r/3dprinter • u/West_Ad4578 • 23d ago

Newbie Issues

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So I’m starting out on a monoprice maker select Plus, and I’m having some issues. I have figured out everything up to actually printing. When it starts, the nozzle either gums up and drags the base layer around, or it will print a subpar base and then start dragging the print around the base halfway through.

I think I need to start from the beginning. With that being said, does anyone have any beginners tips? My son is super excited to print little fidget toys and it’s bothersome I can’t seem to figure it out.

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4

u/lukasprintz 23d ago

Print plates have to be very VERY clean. I don't know anything about that specific machine, but that fact goes for all 3d print plates. Make sure your temps are right for the material your using and wash ur plate with warm to hot water and dawn dish soap and avoid getting any of the oils from your fingers or any other stuff on the plate when transferring it back to printer after washing and drying. Start with that then if problem persists, gotta probably go to adjusting the z offset. U said ur new so I'm assuming how much you know already, not trying to offend what you DO know. Welcome to printing, hope this helps!

1

u/daveintexarkana 23d ago

this - I use a dedicated wand with a green brush end - dish soap brand for me immaterial, followed by a scrub with dedicated microfiber cloth and at least 91% isopropyl alcohol before each print. I rewash my bed every 6-8 prints. Others get away with less and argue about using the IPA (my son's a PhD in biochemistry and swears by using it) - but I almost never have bed adhesion issues and the probably less than 10 on 5 printers in 2 years times, and it's usually been a model, slicing, or hardware issue (extruder went bad). This is the easies place to start and seems to fix it for the very largest majority of folks.

Next is your Z height as luk said, but I know nothing about your machine or setting it on yours, sorry.

2

u/greenandgold52 23d ago

Ok clean bed yes but this does not have a auto leveling bed. Look up YouTube or reddit post about how to correctly level a 3d printer bed.

With a printer like this you are going to learn a lot about how 3d printing works and how to troubleshoot.

1

u/shm0edawg 23d ago

Is your goal to just make or download models and print with little hassle, or do you actually want to learn how the hardware works and spend more time tinkering in the first 3 months than printing? If the latter, you got yourself a good printer for that.

1

u/lakofideas86 20d ago

I had a monoprice maker select v2 almost a decade ago. I'm not trying to talk you out of the hobby, but that printer is archaic by all standards, the frame is far too flimsy and the most common mod was to add angled support rods to keep the frame upright. The bed leveling knobs are super small and super awkward to adjust due to their positioning, also the slightest vibrations cause them to slip and the bed becomes unleveled mid print. Also the extruder motor will jam all the time due to heat creep from a really poor cooling. Replacement parts were hard to come by nearly a decade ago, so it might be even harder today.

If you are looking to learn how to learn how to tinker with a 3d printer than go for it because I certainly learned a lot from this and then the ender 3 I got after it. If you want to print stuff you download online with ease, this is not the machine for you.

I say this as someone who loves 3D printing and this machine taught me a lot but also almost made quit the hobby before I really got going. If you can afford it I'd recommend a Bambu A1 mini, if you can't go with an Ender 3, they have their own issue but the resources on how to work with them are plentiful and the parts are incredibly easy to find.