I am in the process of fine tuning my TAZ 6 to get it truly dialed in and noticed something a little strange while trying to figure out how to dial in the Z-axis. When the bed levels it touches the nozzle to all four corners but when it does I notice it would bush into the two front washers just enough you can see that corner flex before it would stop then when it did the back two it would almost just touch it an pull back instantly.
I assume that this is not normal and that the testing of that back two washers were working a expected but there was something wrong with the front two. I figured there was a conductivity issue between the bed to the washers to the nozzle. My first though was it was plastic on the nozzle but the nozzle looked perfectly clean and there were no issues with the back two washers so that could not be the case. So then I though something with the front two washers to I removed them and put them back on.
As far as I can tell there might have been a slight improvement in adjusting and cleaning the front two washers but to enough to keep the nozzle from flexing the bed a little as it probes them.
Just looking for someone to verify the normal behavior of the testing is that the nozzle is supposed to just barley touch the washer to the point you almost cant tell they are even touching and then pull back immediately. Also if that is the case any tips on how to get the front two washer corners working like the back two washer corners?
Hi Shawnbot,
Proper leveling procedure should have the nozzle lower and barely “kiss” the washer with no visible movement to the bed. It should then retract a bit and then lower again at a slower speed for the finer measurement. The behavior you are getting is usually what I see when the nozzle is dirty and doesn’t make electrical contact with the washer right away as it is pushing through a bit of crud. I have had this where it does it on the first one or two washers then seems fine on the back as it presses the gunk out of the way.
A few things to check:
- Is your wiping pad dirty/gunked up with old plastic? I have this problem more with PLA then with higher temp plastics like PETG
- Have you tried heating up the nozzle (temp depends of the kind of plastic you have been printing with) and wiped it down really well with a lint free cotton cloth of some kind?
- Check that during the pre-heat before leveling that there isn’t any filament ooze getting in the way
Titan8883,
- Is your wiping pad dirty/gunked up with old plastic? I have this problem more with PLA then with higher temp plastics like PETG
Yes, after reading this I replaced it with a new one.
- Have you tried heating up the nozzle (temp depends of the kind of plastic you have been printing with) and wiped it down really well with a lint free cotton cloth of some kind?
Yes/No I did wipe it down but not with a lint free cloth but with a kitchen sponge with the green scratchy side. Once again after reading I tried wiping it down with a lint free paper towel.
- Check that during the pre-heat before leveling that there isn’t any filament ooze getting in the way.
I do check and I saw no oozing and the nozzle is basically new.
After trying your recommendations it started to work perfectly! Now I just see a “kiss” on all washers with no bending of the bed. Not sure if it was replacing the wipe pad or the lint free paper towel or both but it did the trick.
I thought I had it clean since it was visibly clean but it looks like something as small as a piece of lint may have caused it.
Thank you Titan8883!