Let me first start with I am new to the TAZ 3D Printer and am a convert from the Makerbot series. Since receiving my TAZ 5 I have not been able to make one thing print out properly. I either have a jammed filament or some variation on that. I have followed the setup to the letter including the leveling procedures ( it prints great ) . I have talked with tech support and they tell me everything looks fine on pics I send yet my problems remain. Support tells me to adjust the Z axis in small increments and I have done that as well. I would guess I have adjusted and attempted no less that 90+ small prints that have all failed due to the extruder jamming or back pressure they say.
I am looking for a 3rd party to assist me with setup over the phone and I am willing to pay for that assistance.
Throw some pics up here, I’ll give you the best hand I can. Did you calibrate your esteps? One thing you might want to do is put a probe thermometer on your nozzle and see if the thermistor reading is off from what you measure the nozzle temp to be at–set it to a practical print temp like 200°C. Unplug your thermistor/heater cartridge cable and check the resistance of your thermistor, should be right around 100KΩ at 25°C. Check that your nozzle, heater block, heater cartridge, etc is tight–air gaps will reduce conductive energy transfer. I say this because your symptoms seem like they could be from the filament not melting enough in the nozzle. I could be wrong
Connect with printrun and set your extruder temp to the proper temperature for your filament. Once the extruder is heated, try to extrude filament from printrun. If filament does extrude several times, undo the 2 knobs that secure the filament, and try pulling it out. If your filament has gear marks, or even has a melted spot on it, then pull that out and cut it off. Put the filament back into the nozzle and push it until it extrudes a small amount. Secure your filament and make sure that the knobs are tight enough to do their job. Level your print bed. Start a print, and adjust the z-axis until you get a nice flow of filament.
You may need to add some more details about what’s going on. Pictures help too.
What filament are you using? ABS? PLA?
What software are you using? Slic3r & Pronterface? CURA?
What profile are you using? Something direct from Lulzbot’s page?
What are you trying to print? Octopus? Pliers? A simple cube?
What’s happening when you print? Are the gears turning but nothing is extruding? Is filament extruding but not sticking to bed?
Are you using the LCD to print off the SD? Try this:
Preheat to the type of filament the menus.
Home the print head again through the menus
Once the machine is preheated, pick the bed calibration gcode from the SD card.
The gcode files on the SD card are probably the best tests to ensure your machine is functioning properly. Since the projects are sliced at the factory, they should print without a hitch.
