I was printing with PET-CF17 on my K!C and had a catastrophic clog when I wasn’t paying attention. My hotend was completely covered. Rather than trying to clean it all, I got pissed off and just ordered a new hotend/heating block. I got the updated heating block and swapped everything in. The printer was printing amazing with PTEG and PLA before the swap. Now, I can’t even get through a basic flow rate print with PTEG. I am having blobs, and prints being pulled off the plate. Using the same filament previously, I had no problems. I’m at a loss. I ran the printer self check program after the install. Did I miss some sort of calibration? I also checked the nozzle and tightened it while at 220 degrees. I almost think that my z-clearance is a little off, but from what I understand this is automatically calibrated. I also confirmed the bedmesh and it looks good. If anyone has idea, they would be much appreciated!
I have to manually adjust the Z offset on my K1c when changing from PLA to PETG. Also I clean the bed with Isopropyl Alcohol before new prints. I have had to replace the smooth bed plate on occasions when I had problems with prints lifting of the bed.
Run the Full Calibration: Go to the printer’s menu and ensure you run the “Self Check” or “Auto Leveling” routine periodically, especially after moving the printer or changing the hotend.
Heated State: Always run the calibration while the bed is pre-heated to your printing temperature (e.g., 60°C for PLA). Thermal expansion significantly changes the shape of the bed, so cold calibration will often be inaccurate.
I clean my plate religiously so I doubt this is the case. I find it strange that after hundreds of high quality PTEG prints and zero z-offset issues with PTEG, now every print is failing after a nozzle/hotend/block change. If it is auto calibrating my z-offset during bed leveling, what is changing? Also, if I change the z-offset value, will it overwrite itself whenever the bed auto levels itself?
yes it will overwrite itself whenever teh bed auto levels. here are the steps to make prevent the overwrite.
Save the Configuration: After setting your Z-offset manually, ensure you have clicked “Save” (if available in your firmware version). In many Klipper-based systems, you need to issue a SAVE_CONFIG command (via the console or web interface) to write the value to the printer.cfg file. If you don’t save it to the config file, a reboot or a new calibration cycle will revert it to the old value.
Disable “Auto-Calibration” Before Print: Most modern Creality firmware has an option in the print menu to “Auto-Level before print.” If you are having issues, try disabling this. Once you have a good mesh and a confirmed, saved Z-offset, you do not need to re-level every time.
Check the gcode_macro.cfg: As mentioned in community discussions, some firmware versions store the Z-offset in a macro file. If the printer continues to reset your offset, the “start G-code” in your slicer or the G29 macro in the printer’s firmware might be hardcoded to clear the offset.
The “Expert Mode” Offset: If you continue to struggle, many users find success by setting the base Z-offset once (saving it to the config) and then using the slicer’s “Z-offset” setting in the printer profile (e.g., in Orca Slicer or Creality Print). This adds your specific offset to the printer’s commands for every print, effectively bypassing the printer’s own “reset” logic.