Got My New Taz 6, Have Some Questions.

General LulzBot TAZ
#1

Hi,

So I finally got my Taz 6 yesterday and so far have printed the rocktupus and 2 cell phone cases out of N-Gen. Everything is working pretty well… but I had a few initial questions that I thought some of the veterans could help me with.

  1. Is the plastic piece that the filament feeds into at the start of the filament guide tube supposed to stay stationary and vertical? It has a ring on it that the book said to slide over the mount for it, but that causes it to swing backwards and forwards freely. Not sure how it supposed to happen.

  2. Is there noticable difference in performance from printing something from the PC or directly from the SD card? Like if I set it up in cura and save the gcode to the card, then print from the printer… does all that info from cura come over in the gcode and does it print exactly the same as from the PC? (only without having to have both sucking power the whole time.)

  3. I am finding that I cannot access or read the SD card using my PC, when the SD card is inserted in the Taz 6 and the Taz 6 is connected to my PC. I am able to control the printer with Cura and everything, its just I expected to be able to save things on the SD card while it is inserted into the printer without having to take it out and move it to my other card slot (which works so there is nothing wrong with the SD card.)

  4. Everything I have printed using Colorfabb N-Gen, I have just printed on a 85C print bed and it stuck good. In Cura, it says N-gen is supposed to use a glue stick, but the first print thing didn’t call for that either so I am confused on when I would need a glue stick. The rocktopus stuck a little too well. When I tried to get it off, it seemed to make some rough spots on the print bed as it popped off that could not be cleaned off. I sanded the area with some 2000 grit paper until I can’t feel it much now then used alcohol to clean it. Hopefully thats not a bad move but the book said something about sanding it occasionally.


    Anyway, thats enough for now :slight_smile: Really enjoying it so far and can’t wait to get deeper into making.

#2

  1. Yes, it is supposed to do that. It allows the fillament to pivot within the guide tube to allow for a smoother allignment path to the print head. It also allows for using a floor mounted fillament spool rather than one on the frame if desired.

  2. No difference in performance under most circumstances. Printing from the PC, depending on the program you are using you can sometimes get away with printing a larger gcode file than you might directly from the SD card if your software supports incremental transmit, but you also run risks of failed prints due to reboots, etc. I personally run my main printer via USB, many people prefer SD card simply due to the reboot issue.

  3. I don’t use the SD card much, so someone else will have to answer that one.

  4. The gluestick prevents excessive adhesion. Many people don’t use it, some find that it helps. Fixing a rough spot via sanding is fine

#3

Great info thanks! Now if anyone knows the answer to #3 I’ll be all set :slight_smile:

#4
  1. From what I understand, and if I understand your question correctly :smiley: The Taz 6 SD card slot does not “communicate” with your computer even though the printer is connected to your PC. Correct, there is nothing wrong with your SD card. You will need to take the SD card and insert to your PC to save instead. Yes, an extra step for us :frowning:

Enjoy your printing!

#5

OK thanks for clearing it up. Not to big of a deal but would have been nice. :slight_smile: