Exactly… this printer is useful honey.
I can make parts for the printer, accessories for filament management for the printer.
Halloween decorations… once I get the printer back online when I have this mod finished.
Parts for another printer.
Mounts for the brooms… when more filament comes in since I used the last of it for the parts for the new printer.
Save 450 on a unique appliance part they’re not making anymore which now justifies the thousands I’ve spent on this thing.
Seriously though. It is a fun hobby and if you want to just print and make things and not tinker there are plenty of good options out there. Me? I like tinkering. It’s a blast.
I thought I’d add that it looks like it’s overextruded. So much that the filament is being “pushed” out and curling back around the nozzle.
It could be the e steps, flow rate, etc but it could also be that your Z offset needs to be adjusted back away a smidge.
That could be part of the inconsistent print since the tool head movement over one section of the bed vs another may be affected by the layer below based on how the filament curled there.
If you want to do a deep dive into adjusting/calibrating the Ender I did write up a bit here (although that post does relate to Klipper and I mention settings/adjustments for Klipper it starts purely with the physical printer itself and builds on it)
https://lemmy.world/comment/7904011