3D Printing - Updates and Problems

After some initial success prints, I started to have problems.

Basically the printer had big problems to start successfully to print the first layer, no adhesion to the plate and thus prints totally ruined.

Also, it ended up one time scratching the plate with the nozzle, sign that the leveling went berserk !

Because of that I did suspended all the prints and decided to do some fixes and upgrades to the system.

First of all I did add an emergency stop button to OctoPrint in order to handle more faster the stopping of a print if something is going bad !
See the article about it : 3D Printing - Adding Emergency Stop Button

Secondly I started to take a deeper look to the printer bed.
I did notice that the screws that connect the bed to the printer were all kind of loose, wobbling.
Because I did install the new springs (yellow ones), probably the force needed to set them properly with the knob, made one of the corner loose the leveling.

So the first modification was to add a nut for each screw trying to having the screw not wobbling anymore, allowing to easily exert force on the spring with the knob.
You can find this and other useful suggestions in this guide for Ender 3 by Luke Hatfield

Because the original magnetic plate was scratched, I decided to buy a new one, just to restart the prints with a new one.
But still didn't have any luck to have the first layer sticking!

Reading many posts on various forum on the issue, lot of people pointed out that often the bed can be slightly warped and that a more rigid surface for the print could help, like the glass one.
So I did buy a glass plate.
Still no luck to have a decent first layer going on.

I decided then to change the nozzle at this point and apparently that solved the issue.
I was back in business !

I also added a tensioner for the X axis.
Originally I did try to print out an X axis tensioner but it broke trying to attaching to the printer, so it probably need to be printed in ABS or using more infill.
In the end I opted to buy a tensioner in aluminum rather than plastic.

So .. let see so far the modifications to the printer :

• Added an Emergency stop button on OctoPrint
• Added nuts to the bed screws to block them from wobbling, thus increasing the force from the knobs on the new springs
• Installed an X axis tensioner
• Y axis tensioner  (next scheduled upgrade)
• Replaced the magnetic base since the original one was scratched (it maybe be re-used but wanted to start from a fresh one)
• Used a glass base 
• Replaced nozzle 
• Added a switch to turn off the LCD of the printer (useful when the printer is working in the night)

After these modifications I was finally able to have some decent prints done !