Your printer has many moving parts and they will need to be adjusted & cleaned from time to time – unlike a home appliance, printers require manual adjustments and cleaning from their owners as they are used. Even a brand-new printer should be checked over to make sure everything is tight and level, so your prints will be successful.
Clean the PEI build plate
Filament will stick better to a clean plate - oils from your fingers, and left-over filament residue, will prevent prints from sticking, and you'll risk making spaghetti or a blob of death.
Take the plate off the printer and wash it regularly with soapy water. If you've got hard-to-remove filament residue on the plate, avoid scraping it with an edged tool, or you will damage the plate - use a drill brush or bristle brush to get it off - a steam scrubber also works well for hard-to-remove residue. Plates are consumable, like car tyres, so they will eventually wear, and are available to buy separately.
Make sure the assemblies that move on wheels are tight
If the bed is loose, the distance between the bed and the nozzle may vary as it moves, and the filament won’t stick. If the bed gets bumped and the wheels move out of the middle of the V-channel, the nozzle might dig into the bed as it moves. Check that the build plate is firm on the sliding rails – it should not wiggle up and down or twist left and right, if you grab the front or back with your fingers.
You can adjust the tightness of the black POM wheels in the V-channel on the right-hand side under the plate using the larger end of the double-ended spanner (Google). Turn the silver hexagonal offset adjuster on each wheel a quarter turn, and wiggle the bed to check the looseness is gone. Don't over-tighten, or you will wear the wheels.
Do the same with the print-head assembly on the X-axis rail - it should be firm on its rail. Adjust the tightness of the silver hexagonal offset adjuster on the print-head bottom POM wheels the same way as you do for the bed (Google).
Set the nozzle Z-Offset, and level the bed
The Z-Offset value is how close the nozzle is to the build plate for the first layer. If the nozzle is too far from the build plate, the filament won’t stick well to the plate, you will get gaps between lines, or if more than a couple of mm too high, it will lie loose on the plate like spaghetti. If the nozzle is too close to the bed, it may scrape the plate, or the filament extruded will be too thin, and will clump & lift off the plate.
Make sure your build plate is lined-up correctly on the bed, and set the Z-Offset as directed below.
Go to the Level menu
Put paper on the plate under the nozzle (if it won't fit, raise the nozzle with the up arrow)
Use the up/down arrows to adjust the nozzle height until it touches the paper
Slide the paper around - when you can feel the paper start to drag on the nozzle, it's set right
Press the Save floppy-disk icon
If it's your first time doing this, do Auxiliary Leveling with paper using the wheels underneath first, then let it complete automatic levelling, set the Z-offset with paper after levelling, and save the settings.
The number grid it displays is the difference between zero in the centre of the plate compared to each point it probed elsewhere - the top-left number on the grid is what was measured on the back-left location on the printer bed. You should aim to use the bed-height-adjustment wheels to make the grid of numbers as close to each other (and to zero) as you can - aim for a variance of under 0.40mm from lowest to highest. The Z-Offset can vary from -0.25 to -2.5mm.
Turning a wheel clockwise makes the bed rise at that location (making negative numbers smaller, positive numbers bigger), and turning the wheels anti-clockwise makes the bed lower (making negative numbers bigger, positive numbers smaller).
Repeat Automatic Levelling a few times, adjusting the Z-Offset & wheels after each time, and it should improve with each iteration.
Be sure to press the Save floppy icon on the top right when you are done, and if you make any adjustments to fine-tune the Z-Offset during a print, press it once the print is done.
Whilst levelling as above is sufficient to produce great results, you can optionally make the printer probe more locations for a denser grid of measurements - go to Settings, Advanced Settings, and change the level from Standard to Professional and Save. Whilst it is not necessary to get great prints, owners comfortable with coding can also look into advanced browser-based methods like Klipper Bed Mesh & "Screws_tilt_adjust".
Filament is not coming out smoothly, or coming out crooked
The nozzle may be partially or completely blocked, and the extruder gear-wheel on top of the print head might be making a clicking sound. This happens if there is a clog in your nozzle causing too much resistance for the extruder to overcome.
Clear the nozzle by pushing filament through by hand, or use a needle, or do a cold pull (Google). Like PEI plates, nozzles will need to be replaced from time to time.
If you can't clear the nozzle, here's how to replace it (Elegoo).
Move the gantry up clear of the build plate & unload the filament.
Remove the two 2mm hex screws on the front of the print head and take the cover off.
Undo the two Philips screws on both sides of the fan assembly and move it up out of the way.
Remove the silicone sleeve, & heat the nozzle manually to 200 degrees in the Prepare menu.
Carefully grip the block with a spanner or multi grips (don't squeeze tube, heater or wires).
Use the single-ended 6mm spanner or a 6mm socket to unscrew the nozzle (Google).
Install the new nozzle, then turn off the printer, and let it cool down.
Refit the sleeve & reassemble the print head.
After any work where you remove the nozzle or the print head, you should go to the Level menu, do a Z-Offset calibration with paper, then Automatic Levelling and Save. Repeat once to ensure the calibration is correct.
Check the belt tension periodically
Belts will stretch a little after some use – loose belts will result in skipping teeth & movement irregularities.
Tighten the bed and X-axis belt tensions with their knobs. Belts should be reasonably tight, but not super-stiff (Google).
If the Z-axis belt on the top of the gantry is loose, unscrew the two screws in the red boxes by one turn, push the plate outwards in the direction of the arrow, and hold it there whilst tightening the screws back up. Do this for both sides.
Filament storage
Filament absorbs water from the air, and will extrude as stringy if saturated. Keep filament in a cool dry sealed box with silica sachets when it is not being used, and consider drying it before use (Google), or look into buying a dryer box.
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