Anet A8 beginning layers not printing correctly

Question

I have had an Anet A8 printer for about two months now and still have not gotten it to print good prints.

At first, it would only print completely solid parts and every time I would try infill from 10-90% the first layer would not stick or it would print really filmy like. As of now, it won't print the first layers for anything well but once it gets up about 10-ish layers it prints perfectly. I have tried a lot of stuff but it seems to be making it worse.

The pictures show my recent attempt at these settings below (Cura's default for normal quality), the print is supposed to be a 10 mm square. I have gone back to the default settings because nothing else was working.

• Using blue painter's tape
• Layer Height 0.1 mm
• In. Layer Height 0.3 mm
• WallThicken 0.8 mm
• Top/Bottom Thick 0.8 mm
• Infill Density 20%
• Grid Pattern
• Print Temp 210°C
• Bed Temp 65°C
• Dia 1.75 mm
• Flow 100%
• Brim (raft is a little better)

Any suggestions?

In the top picture you can also how the top layer has two bubble effects.

Answer 1

With respect to the filament lifting off, and/or not adhering correctly, on the first layer, see Filament lifts from the hot bed while printing... in particular, you may need to clean the bed, calibrate the leveling and the nozzle height (see my answer).

The fact that the prints are fine, after 10 or so layers, could be to do with the heat - at the higher layers the print is warm and no warping occurs, but below that, maybe the print bed is acting as a heat sink and making the filament cool too quickly - hence the distortion. Are you using a heated bed? If not, then maybe consider installing one.

Not sure about the bubbles: how do your store your filament? The bubbles could be due to water, which expands as it gets hot, thereby causing the filament to bubble. It is best to store your filament in an air tight container, to prevent it collecting moisture and dust from the air.

Answer 2

My Anet A8 has a concave bed, which is a defect. Check if yours has the same defect by putting a long ruler on its edge on the bed and look for a gap between it and the bed in the middle. If you find a gap then it is concave. The best solution is to put a piece of glass on the bed instead of blue tape, because glass is very flat. It will also help a lot with bed adhesion. I highly recommend this mod.

Answer 3

Try lowering your Z height a bit more for the first layer if you find yourself having bed adhesion problems. What brand of filament are you using? Did you try using some other brands?

Answer 4

When I first started printing with the anet A8, I also had trash first layers.
I tried (almost) everything:

1. Leveling the bed maniacally several times (all the screws in the frame need to be very tight)
2. Varying bed temperature and nozzle temperature at all possible combinations.
3. Adding blue masking tape

Nothing would significantly improve my first layer, except for HAIRSPRAY.

After discovering this secret, I went back and un-varied everything. I tried with and without tape, at high and low temperatures. With-out the hairspray it never stuck well. With the hairspray it stuck perfectly every time. A small spray is sufficient.

After you are done making a mess, use nail polish remover ( acetone ) to properly clean everything.

If you are doubting your G-code, get a pre-generated one for the A8. The ones that came on the SD card should print very well, nothing like the image you showed of the 1st layer.