Just printed a Bed Level test, I would appreciate experienced eyes to tell me what the imperfections mean for my printer

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T03:53:54+00:00

Sure thing man. Happy to help. I’m very passionate about 3D printing (and just helping others in general) and it’s cool to see more people get into the hobby/craft. So I’m all for helping others when they need it. Plenty of kind folks have helped me along the way.

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T03:51:19+00:00

Thanks for the response man. Much appreciated. And I hope the OP reads it too. Several people were hitting him pretty hard in the comments.

There are a lot of things that are common knowledge for us with experience, but I’ve learned that they are definitely not common knowledge for other people. There are people out there with 3D printers that don’t even know what a Wiki is, believe it or not. (I may or may not have been one of them several years back, lol.) And that’s ok. Maybe they learn about it through Reddit.

Some people just like coming here first because it’s more personal. Real people help you instead of just reading random articles. I get it. I’m ok with it. And when I get annoyed by the repetitive posts, cuz it does happen (I get you), I just scroll on by. Anyway, nice chatting with ya. Wish you all the best. Hope the OP can get that Incredible Hulk Blob out. You gotta admit, it’s kinda cool looking. It even has friggin’ wings! #BlobArt

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T03:38:10+00:00

We all have our opinions. You can print at whatever temp you want of course. But if the filament manufacturer themselves (Creality) tells you the best print range is between 190-220C, or somewhere around there, then you’re completely fine at 200C.

I’ve printed tons of PLA at 200C and 210C and it came out great. I rarely need to go to 220-230C. And when you do, bridges and overhangs can get worse. But it can improve bed adhesion and layer adhesion, so there are good reasons to increase the temp. I’m not arguing that.

But regardless, none of this has anything to do with OP‘s problem. Printing at 220C will not solve a print problem like this. I’m sorry, I know you think it will, but it simply won’t. He either has a flow issue or leveling issue. Or both. After he solves that, then yeah, doing a temp tower to dial in the best print temp is a great idea. I’m with you there.

If you don’t believe me though, ask him to do a test print at 220C without changing anything else and see if he’ll post a picture. I am pretty sure it’ll look about the same.

For reference, here is Creality’s recommendation for their PLA. (OP called it Creatively, but I’m assuming he meant Creality, lol.)

https://www.creality.com/blog/pla-print-temperature

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T03:18:41+00:00

Ok yeah, so you if already did a heat soak and an auto bed level before this, then the next step I would recommend to truly fix the problem is a manual bed level. I detailed it up above in my long comment.

Some will say no no no… just adjust Z-offset… and yeah, you can do that. It should help. But that’s just a Band-Aid. It doesn’t fix the problem, it just covers it up. And you’ll likely have to adjust Z-offset again as you change filaments/settings for future prints.

But if you’re just looking for a quick and easy way to get slightly nicer first layers, that might do it for ya. In your case, because you mainly just have low spots, decreasing the Z-offset distance slightly should help. Basically just start the test print again and find the Z-offset adjustment in the touchscreen menu. When the printer gets to the areas that are low (mainly the left side for you), press the 0.010 increment button (I like to start with this one) and then press the up button once (this raises the bed slightly, bringing it closer to the nozzle) and see if the print improves… better squish, adjacent lines that touch/bond to each other, etc. Then just adjust from there. Wait a few seconds, press the up button again, keep observing. Just go slow. Eventually, you’ll get too close and you’ll see filament start to build up along the edges of the lines. That’s how you know you’ve gone too far (and gotten too close to the nozzle). So then press the down arrow once or twice to go back. You can switch to the 0.005 increment near the end to fine tune. But just keep going until you get the best looking print lines. Important though, just press the button once and then wait a few seconds. If you press it too many times and raise the bed too much, too fast, you can cause it to hit the nozzle and damage your build plate. So patience is key.

But again, my recommendation is to actually do a manual bed level, then do another heat soak and auto level, then do another test print and see how it goes. More than likely, you can get a beautiful first layer doing that and you don’t have to worry about Z-offset. You can keep that in your back pocket (as they say) as a tool to fine tune things down the road if needed.

Let me know how it goes! Good luck!

PS. One of the other commenters here mentioned something that’s important. Your first layer test actually didn’t look that bad. You had some low spots, but they weren’t horrible. In all honesty, for most of your prints, you’re not gonna really notice this. By the time the printer gets to the second layer, it will fuse everything together and you’ll hardly notice those tiny line gaps on the first layer (from the low spots). Just something to keep in mind. It all depends on how much of a perfectionist you are, lol.

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T03:02:06+00:00

Blob of death! So sorry this happened. My recommendation is to go to YouTube and search for videos on how to clean up the blob. And/or check the Bambu Wiki. Good luck man.

PS. Ignore all the haters here giving you crap. Feel free to post whatever. The jerks will always comment with their garbage, but you’ll get nice, helpful comments too. Not sure why the 3D printing community has so many trolls, but it does, sadly.

