Printing Height or Extrusion Problem?

So I bought this specific Prusa i3 kit from eBay: [www.ebay.com]

I've been trying to figure out this problem in what little free time I have as a engineering student in college, and have invested around 40hrs into solving this issue without much success. My print nozzle is dragging through the printed piece and seems to extruding way too much. I'm thinking the problem lies in the extrusion steps per mm, but it could also be in the extruder's feed rate or the Z-axis steps per mm setting. I've tried using the included Marlin firmware included in the weak build directions, but I encountered more problems yet.


Important Specs:
-Arduino Mega 2560 R3 Clone
-RAMPS 1.4
-A4988 Steppers
-NEMA 17 2.6kg/cm Stepper motors (branded Folger Technologies)
-8mm rods on the Z axis

=Repetier Host V1.0.6
=Repetier_0.91 Firmware

Extruder: 225C
Heatbed: 110C


I started cataloging the first layer prints I was getting at various settings, and have gotten closer to being right but I'm not quite there yet. I'm getting pretty good adhesion using the included kapton tape, and the bed is level enough in the area where it's printing. Printing nozzle could probably be a hair closer, but I'm not sure.




And closer views on individual prints, starting with the bottom left on the first page: (sorry for the lighting, I'll post better ones tomorrow if you guys want them)


Extruder: 100 steps/mm
Z axis: < 3800 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed Rate: 20


Extruder: 80 steps/mm
Z axis: < 3800 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed Rate: 20
Print was killed in the 4th layer
(Nozzle was starting to drag through the piece as well)


Extruder: 80 steps/mm
Z axis: < 3800 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed Rate: 20
Print was killed in the 9th layer
(print quality was terrible, appears that nozzle drug through it a bit)


Extruder: 70 steps/mm
Z axis: <3800 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed Rate: 20
Print was killed in the 3rd layer
(very thin layer on bottom, wirey looking print and inconsistent extrusion)


Extruder: 70 steps/mm
Z axis: <3800 steps/mm
Print was killed in the 4th layer
Extruder Max Feed Rate: 20
(inconsistent extrusion in the 2nd and 3rd layers)


Extruder: 40 steps/mm
Z axis: <3800 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed Rate: 25
Print killed in the 4th layer


Extruder: 40 steps/mm
Z Axis: >3800 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed: 30
10ish layers thick
(decent adhesion between layers, poor adhesion between the 2 lines in each wall)


Extruder: 50 steps/mm
Z axis: 3800 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed: 35
Extruder Start Feed: 25
Multiple Layers
(Applied new kapton tape to bed for this print. Extruder increased to 235C, bed to 110C)


Extruder: 50 steps/mm
Z Axis: 3900 steps/mm
Extruder Max Feed: 35
Extruder Start Feed: 25
2 Layers thick
(Very thin and wirey looking, inconsistent extrusion)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2014 08:22PM by FluxD.

And finally




My full (and current) EEPROM settings for this print are as follows:

Baudrate: 250000
X-axis steps/mm: 40
Y-axis steps/mm: 80.3
Z-axis steps/mm: 4000

X-axis feedrate: 200mm/s
Y-axis feedrate: 200mm/s
Z-axis feedrate: 1.75mm/s

Max jerk: 20mm/s
Max Z-jerk: .3mm/s

X-axis acceleration: 1000mm/s^2
Y-axis acceleration: 1000mm/s^2
Z-axis acceleration: 100mm/s^2

Extruder steps per mm: 80
Extruder max feed rate: 35
Extruder start feed rate: 25
Extruder acceleration: 3000

Extruder heat manager: 1
Extruder PID drive max: 230
Extruder PID drive min: 40
Extruder PID P-gain/dead-time: 7
Extruder PID I-gain: 2
Extruder PID D-gain: 40
Extruder PID max value: 255

Extruder temp stabilize time: 1sec
Extruder temp for retraction when heating: 150C
Extruder distance to retract when heating: 0mm

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2014 08:34PM by FluxD.

I'd be happy to post my Configuration file as well, although I'm not sure it reflects the values shown on the EEPROM settings. Does anyone have any input or ideas on how to solve this issue? I'm ready to pull my hair out over it

First off all you have to calibrate your axis. Normal you should have for the x and y axis the same value eg 80 steps/mm. I guess you should have for the z axis 3200/1,25.
Then you have to calibrate your extruder, measure the length off the filament that is going in the extruder. See also: [reprap.org]