I am having some serious issues with the printer. I’m new so I don’t know everything. I am probably doing something wrong. I have had 3 successful prints since I have had it which is about 4 days now. The bottle Opener, The boat and a millennium falcon. Those came out great but in-between those I have been trying to print and it just gets blobbed up at the tip. I stop it before it gets real bad. I have tried 25 - 30 attempts at different prints but I couldn’t get those to work. I am using Creality Print as the software. My settings are setup for the ender 5 max 0.4mm tip. The filament is creality PLA with a 1.75 diameter. I have the extruder heat running at 200c and have gone down to 180c which none seem to work. The bed temp is 60c. So when I hit print the printer does auto adjustments and runs its tests. When the green light starts up it runs that test strip on the side of the bed which turns out perfect every time. Then when it moves to the center of the bed to start printing it just blobs up. This is where it is confusing, how can the test line work fine but not the actual print. I have no idea what is going on so if anyone can please help that would be great. I have looked at tutorials, reddit and everywhere else on the web but no one seems to have the same problem I am having. By far though right now I have not been enjoying this experience at all.
A photo would help.
Depends what you mean by “blobbing.”
If you’re getting random drops of goo everywhere on your prints and crap “blobbed up at the tip” then warm the nozzle up and take off the silicone condom. Check to make sure the hot end isn’t covered in melted plastic everywhere that’s dripping out. The stock hot end is garbage on this model and prone to developing leaks.
If you mean it just isn’t sticking right, sliding around, and leaving a blob on the nozzle, you’re not getting adhesion. (And it’s good you’re catching that early; leave it like that too long it will destroy the hot end completely; it starts pushing PLA back up the condom and your entire hot end becomes entombed and effectively ruined.)
Your bed is hotter than it needs to be on the Max for PLA. You can knock that down to 45. Wipe it down well with isopropyl and just a paper towel will do fine. You’ll want to give it a wipe-down before every print. If it is still stubborn, a quick wipe with acetone makes that plate sticky again, but you don’t want to overdo it. I’ve no idea how long-term resilient the “epoxy finish” is on the plate. But wetting a paper towel with acetone (Dollar Tree “nail polish remover” is almost all acetone) and giving it a quick wipe works when alcohol doesn’t.