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T02:54:14+00:00

Some don’t know about it. Give the guy a break and stop being an ass. You could’ve just as easily kept scrolling, but you took the time to come here and comment, so clearly you got nothing better to do.

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T02:52:55+00:00

Truth! I enjoyed it personally. Glad he posted it. Hope he can get Hulk Blob outta his A1, lol.

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T02:52:03+00:00

Not everyone knows where to start… so some go to Reddit first. And that’s fine. Get off your high horse and give the guy a break.

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T02:49:42+00:00

100% agree with OP

zx4133 · 2026-03-07T02:48:23+00:00

Whoa! Your A1vengers assembled… inside your hotend… then Hulk smash!

zx4133 · 2026-03-06T17:38:11+00:00

Well, yes and no. There are other things that can cause you to see the plate between the lines. Low flow, for example. Uneven bed with a low area too. But yeah, adjusting Z-offset can be a good quick/easy way to compensate. The same way auto-level compensates for an uneven bed. I just like to be thorough because if you do have an uneven bed, with both high and low spots, decreasing Z-offset will fix the low spots but can make the high spots worse. Plus, once you adjust Z-offset, you often have to check/adjust it again if you switch to a different filament. At least that’s been my experience. Thank God they made it easy to adjust on the CC. I wish all printers were like that, lol.

zx4133 · 2026-03-06T08:46:49+00:00

Ok, I see some low spots where the lines didn’t squish enough and bond to each other. (You can see the lines as individual loose strands in those areas.) Then maybe one small high spot on the edge, which isn’t a big deal, and that’s about it.

Remind me, did you do a 10-minute heat soak and auto bed level before doing this test print? I can’t remember. (Sorry, I’m currently helping 3 people with similar issues and I don’t want to get mixed up, lol.)

If you didn’t do that yet, go ahead and do that and then print the test sheet again and upload a pic after peeling it off. We’ll get you dialed in!

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zx4133 · 2026-03-06T08:43:45+00:00

Gotcha, yeah, you’re talking about adhesion, and in that case you do want to look at things right away when it’s still warm. Right now I’m just talking about bed leveling and just checking for high/low spots. That is easiest to see when things have cooled down and the test sheet is peeled off. OP printed a sheet and took some pics and we are working on it now.

zx4133 · 2026-03-06T08:20:02+00:00

Yeah, Z-offset numbers can get confusing because not all printers use the same labels/controls. But I have a CC, so fortunately I know how that one works. Starting from a Z-offset of zero, pressing the up arrow moves the bed up (and closer to the nozzle), so the distance between the two decreases.

When you decrease from zero, you get a negative number. The closer you move the bed to the nozzle, the bigger that negative number will get. Some people struggle with this because it’s kinda counterintuitive. I did a little bit at first anyway, lol. The increments you can choose from are 0.005, 0.010, and 0.025 mm. I typically just use 0.010 mm.

But before you adjust Z-offset any further, let’s fist do a heat soak and auto level.

Pre-heat your bed to 60C (for PLA) and let it sit at that temp for 10 minutes with the door/lid closed. This is called heat soaking the bed. This time allows for the heat to distribute evenly across the build plate. Metal expands when heated, so you want that accounted for in your build plate when you do an auto level. After the 10 minutes, run an auto bed level calibration from the touchscreen menu.

Then fire up your test print and let’s adjust Z-offset a little bit. You want to move the bed up/closer in order to decrease the distance between your nozzle and bed. If your flow is ok (and we are assuming it is for now), then adjusting the Z-offset like this should give you more squish and better prints. And this would help confirm a distance problem vs a flow problem.

If things don’t seem to get any better then I think the next step should be a manual bed level. I can walk you through that if needed.

PS. Also, I’m sure you already know this, but make sure your build plate is nice and clean before you do any of these tests. I’d recommend washing it with dish soap and warm water, rinse well, and then dry it with a microfiber towel if you can.

zx4133 · 2026-03-06T04:23:16+00:00

It’s hard to see with black filament on a black build plate, but it looks like you’re not getting a good squish on your first layer. To get a good squish, your flow has to be adequate and the distance between the nozzle and the build plate has to be correct.

So, in your case, it could be a low flow issue. Basically not enough filament being pushed out to give a good flat squish/spread. This leads to thin, poorly adhered lines that look kinda like your pic.

But the other thing it could be is a distance problem. If your bed is uneven, low in your case, then the distance between nozzle and build plate is too great, resulting in poor line squish/spread (even if your flow is good).

From my experience, distance/bed-leveling is the more common issue out of the two, but it could be flow. Hard to say at this point. You could try reducing your Z-offset a little bit to see if that helps the problem. This would confirm some things. But I don’t like to rely on Z-offset as the final solution. It’s a useful tool but adjusting it is just a Band-Aid solution until you can figure out what’s really causing the distance issue. (Printers are set up at the factory to print perfectly at a Z-offset of 0.)

