Well, it’s me again. I’m not really sure what my issue is here. I tried printing another twisted gear vase, same as I did last night. It was the exact same GCode, so not sure why it’s doing so badly tonight. And yes, I calibrated the E setting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJwtRtPXPHE
@John_Schneider There are a couple things that come to mind. First is the quality of the blue tape you used. How you removed the first vase may have pulled off the part of the tape your plastic was adhering to. The exact same gcode you’re using would then be trying to lay down plastic on something that wasn’t able to handle it anymore. You could test it by trying to print something else.
Other things that came to my mind though it was hard to tell from the video. Clean your nozzle off. Sometimes I have a hard time putting a first layer down because there is too much gunk on the nozzle and it rips up the layer I’m trying to put down. I saw a little of this in your video. The other thing would be to make sure your bed is level and an appropriate distance from your nozzle. You’d be surprised how just being off a little will make getting that first layer down difficult.
Lastly, if you havn’t read his blog here is a link that might help you.
Specifically look at the “Getting your first layer to stick” section. Great photos of what to look for and how to do it. Good luck!
Get your hot end tip closer to the bed. Clean the blue tape with a bit of acetone first or spray with some hairspray.
After cleaning the nozzle, cleaning print bed with acetone, and spraying a bit of hairspray on it, first layer adhesion is MUCH better. Still not perfect, but after not getting a single print to stick last night, I’m happy for anything to be going right right now.
This was done at 190 degrees. When this print is done I’m going to try it at 195 and see what sort of difference that makes.
Looks better, Looks like you still have a bit of extrusion issues. Have you calibrated your E steps/mm? Have you measured the filament diameter and put this in slic3r?
@Mike_DiMare , yes and yes, but I’ll do it again after my current print is done. I’ve noticed both variables jumping around a bit, any tips for more consistent measurement?
Ha, well, this hobby seems to actively be trying to spite me. After struggling with getting prints to stick to the print bed, I’ve now wrecked two prints because they adhere too well. 
Any tips?
Haha, just do less of what you did before.
Psh, ok 
Acetone and hairspray seem like overkill. Just squash the first layer into the tape with an accurate calibration,
@John_Latimore I use kapton on mirror for a print surface and find that cleaning my printbed with acetone helps things stick with PLA just as well as with ABS. Its more that acetone makes kapton happy and clean. Maybe works with tape but seems like overkill. I agree with @Derrick_Oswald_curmu that @John_Schneider needs to get the bed perfectly level and squash the first layer a little bit. That might be hard with a plywood bed which is a horrible idea as there is no way that its flat enough. Once you get frustrated enough you might try to find some aluminum or acrylic sheet and either clip it on top or replace the wood printbed. Good luck!
@Jeff_Karpinski , was it any particular kind of glass? I’m really considering getting some and clipping it to the plywood.
@John_Schneider 3mm plate glass will work although Im a big fan of mirror (myth or not). Its not a big deal with no heatbed you just need a flat surface. Swing by the hardware store and see if they will cut something down for you.
I second the glass. I print directly on glass that rests on top of my heated bed.
@John_Latimore The acetone was to clean the bed, to get oil or debris off of the bed, not to smooth out the plastic or anything. You can use acetone on the bed for PLA, no issues. Also yes, glass works best with a layer of kapton on top or hairspray. There are 50 different ways to skin the bed adhesion cat. I just mentioned a few of the methods that work for me.
As I and others said before, Z height calibration (get within a papers width of the bed) and possibly increasing your first layer height in slic3r is the ideal first step.
I just print directly on the original wood bed. Also tried the blue tape you have there. When things aren’t sticking well even after calibration is done, make sure your head is loaded… While the head is heating up it leaks fillament, heat it up and extrude some fillament until you get a nice straight, non globby extrusion. Then start the print, put an extra skirt on there if you need to. All the other tips are also valid, but I suggest starting with the basics…
@John_Latimore , I don’t dare print directly on the wood bed, I’ve already put a few dents in it from trying to get other prints off. I’ve been “pre-extruding” filament immediately before running a print; I noticed exactly what you’re talking about, where it tends to leak while heating up. I’m also doing two skirts, I’ve noticed that that helps considerably with getting a good flow going.