Why are my layers messy and curling off the print bed? I use an Ender 3, with cheap Amazon "Eryone PLA", which states a range from 190-220&nbsp;&deg;C, 1.75&nbsp;mm dia. I have had this for about a year.

I use the rough build plate, not the glass. I have tried my best to level the bed but I am an amateur

I was originally getting poor adhesion so I cleaned the bed, levelled it, increased filament temp to 196&nbsp;&deg;C and heated the bed to 40&nbsp;&deg;C, with no fans in a house around 20&nbsp;&deg;C with not much airflow.

This helped adhesion, but my layers are very messy - the first perimeter may adhere correctly, but subsequent layers curl off, meaning the inner passes lift off the build plate. Attempting to persevere, pulling out these regions causes the blobby, ridged mess shown below. This is still the first layer. 

I have noticed the extruder makes a knocking noise every so often, and the edges of prints can be so thin they are translucent.

I've browsed the web for common 3D printing errors but nothing I've found or tried has helped.
This is clearly overextrusion relative to the volume the material is being deposited into, but that doesn't necessarily mean your extrusion rate is wrong. It could be:


Nozzle smashed down into the bed (bed way too high) but somehow still extruding
Problem in Z axis movement preventing the head from moving up the right amount for each layer (possibly not moving up at all?)
Extrusion (flow) increased significantly above 100% in slicer
Wrong extruder steps/mm setting (usually controlled on printer not slicer, though you can send a setting in the start gcode)
Misconfigued filament diameter (unlikely since there's no common setting smaller than 1.75 mm; larger setting would under-extrude)