can I somehow skip, "self leveling" ???

my self-leveling is quite erratic - it sometimes tries to wipe then print from six inches up in the air…
— other times it does not descend the final half-inch on one (just one) of the leveling washers – then it tries to print from half-inch off the plate…
— and about one out of ten tries — it levels, then prints just fine. I have rebooted both the mini and Cura before each of these things happen…

— I can’t figure out if it’s a software problem or a hardware one…

— I can level the plate myself – is it possible to skip the leveling ???

(I also have a Taz5 which works perfectly, all the time, using the same Cura).

The wiping and leveling is all initiated by commands in the start gcode. You can very easily remove those commands, and then there will be no more wiping and probing (easy part). That leaves you with the hard part, which is how to level the mini build plate, and get Z=0 to be the surface.

There is no built-in manual leveling adjustments on the corners of the mini bed. You could use shims (difficult and time consuming to get right), but more practically would need to devise some kind of new adjustable mounting points for each corner.

The mini homes to Z_Max, which current firmware defines as Z=158, so moving down to Z=0 currently puts the nozzle about 3-4mm above the bed. Changing Z_Max to 161 or 162 and recompiling would make Z=0 close to the bed surface – and from there, your newly devised manual bed leveling/adjustment system would come into play in order to get the surface level and aligned at the new Z=0 point.

It might be better to fix the leveling problem. What you describe is not typical or normal behavior – the leveling is normally reliable unless something is broken or the pad is dirty.

The skipping of one or both right-hand washers is often a sign that the X-Carriage is not parallel to the bed – that is easily fixed by manually adjusting one of the threaded rods. The skipping of all washers (moving over each washer, but never probing downard) is usually an electronics problem (wiring or board). Skipping the probe sequence entirely (never moving over or probing any washers) typically only happens if there is a problem in the Gcode (although I have seen a rare, intermittent issue in the 1.1.5.xx firmware which causes that on about 1 in 20 prints – and that will be fixed in the 1.1.8.xx firmware when it is released.)

I should also mention that Lulzbot is investigating a way to save/restore the leveling data in memory. If that happens in a future firmware, then you would be able to store the results of a successful probing sequence – and simply restore it for a future print, rather than it running for every single print. No idea when (or if) that will actually be implemented.

wow ! - what a fine response - (Z=158, etc) —
— I saw the leveling G-code for the first time just after I posted - I saw no reference to a lower stop - I will have to crash-course myself into G-code commands - but your reply has opened up possibilities for me both to learn and to fix.
— I level my taz5 by partially printing my Empire Strikes Back, four-footed creature, then actually examining the results…

— a note here: I had the Mini-unit open to replace the USB-B jack in the front (I had kicked it or tripped on the cord several times until it broke) - with a USB-A jack that emerges from the top ----- I ordered and received the $100 replacement board, but the “octopus-style” of wires wrapped around the board drove me to the more simple jack replacement — perhaps I have loosened a connection on the board - which would explain erratic behavior from a computer…
— thank you, thank you - your note has given me more confidence - I shall be fine.
— and will get back to you with happy results (give me three weeks - my OCD makes me flit between projects.
— tommy. age 72. colorado mountains.
----- (at 8500 feet - I have no filament-humidity worries)