Z Zero Micrometer Mount, Pictures, Files

General LulzBot TAZ
1

Hi All,

I would like to share an upgrade I made for my TAZ 5, which is a micrometer mount to adjust the Z Homing height with precision. I have used a micrometer head graduated in thousandths of inch, but there is the same model that comes in mm for those who prefer that measurement format.
The reason: I recently had a PEI bed surface come unglued from the glass bed due to a large footprint ABS part cooling past 50deg. C. I thought if I could adjust the Z homing height for large- footprint parts to be a little farther away from the bed, then the removal force could be less forceful, and conversely if I were then printing small footprint parts that have a large Z height, I could then adjust the Z homing height to make the initial layer to be a little closer to the bed and have a little better adhesion. The repeat ability inherent in the Z homing height screw that comes on the TAZ was insufficient for making those slight adjustments with confidence, in my opinion.
The support personnel at Lulzbot were awesome regarding the remedy for the PEI bed problem, so when I was back up and running, I made this micrometer mount, which hopefully would allow me to steer clear of that problem again in the future, and I would like to share this with the rest of the Lulzbot community, if anyone is interested.
The Z limit switch gets turned around and attached to the same holes but just facing in the other direction.
Please see attached pictures and Solidworks 2014 file.

TAZ5_Z-ZeroMicrometerMount-B.JPG
TAZ5_Z-ZeroMicrometerMount-B.JPG2560×1920 2.31 MB

Besides the printed part, the other parts are below:
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Found the micrometer for $20 less than found at McMaster Carr here:
http://www.surpluseq.com/search/?search=148-202


Mcmaster Carr: http://www.mcmaster.com
92453A152 6-32x 7/8" brass screw
91292A126 M5x16 SS cap screw
93475A240 M5 SS Washer
19725A61 Micrometer #148-202
TAZ5_Z-Zero_MicrometerMount.SLDPRT (473 KB)
TAZ5_Z-Zero_MicrometerMount.gcode (997 KB)
TAZ5_Z-Zero_MicrometerMount.STL (87 KB)

2

Nice solution! But do you know you can also set a z offset easily in cura, or even with profiles for different materials or part sizes in slic3r? That’s the way i fine tune my z offset.

3

Hi Sebastian,
Thank you for mentioning the ability for Z height offset in CURA, I didn’t know it existed. It could have potentially made my upgrade redundant if I had known about it. I was only aware of the Z offset as mentioned in relationship to support structure in CURA. If you have time to explain, I would like to know how to do it.
Thank you in advance,

4

In Cura click Machine -> Machine settings…
There you can find the Z-Offset.

5

Hi Sebastian,
OK I see it now. It wasn’t offered in CURA v 14.09 so I didn’t see it. I tried to use CURA version 17.10, but for some reason it wouldn’t give me a printing time estimate when it compiled the stl part such as CURA v 14.09 did, so I didn’t end up switching over to using CURA v 17.10 and thus didn’t see the Z offset option.

Thank you,

6

I’ve never gotten into the use of the z-offset in software. I still prefer setting my z height manually. This is a great looking upgrade. I just installed it about a half hour ago, and really think it’s a huge improvement over the thumbscrew and spring arrangement.

Thanks!!!

Scott