Taz 4.1 Ground issues?

I was wondering if anybody else is having this problem with their Taz 4.1, Whenever i go to reach for any part of the Taz and it gets shocked (Static electricity) the whole machine resets and or the LCD goes dim until it is powered off and then back on. I’ve started grounding myself by touching various pieces of metal before i touch the machine but i’ve never had this problem with any other electronic device being so sensitive to shock. Even my metal computer cases.

Is anybody else having these issues and if you are what were you able to do to bypass the problem?

My Taz is situated in a carpeted room (Not helping the problem i’m sure) on a black glass desk bolted to the wall to minimize vibrations.

I can offer a “me too.” I was considering posting on the same topic. I am considering connecting the frame to earth ground to see if that makes a difference.

Best Regards,
Paul

Most electrical components can prevent this by having the frame connected to power supply ground which since it uses a 3 prong plug should be connected to earth as you have said.

I’m wondering if i’m off on this assumption as well or if the machine is missing a ground connection somewhere. I do know those LCD types of screens are EXTREMELY sensitive to this type of shock and i’m hoping to avoid its loss until this is fixed.

Can you both please send in an email to Support@LulzBot.com with the following information:

  • Order number

  • 3D printer serial number

  • Contact information

  • Shipping information

Thanks!

Hello all,

Yes, sensitivity to electrostatic discharge (ESD) on the Lulzbot TAZ is a known issue that we are working to improve. The best caution to take currently is to make sure you ground yourself prior to touching the TAZ, particularly the LCD controller. We will let you know if we find a way to improve this issue!

Thanks.

Thank you for the notice that it is a known issue. I will email support with the information as Orias has requested. Is there a good / Recommended way to ground one self prior to touching the Taz until the issue is resolved?

I’ve been getting in the habit of touching the back of my hand to the metal edge of the desk the TAZ lives on before touching the device. Have not had the problem since I started doing that.

It is still my intention to play around with grounding the TAZ chassis but I’ve been keeping my printer running, quite literally, night and day. Probably the the weekend I can slow down a little bit and experiment.

Best Regards,
Paul

Hi all. I have been in communication with our team regarding this. We are taking this into consideration with future builds, and looking into ways to mitigate this in current models.

same problem here - is there a quick&dirty solution until more sophisticated solutions are developed?
do you recommended a point at the taz4.1 to connect a ground wire to?
already ruined 2 large prints with a “buzz” to the lcd module…

There are a few solutions I have come up with based on my personal experiences with the same issue. Feel free to try them out as time allows for yourself and let me know how they work for you.

#1: Grounding yourself prior to touching the Taz. While this is the easiest solution it can also be the easiest to forget as well, resulting in failed prints when this gets buggered after touching your machine.

A: Touch a grounded object NEAR your machine prior to operating it. While this is obviously the easiest solution it comes with its own downsides… Depending on the length of time you are using your machine you risk building up another charge post grounding and the resultant shock no matter how small may again damage your LCD / RAMBo control board.

B: Use a grounding strap! This works well so long as your grounding strap IS NOT in contact with your machine. From what I have been able to tell the initial grounding transfer of energy is also sufficient to cause the above mentioned failures when you ground yourself to the Taz. (Essentially it is the same as touching it initially). If your grounding strap is connected to a true ground (NOT YOUR MACHINE) then you will never build up a charge sufficient to cause failures… Just don’t forget to connect the strap prior to touching your machine.

C:Use a grounded anti static mat. This option is the most expensive one listed so far but I have found that it prevents me from ever forgetting to attach a strap. I have placed an anti - static mat (Conductive fabric) that is grounded in front of my machine. So whenever i approach the machine I am grounded prior to ever having the opportunity to touch it. This works well unless of course you are wearing thick rubber shoes preventing yourself from ever getting grounded.

#2: Fix the machine

A: I have had limited success attaching a ground point on the opposite side of the Electronics enclosure. This was an attempt to provide an easier path to ground away from sensitive components. Unfortunately its success was entirely depended on where you initially touched the device. and is not recommended.

B: Coat all exposed (Frequently touched) conductive surfaces using a spray on rubber coating. So long as you are careful during application this works wonders at preventing ESD. However as the LCD casing itself is metal directly touching the screen will still cause a significant failure.

