I should remember that social media isn't real life - I follow a lot of cosplayers and prop builders on Instagram, and they're forever printing fabulously detailed things that just...print. They press the button and wander off, and the thing is perfect twelve hours later.
So I had a twelve hour print to do. Both machines have been behaving relatively well this last week. I got up early (for a Sunday) and set the Tink off. An hour later I checked in wit it and found that no, it HADN'T actually registered the "Go" command. Soo, an hour lost. I started it going. Twenty minutes later I dropped by, and there was just spaghetti everywhere. Print attempt one was a bust.
Swapped out the PLA reel, which I should have done at the start. Set print attempt two going. Stayed to watch it, which was wise, because it laid down the first layer, then tore it up with the second. The third collected both previous layers and strew them across the plate, while laying down a random stream of stuff that didn't even adhere to the plate. I stopped it there. Attempt three did the same thing, but sticking just enough to make it worth trying to fix it as it was printing. I admitted defeat after fifteen minutes of carefully cutting bad areas and smoothing down lines.
I KNOW 3d printers aren't magic. I don't expect perfect results every time, but equally, it should not be a lottery as whether the thing works at all. The temperature today is similar to yesterday, when the prints turned out fine.
The bed is set right, and what's more, it's set the same as the last print. There's no logical reason that today it won't print. I know I should recalibrate, I
know there's probably a dozen techy things to tweak and check and manipulate, but that's not me. I didn't get a 3d printer because I wanted 3d printer maintenance to be my hobby.
What's the Klingon for "Today is a good day to whine"?