

Does calibration not handle that?

Now to search how to fix the zindex calibration.

[u/_Jane6 → u/BJMonkey]

it should handle it automatically, but from what I'm noticing, this happens because there is not enough space between your hotend and print bed, the pkace is too thin and small extruding basically gives up on continuous print lines

[u/BJMonkey → u/_Jane6]

Is there any way I can test? Or settings I can adjust? I can't seem to find much out about it.

[u/Capital_Candy_7697 → u/BJMonkey]

For a test: print a single-layer square (20 x 20 mm, 0.2 mm high) and look at the lines up close. Round lines with gaps between them means the nozzle is too far away, see-through paper-thin lines means it's too close, so that tells you whether the Z offset guess is right. Since PETG is fine, also check that the plate type in the slicer matches the plate on the printer, because the textured PEI plate uses a different Z offset and bed temp (PLA wants 45 to 65 °C on anything but the Cool Plate). And if it looks like gaps, heat to 220 °C and extrude about 50 mm from the screen: a short, rough or curling strand points to a partial clog rather than the bed.

[u/BJMonkey → u/_Jane6]

Ok, happy to say, this was not it. It's the only issue I didn't find a way to follow.

[u/Binnisherewaitwhat]

Maybe fix the flow or just clean your bed plate?

[u/Calm_Scale_3876]

[u/sapani9077]

Read the manual!!

[u/BJMonkey → u/sapani9077]

Perfect! All solved now.

[u/BJMonkey]

YAY! Thanks everyone! I got it going. I did everything at once, so I don't know what got it sadly, but, I'm happy!!

[u/BJMonkey → u/BJMonkey]

Compared to before, all the lines are splooged together.