I just sent this email over to elegoo official, so either way I’ll update this post with their response for a community reference point:

"Hello, I’m having issues with my Elegoo Neptune Pro 4. I’ve tried following the official documentation and other resources to help fix my issue to no avail, so I am reaching out as a last ditch effort.

My issue mainly pertains to PLA prints consistently being ruined partway during printing after a few months of use and operation.

Specifically, my print will successfully complete the first few layers. Then, at some point, the print will somehow ‘grab’ or ‘catch’ the print base and drag it around the print bed, ruining the print and causing a large build up of filament at my hotend. This then requires cleaning.

From what I have seen, this can be caused by issues with the print bed not being clean or the temperature of the bed in relation to the fan speed. For example, having a low fan utilization at the beginning, then ramping up later in the print is supposed to help this issue. However any fixes I tried returned null results.

Some background info, I purchased the printer on preorder and received it in September 2023. I have kept up with maintenance. Namely, keeping stepper motor tracks cleaned and greased properly, belts tightened, the print bed is wiped down with 90% ISO alcohol between prints. I have replaced the hot-end when I first started experiencing print issues, and again during the troubleshooting process to further diagnose the problem.   My Z offset seemingly is “correct”. I followed the mfg instructions closely, and before this issue, my prints were coming out beautifully.

Print Settings: Using Elegoo brand PLA 1kg filament rolls. Default Elegoo Cura print settings applied for temperature, speed, fan speed, nozzle size, etc. Supports or No supports didn’t make a difference during my troubleshooting. Brim printing mode is my default.

For the 4-5 months that I’ve had the Neptune Pro 4 has been absolutely amazing. Fantastic quality, consistent, very easy to use and maintain. The issues I’m experiencing are beyond annoying and I can’t seem to figure it out myself.

Is this issue known? What are the recommended solutions?"

  • Let me know if any of you have experienced something similar to this and how you addressed it!

EDIT: This is likely solved. There are many issues that can contribute to this issue but TLDR quadrouple check your z offsets. Read the thread for other good info.

  • rambos@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    3 months ago

    I agree with this. OPs adhesion is almost non existant, printed model being dragged around with nozzle.

    Get nozzle much closer to print bed. Print the first layer slowly with no fan, stop and repeat until its perfect, then continue with 2nd layer. There shouldnt be any gaps between lines (too far), but surface should be smooth with no ridges (too close)

    There are some other tricks to improve adhesion even more, but first layer should be fixed first

    • MrQuallzin@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      3 months ago

      Printing the 1st layer slow is so important, forgot about that! I’m down to 25mm/s on my first layer. Nice and slow. A print with a large surface area (Like a sign) may take 15 minutes on the 1st layer, but it’s definitely worth it.