Why does my drip shelf fill up so fast?

Some goo build up there is completely normal, honestly. Every hot nozzle drools a bit while it sits at temprature waiting for the print to start, and that melted filament has to go somewhere. But a pile big enough to reach the tip means it's collecting faster than it should between cleanings, which usually comes down to timing rather than the printer running hot.

Your instinct about wiping too early is prolly right. What worked for me was letting the nozzle sit at full temp for a minute or so after it finishes heating, letting it do its initial drool, then wiping with the brush right before the print kicks off. If you wipe the second it hits temp, all the melted filament that was pooled in the nozzle during heatup comes out after you've allready cleaned it. Also, if your printer does a purge or prime line at the start, let that happen before you do the final wipe, since pushing filament through pushes out whatever was sitting in the nozzle too. On the shelf itself, don't force it. On some models it clips off, on others it's fixed, and you can usually tell by looking closely for little tab slots on the sides. If yours feels solid with no visible clips, just clean it in place. Warm the nozzle up first so any blob near the tip softens, then pick the shelf clean with something plastic, an old card or a wooden stick works better than a fingernail and won't scratch anything. Cold picking works but you risk snapping plastic off at the nozzle and leaving a bit stuck there.

One more thing that helped mine: if the printer sits idle heated for a while before you actually start a job, that's prime ooze time. Hit print sooner after heating, or wipe again right at the last second. Cutting the time between wipe and first layer down made the biggest difference for me.

I don't buy the timing explanation entirely. On my Adventurer the drips got way worse after I switched to a diferent spool, and it turned out the filament was a bit damp. Wet filament steams and oozes like crazy at temp no matter when you wipe. Dried it out and the shelf basicly stopped collecting anything between prints. So before anyone assumes thier routine is the problem, check the filament itself. If it's been sitting open in a humid room for months, that could be your goo factory right there.

One thing I learned the hard way on mine is the drips don't stop when the print ends. That nozzle keeps oozing while it cools down, so if you never wipe after a job, the shelf builds up overnight whether you like it or not. I got into the habit of giving it a quick wipe while it's still warm right after the print pops off. Also keep an old spice jar of cold blobs from previous cleanouts, and every month or so I pull the shelf bits off with some isopropyl and a toothbrush. Back in my early days we just let it grow into a stalactite and wondered why the first layer looked bad.