fhein

You mean with a closed enclosure? Maybe try printing with it open then, PLA generally want as much cooling as you can muster. I don’t have an enclosure myself, but I’ve heard that some people who do have to print with their doors open when using PLA.

Also does it print straight, and then later start bulging while its printing other layers on top? Or did it print the bulge that way?

Right now, around 50% RH indoors. I leave my spools of PLA on the printer for months or even years, and I’ve never had any humidity issues. If I were to speculate, my guess would be differences in additives being the main reason that only some people need to dry their PLA filament.

First of all, flash the firmware and reset eeprom on your found printers. Previous owners might have disabled safety features.

Common e3v2 problems: frame not assembled with square angles. Invisible crack in the extruder arm. Flat spot on wheel. Gantry sag. Bed unleveling itself over time. Bed not flat (not an issue if you’re getting a probe)

as much as I like this idea, I assume it would also magnify the punishment if you get caught.

Did you hot tighten the nozzle while putting it back? Don’t think it caused your current failure, but cold tightening can lead to more clogs in the future.

I think layer shifts can be caused by many different things, but the first thing I’d check is that the bed carriage can move freely and there isn’t something mechanically blocking it, like a wire or a misplaced screwdriver. The second thing I’d check would be the belt and gears, so that the bed can’t move without the stepper motor also spinning.