We get asked this frequently so I figured a post would be helpful.
Feel free to chime in with suggested adds/ changes/ corrections. We start with the features of the TAZ 1, and note changes/upgrades as they happen in later models.
No LCD or card reader, USB only (LCD cable, housing and panel can be added)
Printed Y axis end plates, control box, and Lulzbot dual color logo plate
Toolhead harness has 2 4 pin connectors- 4 pin connector for stepper with multicolored wires, 4 pin connector with 2 red wires for the hotend resistor and 2 orange wires for the hotend thermistor.
TAZ 2:
Adds LCD with SD card reader for untethered / headless printing
Mid production- Upgraded to 24V for faster heating, 24V 360W power supply, silver chassis with printed endcap
acrylic laser etched logo plate
metal control box
Survived the fall 2013 flooding of the manufacturing facility!
TAZ 3:
printed Z nut spring upgraded to a stiffer more durable design
Metal Y axis endplates with printed bearing and motor mounts. Front and back plate have different arches, are not interchangable, and can’t be re-drilled to convert one to another.
TAZ 4:
Z axis lead screws increased in diameter with different thread pitch- which is why TAZ 3 firmware doesn’t work correctly in a TAZ 4)
Z axis lead screws located by bearings at each end, adding additional bracing to the smooth rods. (TAZ 3 Z rod is only located by the flexible coupler and Z nut)
Metal X axis endplates
Larger diameter Z nuts.
New flexible aluminum Z axis couplers between steppers and Z lead screws
New control box: Cam lock connectors for all wires entering and leaving. Two extruder connectors on the exterior of the box, making it easier to add a second extruder. Wire exits moved to clear the new lower Z axis motor mounts (a TAZ 3 control box only works with creative modification) LCD Wire harness now externally removable for service
Different wire harness routing
Z axis endstop moves from Z motor mount to Z carriage
Different wire harness routing
Filament cooling fan (optional on earlier TAZ models).
24V 450W power supply, sealed molded plastic
Toolhead harness adds 2 pin 24V PWM controlled wires for filament cooling fan
Several Y axis motor mount side endplate holes shift 15mm from Taz 3 endplate positions.
Y motor bracket changes slightly.
Bed frame to main frame connectors change to prevent bed lifting and shifting.
Minor changes to double bearing holder and single bearing holder
Lighter X carriage with Dual Extruder cable hold down
Larger diameter Z endstop target bolt (M5 compared to taz 3 M3) and stiffer spring allow for much more accurate Z height keeping and eliminates bed height adjustment keeping difficulty earlier Taz models were prone to
TAZ 5:
Hexagon all metal hotend up to 300C
.35mm nozzle in early production, .5mm nozzle in later production
3 versions of toolhead connectors through the production run: First: “V2A” 4pin + 4Pin + 2Pin + 2Pin, Second “V2B” 4pin + 4Pin + 3Pin + 2Pin to avoid mixing up the 24V filament cooler fan and 5V micro blower fan connections. Third through the end of production “V2C” 8x2 pin. LulzBot has a handy chart with adaptor part numbers for reference https://www.lulzbot.com/tool-head-adapters
PEI bed plastic. More durable, lower maintenance (no acetone!!), better adhesion.
24V 450W power supply, sealed molded plastic in early production, 500W higher quality metal enclosed power supply in later production.
Hotend upgraded to “V2.1” which changes the heatsink cooling fan to a front mounted 5v with printed duct, adds a second filament cooler on the left side of the filament for more even cooling, and changes the toolhead carriage design.
Print volume reduced slightly in X and Y to 11.06"
“Auto bed leveling” added, which compensates for the print bed being off from parallel with the X carriage and the Y carriage not being perpendicular to the Z axis. Like the LulzBot Mini, the TAZ 6 runs a calibration routine at the start of every print where the print nozzle makes electrical contact with washers at the corners of the bed. The Z height values are fed into the firmware, and the Z axis runs up and down dynamically during the print to compensate. Also new is a “sanity check” during the bed calibration that halts the calibration if a value is outside a reasonable range. This feature automatically halts calibration, wipes the nozzle in a different pattern, then re-starts the calibration.
Automatic nozzle cleaning wipes the nozzle on a replaceable pad prior to the auto bed level routine to help clean the nozzle and aid in good electrical contact during the bed calibration.
X axis rods increase in size to 12mm
all smooth rods and bearings are improved to an upgraded high accuracy system
Z lead screws changed to a different spec, are now (shiny silver) stainless steel, no lubrication. Z nuts are interchangeable between TAZ 4/5/6
New expanded metal control box housing consolidates power supply, RAMBo board, LCD Panel w/Control Knob and 1 power switch along with an exhaust fan into a single unit.
Wiring is simplified and streamlined
Steppers are all black
X carriage is moved in between the Z smooth and threaded rods to reduce leverage
ninjaflex washer is added between the X/Z carriers and Z drive nuts to reduce binding
Z home is now accomplished with a push button at the left rear of the bed
Z offset can be adjusted during the print from the LCD
LCD text interface improved, with larger print in some sub menus and animated graphics for some operations.
