The first layer of your print is probably the most important layer. As the foundation to your whole print, it is essential in providing proper adhesion to the build plate.
Many common 3D printing problems stem from a poor first layer. There’s a couple of things that can go wrong when printing your first layer.
Nozzle too close to the bed
Signs that your nozzle might be too close to the bed:
Printed line is way thinner than desired. It might get so thin it turns transparent.
Excess filament is squished upwards at the edges of the current printing line creating a rough surface and wavy patterns. (You can feel the roughness when touching it carefully even during the print).
Filament is getting torn off the bed when the next neighboring line is printed.
Finished prints are hard to remove from the print bed.
Explanation:
If your nozzle is too close to the bed, there is not enough space between the nozzle and the bed to extrude the proper amount of filament. Excess filament is either squished upwards between individual printed lines or isn’t extruded at all creating additional pressure in the HotEnd.
Excess filament that gets squished to the sides and upwards might get torn off the bed on the next pass by the nozzle destroying adhesion and making the top of your first layer very rough to the touch.
Excess filament might also get picked up by the nozzle and might drip back on your print later. This is especially common for PETG.
If filament backs up in the HotEnd because it cannot get extruded due to the nozzle being too close to the bed, your extruder might even get jammed and start clicking.
Squishing your first layer too much into the bed can lead to prints that are almost impossible to remove from the build plate when done.
How to fix:
Adjust nozzle to bed distance either by tightening the 3 or 4 levelling screws of your printer and using thicker paper stock for manual bed levelling or by adjusting your z-offset value when using a bed levelling sensor. Make sure you’re not pressing down on your bed when leveling it.
Nozzle too far away from the print bed
Signs that your nozzle might be too far away from the bed:
When looking at the bottom of your printed object, you can clearly make out individual lines with a noticeable gap between each line.
During printing the first layer, the individual lines are not touching each other.
There’s small gaps where the lines of the infill are not touching the outlines of the wall.
The shape of the extruding line is very round. With the proper distance, extruded line is slightly squished, pancake-shaped.
Individual printed lines are barely sticking to the build plate.
Parts are warping off the build plate or become loose during the prints.
Description:
If your nozzle is too far from the bed there is not enough filament extruded to properly fill the space between nozzle and bed. The line currently extruding is barely making contact with the bed. Individual lines making up the first layer are not connected to their neighbors and they’re not touching the outlines of your object’s wall. All this usually leads to poor adhesion problems like warping or detaching of your object mid-print.
How to fix:
Adjust nozzle to bed distance either by tightening the 3 or 4 leveling screws of your printer and using thicker paper stock for manual bed leveling or by adjusting your z-offset value when using a bed leveling sensor. Make sure you’re not pressing down on your bed when leveling it.
Print Not Sticking
Signs that your print isn’t sticking:
Your print is lifting off the bed, such as warping, or returning to your printer with a bird’s nest (as per image in ‘Print Not Sticking To The Bed’ section below).
Explanation:
In this instance, it’s likely your print has popped off the bed after slight warping, due to insufficient adhesion. This can happen on the first layer (less likely) or several layers into the print. If your print has warped, but remained adhered to the bed, see [Warping].
How to fix:
Adjust nozzle to bed distance either by loosening the 3 or 4 leveling see [Print Not Sticking To Bed].
Printer specific tips
Printer specific tips
Prusa MK2/MK2S: The Prusa’s PINDA sensor is temperature sensitive and will give false readings if the probe is heated before the mesh bed leveling. Raise your probe a good distance off the bed during the preheat before mesh leveling at the beginning of a print.
Creality CR10/Tevo Tornado: Both printers come with a fairly large bed. And they’re not necessarily the flattest. Try leveling the bed not at the outermost corners but rather a bit further in.
Wanhao i3: keep your hands well away from the bed while feeling the paper dragging during the leveling process. The stock bed frame is rather flimsy and looking at it sternly screws up the results. Repeat leveling procedure at least 3-4 times or more to make sure it stays level. Try leveling at full printing temp, use Preheat in the menu.
Tevo Tarantula: green stock SN04 sensor is unreliable. Level manually and keep your hands well away from the bed while feeling the paper dragging during the leveling process. The stock bed frame is rather flimsy and looking at it sternly screws up the results. Repeat leveling procedure at least 3-4 times or more to make sure it stays level. Try leveling at full printing temp, use Preheat in the menu.
Ultimaker 2/2+: The bed carrier flexes a lot when turning the leveling screws, especially the ones in the front. Keep hands clear. Don’t bother with the bed level assistant, just run through it and do the rest manually.
Filament specific tips
Filament specific tips
PLA likes to be squished more into the bed than other filament types to provide good adhesion.
PETG usually prints better with a higher nozzle to bed distance to avoid the nozzle picking up filament that might drip on your print later during the print. Also, the extra distance helps prevent excessive adhesion issue that for example might occur when printing on glass or PEI beds.
TPU and Flexible PLA will also adhere stronger than you might like if printed too close to a PEI or specialist bed surface (such as BuildTak).