I would suggest the following:
- Start with new roll of PLA filament. As previously mentioned most filament types absorb water from the air and become difficult to print. A new roll is not guaranteed to be dry, but it’s more likely.
- Put the ABS on the shelf. It’s a more advanced filament type that requires more stringent conditions to print successfully and it produces toxic fumes when printing that requires ventilation. You will need an enclosure for the printer to surround the print with a higher, more stable temperature environment and you’ll need a way to either vent or filter the fumes. Master PLA first; it’s the easiest to print with.
- Do not dry our filament in an oven unless you KNOW your oven has good low temperature control.
Generally, you are drying your filament at 50C to 80C and few ovens can be set reliably at those temperatures. That’s why there is a market for dedicated food driers for this job. There are also dedicated filament driers. I would hold off on buying either until you know the printer is working and that you personally have the patience for dealing with 3D printing. It’s not a turn-key process and it’s sometimes painfully slow, so make sure it’s your thing before you go throwing more money at it, beyond a new roll or two of PLA filament. - You said the extruder was skipping but it didn’t matter what height the bed was at. That’s unusual. To verify it, raise the print head several cm’s and use the control panel to extrude a few cm of filament. Does it still skip? Skipping is almost always caused by a clog within the nozzle or too much back-pressure as a result of printing too close to the bed. Printing no where near the bed will eliminate the back-pressure question. If it still skips, check the nozzle, but also check the extruder. I don’t know about the Tarantula, but some models of printer were notoriously built with plastic extruder levers which would crack but not break off. Once they cracked the lever could no longer apply enough pressure to the filament to get a good grip so it would extrude in air but could easily start skipping under otherwise normal printing conditions. Also, the teeth of an extruder can sometimes get clogged with plastic which also reduces their grip. Make sure the extruder gears are clean.