Issue after the first print of the day

[mrmonisimo]

Hi all! I've learned a lot thanks to this forum but I'm pretty confused by my current situation.

My first print of the day on a flashforge creator pro using Simplify 3D always comes out perfect, but every print after always shows gaps on the first layer and under extrusion throughout the print. There was a time when this never used to happen but this problem started a few days ago.
I've tried letting the machine totally cool down to room temp after the first print before starting the next one, but when I print I still have the issue.
If I leave the machine off and get back to it again the next day, the first print comes out perfect and then I get botched subsequent prints.

Any ideas?
Thanks

[CompoundCarl]

Well here's an easy test to do. Create one sample part that you will print multiple times. You are only going to use this one, unchanged file. Print it in the morning, later in the day, maybe even the next day and see how it does.

If this exact same unchanged file prints differently at different times, then it means there is something that is changing with your printer (since we know the file isn't changing). So that would be a good way to test if this is machine related or not.

[mrmonisimo]

Thanks for the reply. I've tried printing the same item over and over again and it comes out the same way. I'll try printing it at different time periods of the day to see if there are any changes.

[mrmonisimo]

So this issue is still going on. If I print immediately after my first print I get under extrusion and some different curves in my print that wouldn't happen before. It even redoes the skirt after a few layers and it never did that before.

I've tried waiting a few hours and it still happens. Then I try waiting about 5-6 hours and it prints normally again.

[dkightley]

To separate software from hardware, immediately after your first print..and after cooling fans have stopped, shut all hardware down, wait 20 seconds and switch all hardware back on....then print. If your second print is the same as your first print, print again as soon as possible, this time without switching anything off.

If your second print is different to the first print, then the issue is being caused by the hardware. If the first two prints come out the same, and the third print is different, then the hardware is okay, and the issue is with software or is in the GCode.