New to printing so apologies if some of my terms are confusing.
I have an old Taz 6 printer.
I am trying to print a small square part, but the part appears to print rectangles of increasing size. My original thought was that the bed was not level but I have confirmed that the bed is level with the machine.
I would like to upload an attachment of my print file and a photo showing the issue but I am not allowed to as a new user.
The photos will definitely help, can you post them elsewhere?
The most common problem with Taz 6 machines is slight contamination of the nozzle that ruins the bed leveling compensation, leading to bad first layer adhesion.
Rectangles instead of squares could easily be a loose grub screw on one of the motors causing significant backlash on movements on that axis.
This link will take you to the openbuild forum, they are an awesome open source maker space community that I use for my CNC machine.
That site requires a login to view the photos. You should be able to add them here soon, or possibly DM them to me if you can’t post them yet.
Your part isn’t flat on the bed. The skirt doesn’t surround the part, only the bit touching on the first layer. If you’re printing a square, you should have a square skirt. You have an elongated rectangle that indicates to me that your file doesn’t have a truly flat bottom, or it’s slightly rotated.
Here’s a reproduction of a similar part to demonstrate.
What it should look like - first layer if it were flat on the bed:
Rotated 2 degrees first layer:
Second Layer (prints over the skirt - look familiar?):
Complete rendering, showing the stepped top from it not being flat:
What can be causing that miss alignment? My part is flat on the build plate in the Cura slicer software.
