this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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[–] spitfire@lemmy.world 1 points 13 minutes ago

Check your z-offset, it looks like nozzle may be scraping the bed. With very minimal bed leveling issues this will cause big problems. Try moving the nozzle a bit further away.

[–] digilec@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Hard to tell, most of it looks fairly good except a few spots here and there.

That could be grease on the print bed, maybe time to give it a wash? When PETG goes wrong for me, it's this 90% of the time.

I use hot water and a little detergent with a lot of rinsing. Use gloves because even clean hands leave oils behind.

With PETG it's hard to get the first layer right but if it's good the rest of the print generally goes fine.

Molten PETG is very sticky and if you get a bit stuck to the nozzle it can build up, get worse and suddenly take out a bunch of nearby lines leading to gaps in the layer like this.

To counter this PETG first layer should be:

  • Printed very slow e.g. 20mm/s
  • At a higher Z offset than PLA, the plastic should flow out the nozzle and fall onto the bed rather than be squished flat.
  • High bed temperature 80C / 176F
  • Zero or very low fan speed for the first couple of layers

If you can see marks left by the nozzle it's too low. The lines should have a rounded look.

It could also be wet filament, does it make popping sounds when printing?

[–] pixxelkick@lemmy.world 3 points 5 hours ago

To start, your z offset is too high, your nozzle isnt close enough to the bed. Your lines should not have gaps like that, gapping in your lines means the nozzle isnt close enough to the bed to "squish" the plastic outwards and join with the adjacent line. Im gonna go out on a limb and guess this print peels off the ned very easily, and as you pull it up and off it sprt of "splinters" a bit, parts of it "fall apart" right?

If you get your z offset right, the print should come off as 1 solid piece without gapping.

Quick question:

If you run it the same time, are the failings in the exact same spots, or different spots?

Exact same spots

Bed issues, or physical issues perhaps with the wire harness to your heater catching or stretching, causing hiccups. Watch as it prints the problem areas for physical issues like it bumping stuff, or scraping on things, the wire harness, etc.

Almost same spots but not exact same

Flow issues, lower print speed 20%, see if it improves a bunch. Your nozzle is backing up and then surging causing inconsistent pressure on long runs.

Different spots

Check your z offset and watch your spool as it spins, if your spool is catching everytime it turns, it'll inflict random jerks on your nozzle. Also check tightness on your movement system, it might be loose and getting perked a bunch by pulling on the spool as it works through the filament.

[–] LeTak@feddit.org 10 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

Could be multiple things. Dry your filament, in an oven or special dry box if you own one. Clean your bed with warm water (no soap or alcohol/acetone)

Use a glue stick for better adhesion.

Also, if you printer support it, you can generate a level matrix to see if it is leveled.

[–] deepfriedchril@lemmy.world 10 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Why no soap? I clean with dish soap to remove oils, works great.

[–] LeTak@feddit.org 8 points 8 hours ago

It also looks very thin, check your Z offset.

[–] Dettweiler42@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago)

Increase bed temp 5 degrees, lower z offset by a few hundreths, and throw a trash bag over the printer to create a makeshift enclosure.

The z offset will likely have the biggest impact. Textured beds need to have their offset lowered to squish the plastic into the texture a bit more. The auto offset tends to detect the top of the texture as if it were a smooth plate. Your print is also showing some distinct separation lines on the first layer. For my Ender 3, I usually started by lowering my z offset by -0.07 mm.

Bed temp increase will help adhesion. Trash bag will help with curling, which PETG loves to do.

[–] phcorcoran@piefed.social 4 points 9 hours ago

I don't think bed leveling issues would look like that; it could be dirty bed of course, but also what temperature bed & hotend are you using?

[–] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 0 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

People are obsessed with babying their filaments; I’ve never met a problem that wasn’t solved by changing nozzle temp.

[–] seang96@spgrn.com 1 points 1 hour ago

Lucky person that doesn't live in humidity. I been zip lock bagging my filament after every use. If I leave PLA out for more than a day it's the death of printing.

[–] amdim@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 9 hours ago

Looks wet to me.

How long did you dry it for? 3 hours? I generally give it six (or more).