Is anyone else seeing unusual wear on the rods used for the Y axis on a Taz 6? This Taz is about 6 months old and showing wear on the rods. This is also happening on X axis but to a lesser degree. I would have thought Lulzbot would have used hardened chrome rods but guess not. We contacted support and they said this is ‘normal’ and to clean the rods with steel wool, which we did. Now they are squeaking. Maybe its time for some Wd40 … We have ordered new rods and bearings since this is a production machine and need it to stay up.
I was just wondering if this is ‘normal’ and if anyone else has this problem.
I ran my Taz 3 rods for a year without issue before I swapped them out for Openbuilds rails. If you are seeing wear, check that you didn’t end up with one that someone installed ball bearings on, if so you’ll want to swap those rods out for hardened ones. The igus bushings lulzbot uses are self lubricating, and will actually react excessively badly to any lubricant you put on the rods. WD-40 would not only eat them over time, it would also gum them up to the point they would become unusuable in short order and start mar-ing your rods.
If they are visibly rough now, you may want to replace them and your bearings. printer should also still be under warranty though.
