Ender 3 Pro Printing in only One Dimension

[BillyRayValentine 0]

I’m brand new to 3D printing and do not have a technical background. A few days ago I received and built my first printer, an Ender 3 Pro. Had some initial setup problems, but eventually got to the point where I was able to get the printer to a point it was ready to print.

 

I downloaded this XYZ 20mm Calibration Cube: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1278865. I opened it in Cura and followed the instructions for slicing it, saved it to an SD card and inserted the SD card into the printer. When I printed the cube, however, it printed in only one dimension, flat.

 

What is supposed to be a cube, is just a flat square when it prints. Same result when I tried another 3D model. When I click on the “Preview” tab in Cura, it shows only the top Z portion of the cube being printed, but nothing else. See attached image. I don’t know if there is a setting I’m not aware of in Cura, or if its an issue with the printer.

 

Anyone have any suggestions on what the problem might be? Thanks in advance.

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by BillyRayValentine
Fix image

[Smithy 1,141]

Have you already successful printed something on your printer?

Do you have a presliced gcode file on the sd card which came with the printer? So you could try this file, just to see if it Cura and your settings or if you have a failure in your printer.

[BillyRayValentine 0]

1 minute ago, Smithy said:

Have you already successful printed something on your printer?

Do you have a presliced gcode file on the sd card which came with the printer? So you could try this file, just to see if it Cura and your settings or if you have a failure in your printer.

Thanks for your response. That was my first print attempt. But, there was a dog gcode file on the sd card that came with the printer and I got the same result, printing in one dimension. I'm assuming it's the printer, but I'm still confused as to why the Cura preview would also show the cube being printed "flat," e.g., printing only the Z side of the cube.

[Smithy 1,141]

No Cura is fine, you have a horizontal and vertical slider, so when you scroll down on the vertical one, you start from the first layer.

 

I guess your Z direction on the printer has a problem, maybe check the connections or if everything else is fine. Maybe your printer can move the head via the menu, then you can check if it is working. Before you start to slice and print something from Cura, you should be able to print the file that came with the printer, then we can be sure the hardware is ok.

[BillyRayValentine 0]

Appreciate the feedback, thanks much.

[GregValiant 1,141]

There are two set screws in the coupler that hold the threaded Z rod onto the Z motor.  They need to be tight.

Is the Z motor turning when you use the LCD Auto-Home function?