3D Printing Forum

If the extruder head is making erratic movements, I would think you are dealing with a communication (over USB?) or controller issue. Funny story.... After a couple cups of coffee and putting the printer on a time-out for the thousandth time (and probably about the same time as you posted the reply...

Thanks, but I've tried 4 different slicers including s3d, and the same gcode file prints ok on the wanhao. The gcode preview definitely doesn't show giant gaps or extra trips to the edge of the bed. I'm almost ready to see how far this thing can fly.

I tried re-calibrating the e-steps. if anything, it made it worse. every few lines, the extruder would slowly wander off to either the X or Y endstop to peek over the edge of the print surface, then wander back again via a different route. Now it doesn't even seem to be trying to make normal angles....

I replaced the arm for the extruder because it seemed a little bent. The filament feeds through smoothly without catching on anything, it's not getting shredded or anything. The throat looked ok. I replaced it AND the nozzle just in case. When i raise the nozzle and heat it up and use the controls t...

Thanks, I'll check that this afternoon!

I've had the temps everywhere from 195-210 for PLA. The nozzle is still oozing normally when it's stationary and I managed to give myself a nasty burn on my knuckle a couple days ago so I'm positive the temps are ok. I have the speed down to 35mm/sec so I can catch what is happening, too. The only t...

gaps by Clothocan, on Flickr

Ignore the lifting and under-extrusion in places-I had adjusted the nozzle distance and extrusion several times to make sure that wasn't causing it.

I got my printer in early January and it has been working mostly fine until last week. It started with skipping the first 3/4 of the first line of the skirt and a few random blobby prints. Within a couple days it went to diagonally skipping sections of the layer right after puking out enough filamen...