had to dig out my flir phone to take pictures for silly cellphone reasons.

Anyway, this is the 220°C 110% flow calicat. It looks way better, right?

So I foolishly started a 9-hour print and yeah it's still shit.

also octoprint is yelling that my pi is undervolting. I'm specifically using a dedicated 5v 2.5A wall-wart, how is it STILL undervolting? ugh.

I need to throw away and replace every part of this setup and I don't have the time, money, energy, or space to do that

Thanks to everyone who has given suggestions for how to fix this. Unfortunately most of them require me standing up for longer than I can manage, so I've mainly just fiddled with settings (since I can do that from my bed).

but when I can, I'll be:
* calibrating the extruder
* trying to clear clogs in the hot-end
* calibrating the z-axis offset (which is a multistep nightmare in this setup)

I need to upgrade the octopi install so I might switch to a newer pi. I have one somewhere, it's just probably up in my office where I can't really get to it (stairs)

installed a USB power blocker to try and fix the undervolting. it didn't work.

So I'm gonna have to find another power supply for that

I'm gonna try cold pulling next because that's easier than getting to the extruder

okay I tried switching to a different USB power supply (5v 2A) with thicker usb cables: No difference, still undervolting.

I also cold-pulled the hot end a few times, to see if that'll help.

the extruder is still difficult to reach

printing another calicat to see if that changed anything

okay I think my extruder is fucked. damn it, that's the most annoying part of this printer to access.

well there's your problem!

new extruder motor has arrived. hopefully I'll be feeling well enough to install it sometime in the next decimillennium

new extruder (hardware & servo motor) installed, along with new bowden tube. lets see if this works

pi has stopped reporting undervoltage. I haven't touched anything with that setup since yesterday. the fuck?

Seems pretty good.

My z-alignment is still fucked. I printed this on a raft because I knew it still was, but the raft was nearly impossible to remove. it was WELDED to the build plate.

I'm not sure if I need to adjust my z-offset in the ender 5 plus's touchscreen or if that only applies to printing natively with the printer, and I need to change it in my slicer. or in octoprint! there's a lot of places! (there's too many fucking places!)

and keep in mind that's me saying it as someone who has made it their livelong profession and hobby of touching computers as much as they can. I love a bunch of little places to change things. I love being able to fiddle with settings.

3d printing has too many settings

fiddled with my z-offset calibration. tried measuring the build plate: that was a mistake. The thing is bent as fuck.

but it does do a 4x4 grid for level so maybe it can compensate enough for that to not be a huge problem. Lets see, time for another 9 hour print!

it failed. it did a couple layers and then clogged. I went in there and the hot end was just hovering over the beginning of the print, while the extruder clicked.

and the undervolting is back. while the octopi isn't even connected to the printer (because I accidentally left the USB disconnected)