taz 4 help/suggestions

We have had our Taz 4 for about 2 weeks, and at first using the stock slic3r profile with cura and
PLA from lulzbot gave really good results. Things have been getting progressively worse now though
with only a 40% success rate in even printing the skirt, it seems the filament has trouble coming out even
or smooth on the skirt, and eventually it balls up under the extruder and never really gets to the
model.

I believe we are doing the bed leveling right, a sheet of paper under with a slight drag, I’m starting
to wonder if this is the case though or if something else is off. It started off so well with prints so
I’m wondering what is causing the diminishing results.

Printing using the medium PLA config from the site… 220/90 are the temps.

Here is a video of this morning trying to do a print.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lNubHg7NzY

Any help or ideas from the community would be very much appreciated.

Where are you setting your Z height stop? Center of table? Home?

What’s your first layer height?

Why are you using a Slic3r profile in CURA? There are CURA specific profiles.
https://www.lulzbot.com/support/taz-cura-profiles

Also, a slightly clogged nozzle might be the problem. If you raise the nozzle a few inches off the bed and extrude 10mm of filament does the line of PLA that comes out of nozzle come straight out, or does it curly-cue around and make a mess?

I Agree with edlink. It looks like a bed level / Z height problem. Re-level your printer bed, Adjust your Z endstop and check for a clogged nozzle.

Printing using the medium PLA config from the site… 220/90 are the temps

You mean ABS with those temps. This could be your problem. Raise your z-xais all the way up and have a look at your nozzle. Does it have a coating of burnt filament on it? I noticed the same problem as you after a bit of printing–maybe after a spools worth of screwing up parts–and saw that the nozzle seemed to be a bit dirty. I’ve only used ABS so far but to fix the problem I just heated the nozzle up to 160°C and used the wire brush from the kit to remove all of the stuck filament. Worked like when I first got it after that. I haven’t had to do it since–probably because I’m better at setting up the printer. Hope this helps.

Totally missed the PLA and temp settings.

Lulzbot profiles suggest for PLA: Extruder: 180°C Heated Bed: 50°C

https://www.lulzbot.com/support/taz-slic3r-profiles <-- profiles