My son got into 3D printing in middle school. he would bring home some really cool items to show us. We got him a Printer for Christmas and after two months of helping him try to get it to work right we sent it back. A few months ago we bought him a different printer, a Hatchbox Alpha. he wants to print a few items that are big.
as it stands now after many many attempts to print something, he keeps getting failed test prints ending with blobs, or entire sections not getting the ABS material. He has used the blue painter tape, no tape, raised and lowered the temp of the bed and extruder. Adjusted the Z axis and the level. I have tried to help but to no positive results.
It is absolutely necessary that you get that first layer to stick to the bed.
This could be the need to get closer to the bed on the first layer, decreasing your first layer height in your slicer, increasing the temperature of the material, or utilizing glue or aqua-net hairspray as a substrate to hold the first layer down.
Experiment, you will get it.
Start with simple prints, small cubes, etc. to get it right.
