Hello, I’m new to the 3d printer scene. I’ve purchased a second hand Lulzbot Mini 1. I’ve learned a great deal. However, my auto-leveling keeps failing. I managed to get a couple of prints to work… Mostly….
Now when I print without auto leveling, the nozzle I believe prints too far away from the plate. I’m unsure if I’m offsetting the z-axis correctly.
When the fillament comes out of the nozzle, it prints too far from the plate or the fillament will curl back towards the nozzle. As well as when laying fillament , the nozzle seems to move faster than it needs to. Resulting in fillament being layed where it’s not supposed to and fillament not being layed where it’s supposed to.
I have gone through same issues with auto-leveling in the past. Get some 91-Isopropyl Alcohol and a dust-free cloth. Remove and clean the 4 washers. Heat the extruder and clean any residual plastic, then cool and clean again with the alcohol. Since your printer was 2nd hand, be sure to flash the firmware.
As for your first-layer issues, it sounds like your nozzle is too far away from the bed and you correctly suspect a z-axis misalignment, but if you have never done so, perform the Calibrate E-Steps procedure to ensure it’s not a flow issue.
Yes if you’re getting intermittent results on “autoleveling” then keep those washers clean, as ‘wander’ said. Also make sure the nozzle is clean. Even a little bit of filament left on the tip can prevent contact on one of the four washers.
I usually don’t have too much trouble with this unless I move to something like PC-MAX filament but since I use that a lot I use a small painting knife to rub the print head clean while it’s still warm.
Keep in mind this was an early form of autoleveling in the industry and imho was biased towards keeping equipment safe over print-success.
There is sort of a national obssession with dealing with this, lulzbot-wise at least.
Many live with it and work around it like I do. Can be frustrating when you’re short on time otherwise these are great printers.
