15
votes
Accepted
Assembled my first 3D-printer: Lead screw problem?
The threads of the screw are very damaged, this causes your brass nut to be damaged as well.
This is hardly accountable by misusage, this is a production or handling error in the factory.
You need to ...
- 34.1k
14
votes
Accepted
What's the advantage of two z motors?
There are three main options here for Mendel style ZX gantries:
One Z screw and motor, which is similar to a cantilevered design but somewhat more stable because of the opposite smooth rod
Two Z ...
- 6,526
10
votes
Accepted
How do I wire the z-axis motors in parallel on the Prusa i3?
In the diagram, they do show the wires connecting together, which is right. You can accomplish that just about any way you like, so long as you pair up the wires correctly from one motor to the other.
...
- 3,201
10
votes
Why aren't fixed build platform 3D printers popular?
Why is this so rare?
Such kind of printers usually harder to assembles, calibrate, and maintain because 3 axes machine is a bit more complex than 2 axes. For instance, it's can be tricky to move an ...
- 310
8
votes
How do I wire the z-axis motors in parallel on the Prusa i3?
For some unknown reason, everywhere everybody is saying that Z stepper motors need to be connected in parallel... And this was always the only obvious way, until recently some people started to ...
- 504
8
votes
Accepted
Full steps mode for Z axis stepper controller
Focussing on the questions at hand:
Is it possible to use full steps?
This depends on your printer board. Many boards use dip switches to select the (micro) stepping mode of the stepper driver. E....
- 34.1k
8
votes
Accepted
How to calculate the proper layer height multiples?
that the NEMA17 motor would be using 400 Steps per mm in Z. configuration_adv.h tells that the microsteps on the Z-axis motor are 16.
Easy. There are 400 ...
- 14.7k
7
votes
Marlin "Tune->Bed Z" vs "Tune->Babystep Z" vs Z Offset?
Tune -> Bed Z
http://marlinfw.org/docs/features/lcd_menu.html#tune
Per description in this table, this refers to the Mesh Bed Leveling process. It allows to modify all saved mesh z-offsets by the ...
- 171
7
votes
Why aren't fixed build platform 3D printers popular?
As a frame challenge, they kind of are. It's just that the optimal, and in some sense only reasonable, design for a fixed build platform that doesn't move on any axis is the delta robot geometry. This ...
7
votes
Assembled my first 3D-printer: Lead screw problem?
The notches are certainly abnormal. The screw appears to have taken an impact from a narrow cylindrical object. It's normal for rods and screws to be packaged independently, frequently wrapped in ...
- 11.2k
6
votes
Z-axis steppers and bed alignment problems
I assume you did everything according to the instructions but here is a checklist of what could be possibly wrong:
Friction - check if you can rotate/move parts without lot of resistance
Screws - ...
- 3,448
6
votes
Accepted
Alignment of dual Z-axis steppers
All the Prusa-based designs I've seen have only one end stop. While you are correct that it's theoretically possible for the two Z-drives to get out of sync, it's very unlikely in practice (barring ...
- 3,028
6
votes
Accepted
Is z-axis zero near the hotend?
Generally, Z-axis zero is when the hot end and the build plate are close to each other. Some printers keep the hot end up at the top, and bring the build plate up to reach it. Other printers keep ...
- 382
6
votes
Accepted
3d prints come up with ribbing on one side
Hmmmm In my experience when a printer has that bad of wobble it is still the Z axis. Your rods might be good, but are the two Z axis the exact correct distance and equal distance on the printer frame? ...
- 3,043
6
votes
Accepted
Any code to move up Z axis after finishing the printing?
You can use:
G91
G1 Z10
G91 make the printer use ralative positioning, while G1 Z10 would ...
- 4,647
6
votes
Ball screw: Maintaining Z axis position when motor is OFF
My question is a ball screw of pitch 4mm or 5mm, will it be able to Maintain it's position when motor is deenergized under a load of 15 kg shared by two systems.
The detent torque of a typical NEMA ...
- 14.7k
6
votes
Accepted
What is this part and does it have to do with my my z-position is messed up?
Limiter Switch/Endstop
That is the lever that is meant to trigger your Z-Endstop. The variant used in your case is on the cheaper end and is meant to look similar to this QIAOH KN12-1 limit switch:
...
- 20.9k
6
votes
Printer stops printing at the same spot for every model
This behavior can be explained by a truncated gcode file - the printer gets to the end of all that's there of the file, and considers it done. A truncated file can be a symptom of corrupt storage ...
6
votes
Accepted
How to I eliminate these "squished" layers that appear on my prints?
After some thought, I decided to verify all of my assumptions. My primary assumption was that I had completed the assembly completely and correctly. This was not the case. I had not tightened the ...
- 271
5
votes
How to keep Z-axis motor from slipping when powered down
The simple way to do this is to use a self-locking screw pitch. Pretty much any single-start thread using a sliding nut cannot be back-driven so the load will not fall. Normal 8x8 trapezoidal thread ...
- 6,526
5
votes
Accepted
Is there a problem with removing a polished rod from the Z-axis?
First a resounding no. Not a good idea. Are you saying it works now that you have removed the smooth rod?
That tells me for sure your issue was Binding. Which is a tricky problem to solve. Binding ...
- 3,043
5
votes
Accepted
Do I need to recalibrate z-probe offset every time I switch to a different layer height?
All modern slicers adjust the nozzle position for the first layer in accordance with your chosen layer height. You can see this in your gcode if you slice files with different layer heights. Before ...
- 6,526
5
votes
z-axis hard to move in some areas - what could be faults, how to improve?
X stage binding like this is almost always caused by parallelism issues with the rods and/or screw. The two-rod-plus-screw arrangement is quite over-constrained and thus requires good alignment to ...
- 6,526
5
votes
Accepted
Z motor not moving during auto home
Alright, I have figured everything out with the help of #reprap IRC community.
Issue #1 - Z axis not moving during zero. Just as tjb1 suggested the issue was that it thought it was hitting the ...
- 171
5
votes
Accepted
Lead screws - M8 instead of M5?
as long as you match the parts that is ok.
The m8 rod will give you more stiffness and will be harder to bend.
As the result, you will have to calibrate the steps/mm settings in the firmware.
- 1,922
5
votes
Accepted
Does anyone know the thread size (pitch and lead) of the Anet A8's lead screw?
I have the Anet A8, I confirm the threads are Tr8x8(p2). This is explained as "Tr" for trapezoidal thread followed by the nominal diameter in mm. The digits after the "x" denotes the lead of the screw ...
- 34.1k
5
votes
How bed leveling is achieved without table screws?
Prusa uses 9 marker points in the bed that are sensed with an induction sensor to determine the X, Y and Z position. Any deviation for skewness or bed level is compensated through the software. Please ...
- 34.1k
5
votes
Z-axis endstop not functioning after Marlin Firmware installation
After gaining more of an understanding of how Marlin works, I decided to look through the the pins file for the motherboard I am using "pins_ULTIMAIN_2.h". Sure enough, It had a the wrong pin number ...
- 101
5
votes
TEVO Tarantula Z-Axis Lowering Too Far After Endstop Triggered
The soldering in the Tevo components is very low quality as I replaced/resoldered most of the end-stops.
As the gantry goes down - please ensure that the cable is not pulled over (no contact) and ...
- 1,922
5
votes
Accepted
Screeching Noise when moving the Z-Axis Down
I had this same problem. I attributed it to the linear bearings which ride on the 8mm travel rods. I did two things which ultimately eliminated the issue (since I did both at the same time, I'm not ...
- 2,423
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