I am still waiting for a permanent solution from lulzbot to remedy this issue myself. The workarounds listed above are not guaranteed to work in all cases and some depend on the proper electrical wiring of the house itself. Use at your own risk and be careful!

Hmm maybe this is what has happened to me a few times. I have never had it cause a failed print. However, there have been several times that I was in the middle of moving the axes with the LCD and suddenly the machine restarts. Maybe I touched the LCD enclosure and caused an ESD related shutdown.

Does anyone know if this is limited to machines purchased before a certain date?

For what it’s worth I would get shocked liked crazy when I had the mini, as in static shock, I couldn’t get up from my couch and then get a print without getting shocked. Probably had to do with the extra static electricity of my couch but if I touched other metal things I wouldn’t get the same shock so it something to do with the grounding on the printer…

Here’s a good one for you guys to have a guess at. I went to turn on the cooling fan from the LCD just to make the fan run a little bit, about 50. As soon as I pushed the encoder button everything stopped mid print and the extruder motor ran in reverse at max velocity until I shut the machine off. How’s that for a static bug!? I had also noticed the static issue before a couple of times but I haven’t talked about it because I haven’t been able to figure out a fix yet.

I’m thinking some well placed decoupling caps can suck up some of the extra electrons that are accumulating.

If any of you that have this happening all the time have a good volt meter with a min max setting you can place the black lead on earth and touch the red and pick up the potential. Fish around and find where the static potential is the highest. That’s what I’ve been trying to do but can never quite catch a spark.

If I were to guess I would bet it’s either coming from the steppers–magnets can push a lot of electrons around in other places–or more likely at the nozzle where there is a bare wire touching the block and lots of plastic is rubbing across a metal surface.

Found an interesting article on preventing ESD i figured i’d share with everybody who has the time to read it.

http://www.dbicorporation.com/esd-art1.htm

Dredging this up…

I have a KITTAZ (TAZ 4) that has been having problems no that winter and dry air is upon me here in New England. If I walk across my office (Berber carpet) and touch the Taz, I get a static zap and the RAMBo resets itself. Of course the print stops. If I discharge myself first, this does not happen but every so often I must have a bit of residual static because all of a sudden my Z position gets out of whack by anything from 1mm up to about 10mm. By this I mean, at some point (I’ve not been ale to isolate how or when) I see the nozzle is printing above where it should be by a mm up to 10mm . It’s the darnedest thing and I’ve never seen this in the summer when there is no static charge issue.

The other thing I’ll add, I’ve used RAMBos in the past on Mini Kossel and Rostock Max delta printers. I’ve touched the metal frames of them with a good static zap and not had a single problem! I use Mean Well supplies. Perhaps the external supply with the Taz is not sufficiently grounded? Has anyone found a solution to this issue? It is driving me crazy, especially since even with a discharge, I get this odd Z lift issue.

I am not 100% sure, but I think it is a floating supply.

2 things. First you could get you a ground plug adapter that they sell for static mats or static wrist straps and use it to force the case to be grounded, run a wire from it to the case. (first get a tester to be sure the plug in your house is wired correctly, this is a big must).

Next, you can also take a spray bottle and put about an ounce of Downy fabric softener in it then fill it the rest of the way with water and liberally spray the carpet all around the printer. We use to do this in arcades in the winter to keep people from zapping improperly made machines with static.

The first option is the most permanent of course but the second is a quick and easy fix though you need to re apply it every few weeks.

Thanks guys.

Ground plug adapter is a great idea. I know what you mean about trusting house wiring. I’ve checked all my outlets after the house was built and at least 10 of them were wired reversed and a few had bad grounds.

So I finished the large print finally but I literally did not get closer than 2’ to the printer table while it ran (6 hours). The print looks flawless EXCEPT there is a “part line” at about 8mm up. It is not filament starving, it literally looks like the Z raised a few 10ths of a mm and continued to print that layer. This is similar to what I have observed quite a few times when I touch the filament or printer after supposedly discharging static. I print on a PEI surface on glass. I wonder if the printer itself is building up a charge too.

Just a note for people: That LCD knob is just sitting out attached to a part on the LCD panel, so any static you have built up walking to the printer or just crossing your arms will travel from you into that part that is not grounded at all. Even if you ground the frame that knob is not grounded, since it does not touch the frame in any way.

Good point. We should be able to ground that reasonably well I think. I’ll wire it up and post photos when I get back home later this week.