Hello,
I have inherited some Taz 6’s in my schools makerspace. Over time I have upgraded it to include an SE toolhead.
I started to have some extreme warping and decided to upgrade the heating bed system with the modular print bed and the magnetic flex bed. After installing the bed, I began the z-offset test. I started by adding the recommended 1.5mm (stock -1.2 to .3 mm) to the current z offset and it was way too high off the bed. I over time, have lowered it to around -0.7, though I am continuing to fiddle with it.
However, what I am noticing is that the offset/ layer adhesion is not the same throughout my print bed.
Using the square patch print test, I find both solid (probably too low) with stringy corners. I also have weird gashes from I guess the nozzle.
Initially it was bad right to left, so I adjusted the z-screws a bit to make the bars a bit cockeyed (creating generally better tests), but now, I am seeing some issues front to back and a bit side to side.
Any suggestions to fix? It is going through the standard auto-leveling process. The only thing I have adjusted in the stock gcode is the wiping height, since it was badly rocking the. Do I need to print out shims for the corners?
It looks like warping try a low warp filament also if it’s raining it can cause warping if the bed level is corrected but even then it should not warp like that with PLA in a normal environment maybe you used ABS (**note a lot of these materials are chemistry names of polymers including Plastic)
The print with the boats looks really warped because I broke it a bit takign it off the bed, it has been sitting out for a few days, and have had things shoved all around it probably causing the warp. I am more concerned (at least I think I should be) with the layer separation.
All of the prints are PLA, we have moved fully to it last year (besides now getting into tpu with our other printer).
That explains why , next time you get spool filament you are advised it in a zip bag as soon as your done with it , the rest of the filament needs to be dried
That is typically what I do, besides the spool that is on the machine. But does filament humidity explain how on the same print I can get benchies in the middle of the bed where you cannot see any text and on a corner, there is some serious stringing amongst the letters in a corner of the bed?
Yes as long as you do not trigger the sensors unless you got certain toolhead like a h175 v2 then it should be wise to switch to a stainless steel nozzle just be careful not to get burnt & be sure to keep it somewhere safe like a zip bag or empty peanut butter jar
One thing you could consider is @Wrathernaut has a great mod to put a BL Touch on the Taz 6. That would require a new tool head, like the M175.
Like you I inherited a damaged Taz 6 from the University I work at.
Here’s what I did to mine - it’s a lengthy video so skip around as you need to.
That said, this machine is been printing very reliably since then. I do craft shows as a side gig and I have printed loads and loads of models from the artists I have commercial licenses with.
I actually watched your TAZ 6 series while searching for a solution, which reminded me that I should post in this forum asking for help. Thanks. My school’s makerspace has two taz 6’s. We got the M175 V2 for one, but wanted a 2.85mm tool head because we had a ton of the filament left over when the stock toolhead failed.
Could I get a BL sensor, swap tool heads, test the bad printer’s print surface, use shims like you did, swap back the tool heads, and then return back to using the stock auto-leveling feature?
You wouldn’t gain anything by swapping the BLTouch in and out. The benefit of it is measuring off the bed and bypassing the problematic electrical connection test. A knockoff BLTouch is under $20 - 3D touch, so for the saved frustration in leveling, it’s inexcusable to still run the washer-based system.
You’ll need the BLTouch-enabled firmware, the version I put together was specific for my needs, but by adjusting the probe offsets, it can be used with any printhead, but the SD card reader isn’t enabled in this version in order to maximize memory for other features Taz6_202407_BLTouch_NOSD_firmware.hex - Google Drive
I have the SE tool head, so the Taz 6 files will not work, but I should be able to design something. How should the probe be in relation to the nozzle?
Would it be hard to convert your firmware to allow the SD reader? It is easiest way for us to print, and when we have tried USB printing, prints weren’t finishing, and we were not sure why.
Not hard to enable it, literally just swapping false for true in a line of code. I just use octoprint, so it was unnecessary use of the Rambo’s somewhat-limited memory space, and with UBL and other things enabled, I wasn’t sure if it would start causing issues.
I converted the SE toolhead into the itworks-3d version which had a BLTouch mount available. I would highly recommend the change, but you can mount the BLTouch to the SE.
Optimally, the probe is as close to the nozzle as possible. It’s better to have it with no Y offset, to avoid x-axis twist issues.
Thanks for all of the help. I am struggling to find information on the itworks-3D version. Is the change simply a different fan shroud or is there more to it? I do not think I am finding it on printables.
Yeah, sad to see it go, but there’s 3rd-party supporting these machines would be tough as their install base goes away. Anybody picking up a Taz6 on the cheap isn’t going to drop that kind of money for an upgrade.