Y front endplate changed to match the Y rear endplate
Corner brackets upgraded to aluminum
Frame extrusions upgraded to locking T-Slots
Travel maximum and minimum endstop switches on all 3 axis (prior TAZs had only minimums)
Automatic temperature settings generated in Cura, no need to pre-set temperatures
X maximum and Y maximum endstops added. Y endstops are relocated from the frame to the bed itself. X maximum endstop installed on rear of X carriage right blower fan. Wireing changed to match.
Change to mounting feet and rod mount on Y bed corners using printed dampers
Fillament guide path spinner mounts can now fold up against frame with the spinner removed
Upgrading a prior TAZ to a TAZ 6 has a number of dependencies that limit piecemeal upgrades. The mechanical parts you’ll need are:
12mm x rods
12mm bearings
control box
aluminum bed plate
Y front endplate (same as TAZ 4/5 motor end plate)
extruder heatsink cooler fan
filament cooler fan
a pile of heat inserts
switches
wire, pins, and connectors for the required re-wire
You’ll need to print a bunch of parts as well. We sell many of them, and are working on a kit of parts based on some pre-production chassis from LulzBot
Upgrading a TAZ 4 to a TAZ 5 is covered in another thread, but to recap:
Upgrading a TAZ 3 to TAZ 4/5 is far more involved.
If your want “Cool project, time and money aren’t really an object, I like hunting down obscure parts and printing my own upgrade parts” go ahead with a TAZ 3 to 4/5 upgrade
If you want a “TAZ 4/5”, just buy one ready to go. You’ll likely be money ahead (control box connectors are around $30 ea, for example), and will save a bunch of time.
Perform the upgrades in Taz 4 to TAZ 5 above as needed.
Upgrade the Z axis, which entails the first several points of the TAZ 4 upgrade list and is quite a bit of work and expense to do “correctly”, as it involved changing the wiring harness.
Flash Firmware
Upgrade the power supply. Not required, but the printer heats much more quickly.
TAZ 5:
Mid production switched to single 8x2 pin connector (V2c).
I’ve searched through the BOMs and cannot find any information about this connector and pins.
I’m upgrading the Extruder and would rather not have to do any splicing.
Do you have any links for these parts?
Mid production- Upgraded to 24V for faster heating, 24V 360W power supply, silver chassis with printer endcap
Metal Y axis endplates with printed bearing and motor mounts. Front and back plate are have different arches, are not interchangable, and can’t be re-drilled to convert one to another.
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Print volume reducesd slightly in X and Y to 11.06"
“Auto bed leveling” added, which compensates for the print bed being off from parallel with the X carriage and the Y carriage not being perpendicular to the Z axis. Like the LulzBot Mini, the TAZ 6 by runs a calibration routine at the start of every print
Automatic nozzle cleaning wipes the nozzle on a replaceable pad prior to the auto bed level routine to help clean the nozzle and aid in god electrical contact during the bed calibration.
Y front endplate changed to match the Y reaar endplate
Taz 6 apparently has about a 1 second delay for on/off now at the main power switch that the 5 didn’t have. It sounds like it’s using a relay of some sort.
I think:
power supply is moved inside the control box
Control box is expanded
Might be better said (with note about included LCD controller and single power switch as opposed to 2 on the T5 - one for PS and one for Taz):
-New expanded metal control box housing consolidates power supply, RAMBo board, LCD Panel w/Control Knob and 1 power switch along with an exhaust fan into a single unit.
It depends on how involved you want to get with the modification. If you just want to change out the motion segment and add auto leveling, you can pick up a Taz 6 bed plate for $35, another Taz 6 style front idler plate for $15 (it uses the same style as the back motor mount plate) and then the other pieces of the bed and wire harness for another $50 or so (Washers, corner posts, the switch, wire harness, etc.) The motion segment changes can be printed or sourced from ITworks3d.com and mainly consist of the 12mm rods and bearings for the X axis, new X ends, new Z motor and top mounts, new bearing mounts, new carriage pieces, and a couple of extra limit switches.
If you want to redo the control box as well, you can buy the boxes for around $50 or so from ITworks. you will need to rewire pretty much everything to accomodate it though. Costwise that isn’t too bad, it’s just connectors and wires. But the amount of time and troubleshooting it takes is significant. Here is the assembly instructions though, so you can see what it would require. https://ohai.lulzbot.com/group/taz-6/
Ok, so how hard or possible would it be to convert a Taz 4 to most of what a Taz 6 is? Obviously the power supply and control part is different, but can the printer mechanics be changed out to give you most of what is in a TAZ 6 or is it time for an upgrade? Thanks!
I dont think its too hard or too much to upgrade an older taz to a 6 or close to it. Its expensive if someone buys all the parts here. I mean it seems like you guys have a 50% mark up. I bought some linear rails i was going to use on my sidewinder but going to use now for the Y axis on my taz and i got them for a little under 100. and good ones the 12mm with the nice big carriage that just glides by its self if its a little tilted. you guys have those things for hundreds. got a rambo 1.3l for 70 bucks offerup. the hotend will be expensive but even that i hunted a dual extruder but v2 for 190. slowly ill get and do my own wirring to save money. half the fun is building them for me. more than half. i rarely print and when i do its parts for 3d printers. lol