So today I checked various bits on the printer. I took apart the hot end as well as checked the Bowden tube and the couplers at both end. When I pulled the filament out I noticed this…

There was a definite bulge near the tip. It wasn’t huge but it was definitely there. Something up near the hot end was causing drag leading to a slight backing up of the filament as it heated.

So I set about having a look.

The Bowden tube was sitting up against the hot end so it wasn’t that. I took of the nozzle and discovered the issue (or at least I think it is)…

Top nozzle is brand new out of the box. Bottom one is the one I just took off. I compared the bottom one to others I had removed and this one was the only one with this build up. Now it might be that Some filament got left in there when I pulled it out, but it had the usual whisp on the end like it does whenever I change a spool so I think, fingers crossed, that this is the problem.

i put everything back together and I did a bed level. The machine was restarted and I printed the wardens, or attempted to…

The bed was too low, I then relevveled the bed and guess what, it was too high… third time lucky I hope as I am reprinting them…

And they were too close to the base plate, so close in fact that I couldn’t get them off. Unfortunately they split in half as the top layers came away and left the bit on plate behind… I swore!

I am now trying the square base.

My plan is to print a temperature tower, if I can work out how to do it in Cura. That and a bed levelling guide. The other thing is that the middle of the bed seems higher than the rest so I will move things away from the centre and see if that helps.

As Eric said, it might be an idea to go down the glass and hairspray route.