Shouldnt be the filament then. I would make sure the probe is fully secured like the other comment suggested. Good luck, that sounds frustrating! I need to adjust mine, but usually after printing for a couple weeks.

What type of material are you printing? Could be the material is eating away at the brass nozzle causing you to need to adjust the z offset.

Similar results with my Ender 3 S1. Highly recommend!

Oh dang, I misread another comment you made. With regular stain the longer you leave on usually the darker it just makes it appear. But as long as you fully wiped off the excess after it should have worked out. That said I’ve only used stain on actual wood. Haven’t tried printing wood PLA yet.

I think that might be your issue. Gel stain from minwax should be wiped off after 3 minutes. Anything longer can cause the issue you are experiencing. I would try to wipe/sand off the finish and start again. On a side note, we need to do that to our banister/railing in this house. The previous owner of the house apparently liked the THICK look of the gel stain.

How long did you leave the stain on before wiping it?

If you live near a Microcenter you can get it for even cheaper: https://www.microcenter.com/site/content/specialoffer3dprinter3i.aspx
This deal is not always limited to new customers. I bought a month or so ago on sale at this price and I shop there regularly.

Run the auto level on the printer. Once it finishes it will zero out where it thinks the z is. You can then adjust it down to the correct level. Too high, stuff won’t adhere to the plate. Too low, it squishes it. Just right, and you get the picture.
You can use a piece of paper as a guide or a feeler gauge if you have one. I’d imagine the steps are very similar on the s1 pro.

I have the S1 (non pro version). I purchased it around a month ago and have been loving it! Sure, it requires a little bit of tinkering, but ultimately if I have the z-offset correct for the first layer, it prints great. I imagine there are quicker printers out there, and ones that have more features. But for an entry printer, I cant complain. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out!

I appreciate the tips - I printed using the same settings you used and it turned out great! Ill get it mounted to the wall later today.

You don’t even need a pi for this option. I’m running octoprint off an old android phone and it works great.

Thanks for sharing the files. I just found my skateboard from when I was younger and wanted a way to display it!