HELP - First Row Not Printing Properly

I have had the Cocoon Create (Wanhao Duplicator i3 V2) 3d printer for years and always had a problem with the first row not printing properly. PLA filament works the best and I have had PETG printing properly and when doing another one the same day I can not get it to take to the bed at all now matter what I do.

At the moment I am printing PLA+ and it prints but the first row is bad like most of my prints. It starts and pushes out some filament but by the time it gets to where it is to print the filament has stopped. The photo shows some filament just before the print but usually it has stopped and then the first 1.5 inches/35mm of the first row it never prints anything. Then most of the time the first row is just broken filament.

I have tried numerous different temperatures over the years. I put Kapton tape on the bed and wood working glue mixed in water. The PLA+ I have tried a lot of temperatures around around 230 degrees and the bed from 40 to 60 degrees. The head is not clogged.

So is there an adjustment I can make in Cura or the printer to get a full bead of filament on the first row and not a broken one. Also is there suppose to be a full row of filament going from the Home position to the print area.

use outlines as a way to prime the nozzle.
I usually use 2 outlines and generally it prints 1 and a bit.
If in doubt use more outlines :-)

Thanks. I'll look at doing outlines.

But even when the base of the print is very big it will all be broken up on the first row. It does not come good until the second row when it starts the print.Was wondering if something like increasing the flow on the first row could be done?

So hopefully outlines will help.

CURIOUS AARDVARK .
I have been doing four outlines and has helped and on the last big base item I am doing one side did not print so was able to alter the bed while printing and the fourth outline came good. Guess you should have the bed right first but it worked.

I think a lot of my problems have been because the bed was not level. I think it changes all the time as the bed springs in two corners were very loose when bed correct. So I have now stretched out the springs and replaced them and maybe it may be better.

On one side the wing nuts on the bed are screwed out a lot more than the other. Guess the next thing is to work out adjusting Z axis to make the bed sit better but at last it is printing good.

Thanks

rather than stretching the springs - it's better to screw the bolts up so the springs are really tight.
The other thing I've done with my i3 is to make some thumbscrews that use locking nuts and screw the springs up pretty tight. That way, calibration should be almost a one time affair.
Or rather it will be once I've fitted an aluminium base - at the moment the bed frame is only attached to the printing frame at one end. Crap design. But once I've bolted both frames to a sheet of 4 or 5mm aluminium, It should be a one time calibration :-)

Sounds like you have yours set up good. I do need to replace the wing nuts as they are very loose on the bolt.

To get my screws up tight I will need to lower the head just on the right side. I am not sure if just turning the worm gear will do that. I might have to go back and watch the set up videos again.


EDIT: I'll do this first and adjust the z axis.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_c...&v=k7lmUywqOd4

yep - bed levelling is pretty much the most important thing to gettign a printer working.

for the record if you are missing lines on the first layer it's because the printhead is Too Close to the bed.

The other thing to remember is to remove filament and heat the nozzle when bed levelling.

Thanks for the reply.

After sorting out the bed levelling I went back to PLA and it prints great all the time. Must be that the levelling is not so critical compared to PETG. With PETG I need to make minor adjustments to the bed after starting to print the skirts. It is just not like PLA which seems to print good all the time on the first row.

I guess that is normal.

pet-g sticks differently to pla.
So try different bed surfaces/adhesives for pet-g.
Also pet-g prints hotter and slower than pla.

Thanks again.

I am printing on kapton tape and a water and wood glue mix all the time so looks like I need to try something different for PETG.

I also have to experiment more with the temperature of PETG and have mainly tried 260 degrees. Seems like I'll be experimenting for another 20 years as so much to know with 3D printing.

There is so much good information on the internet including youtube but not sure what to try that is better than kapton tape for PETG.