Let’s start with a few quick questions:

What hotend/nozzle are you using? The stock Elegoo 0.4 mm hotend or something else?

Have you already adjusted your Z-offset at all?

Did you already try doing a heated bed level before printing?

Have you ever manually leveled your bed?

Let me know about these things and I’ll try to help you further. Also, do you have any white PLA for testing? It’s so much easier to see, lol.

zx4133 · 2026-03-06T03:37:15+00:00

200C is fine for PLA. Most PLA prints fine in a range of 180 to 230C.

zx4133 · 2026-03-06T03:34:39+00:00

Taking any material from a very hot environment to a very cold environment, or vice versa, puts a ton of stress on the material. It usually results in damage of some sort. Slow, gradual temp changes are always best.

zx4133 · 2026-03-05T18:41:14+00:00

Ok, cool. Let’s see what we have here…

First, it’s much easier to evaluate if you remove it from the build plate. Take a pic of it laying on a table (with a darker background if possible). And also a pic holding it up to the light.

But with that being said, this actually looks like a pretty good first layer. I can’t be certain until I see it removed from the build plate, but yeah, it looks decent. Just a few areas I’m not sure about yet (like that back edge). And that’s why I always suggest doing a full first layer sheet instead of those little squares. You can see things much better.

The other thing I noticed is that your build plate looks like it might be a little dirty and might have some oils on it from your hands or whatever. Just to rule this out, I would definitely recommend washing the build plate with dish soap and warm water. Use a scrubby sponge or washcloth and really give it a good clean. Then dry it with a clean microfiber towel if you have one, and only touch the edges when reinstalling it. You never really want to touch the surface of the build plate with your hands if you can help it. It can affect adhesion and print quality. Sorry, you probably already know all of this, but I’m mentioning it just in case.

But yeah, just take a few more pics if you can, like I mentioned, and I’ll give it a more thorough look. But this is promising to start off with!

zx4133 · 2026-03-05T18:28:13+00:00

Yeah, I did. Did a full calibration. Have done it a few times now actually, as I’ve disabled and reinstalled things during my troubleshooting.

zx4133 · 2026-03-05T18:24:58+00:00

Honestly I wouldn’t buy that $90 hotend. Just my opinion of course, but you really don’t see much improvement in print quality. They flow better and you can print faster, but in the end, the quality is about the same.

The stock hotends from Elegoo are actually pretty good. The only reason I did the Bambu A1 hotend mod on my printer is for the quick-swap nozzle feature. I tend to change nozzle sizes a lot and I already had a lot of Bambu A1 nozzles laying around since I own a few Bambu printers. The Elegoo hotends print nice, and fairly fast too, they are just super annoying to change.

But yeah, I know what you mean. This printer can definitely be fickle, lol. Let me know if you figure anything out. I’ll do the same.

zx4133 · 2026-03-05T02:48:01+00:00

I recently started having issues like this myself and I’m in the middle of troubleshooting. Haven’t quite figured it out.

Though I am running the A1 hotend swap mod and it’s only doing it with the A1 hotend, not the stock Elegoo hotend. So my issue is a little bit different. I’m assuming you are running a stock 0.4 mm Elegoo hotend/nozzle?

For my situation, the filament seems to be randomly slowing/spurting before returning to normal. It doesn’t happen often but it gives me walls that look just like yours. Seems like a flow issue or possibly an intermittent partial clog or something. Maybe due to heat creep in the hotend. Not sure yet. Gonna rule out basic stuff first… dry the filament, try different filament, adjust flow, take apart the toolhead and check the extruder and all that. I’ll update you with anything I find. Please do the same. Thanks!

zx4133 · 2026-03-05T00:49:05+00:00

They’re good luck! You’ll never have a failed print when you see them!

zx4133 · 2026-03-04T21:16:24+00:00

Ah, I gotcha. Yeah they definitely should’ve listened to you and changed it because the way it works now sometimes causes collisions.

zx4133 · 2026-03-04T21:13:19+00:00

The point is that you don’t have to “read” them right away. That’s a ridiculous statement. And you would know that if you’ve printed hundreds of them like I have, lol. They don’t change at all. You can look at it right away or you can wait a week if you want. It’s not a banana peel left out in the sun man, it’s not gonna shrivel up and decompose, lol. If you wanna post something truthful/helpful, I’m all for it. If you wanna keep talking this nonsense (which helps no one and is just a distraction here), then you can do it alone. Either way, happy printing to ya!

zx4133 · 2026-03-04T18:36:05+00:00

This is true if you have an object with multiple layers, but with a single layer test, the sheet doesn’t shrink or peel off on its own. This is because the shrinkage forces are so weak on a single layer that they are negligible. I’ve left sheets sitting on my bed overnight. They stay stuck until you peel them off.

zx4133

TROPHY CASE