Birth of new Taz 6 clone

Hi all

Just wanted to share some pictures of my newly finished Taz 6 clone. Most of the work has been done and now its time for my not so favourite part the electronics… :open_mouth:

Got the Rambo 1.3 yesterday and installed it into the control box, plugged in all the looms, installed the firmware through cura 21.04 and now everything is up and running apart from the stepper motors just click and not rotate when i try to home the printer??

Is this something to do with the software or the stepper motors i’m using (17HS3001-20B)??? Do i need the moon’s steppers the factory Taz 6 comes with?

If anyone can point me in the right direction ill be most happy.
Thanks in advance.




Nice looking clone! Did you make a metal upper corner box?

The stepper motor pinout may be different than the Taz motors. A stepper motor has two magnetic coils in it, that work to reinforce the rotation and enhance precsion of the rotation. if you have only one coil energized, the motor will turn but weekly. If you have two coils energized correctly it will turn strongly. if you have one coil in opposition to the other, you will get no rotation at all and the shaft will vibrate and click a bunch as one coil tries to overcome the other. it is also possible to have it wired so that both coils are shorted. Chances are thats what you are dealing with. Looking at the model number that particular motor is also a half height motor, suitable for extruders but may not have enough torque on its own to operate the bed or the leadscrews. I’d expect it to still be able to move the X axis though. Here is a link showing the pinout. https://www.3dp2go.com/nema17-stepper-motor-40mm12a-nema17-17hs300120b-p-213.html AB and CD are the two coilsIf A and C are both negative for example, the motor would operate correctly.

Thanks for the reply piercet that helped a lot and now i have all 5 steppers running :smiley: now just got to work out why sometimes (not all the time) its not touching some of the auto level washers.

Yes the upper corners are made from aluminium so to are both Z lowers, x carriage and the interconnect housing.


You’re welcome! i think that’s the first silver painted Taz i’ve seen so far. Neat!

Thats a naked TAZ 6 without the paint :open_mouth:

Done a few prints on the new TAZ but im getting inconsistent bed levelling. sometimes the nozzle is as far as 5 mill of the bed any ideas?

Z motor coupler slipping is the most likely cause. If its not that, you might have binding somewhere. When you assemble a new 3d printer, if you tighten the X axis rods before you mount it on the Z axis for example, you can end up with excess pressure in or out on the z leadscrews or bearings, which can in turncause one of the leadscrews to drag a bit and not rotate fully. Or your motors just don’t have enough coils to consistantly turn the leadscrews at the same rate at all times. You’re using motors with half the coils of the stock Taz motors so that is a very real possibility.

I do not think half height motors have enough torque for the load on the Z rods.

Yes that makes sense I’ll order two moons steppers (unless there is any other suitable motor?) For the z axis and see how it goes.

Thanks guys.

The moons ones are good quality and seem to be quieter than the older stock Taz 5 style. Most of the full height ones should do the trick though. But you know the moons motors ones will work for a fact.

So ive installed two new moon’s steppers on the Z but im still having random probe results :frowning: .

When i start the print the machine will do all the normal stuff before probing then on a random corner of the build plate the head will come down and touch the washer, go up as if to start the ‘slowly down to touch the washer part’ but instead go up about 10mm then slowly come down but it is now so far away from the washer it times out and moves to the next corner which it may do the same thing or do a text book probing :confused:

These are my electronic parts

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3DMakerWorld-Full-Graphic-Smart-LCD-Controller-128-x-64-display-with-SD-card/181904026454?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3DMakerWorld-All-in-one-RAMBo-Electronics-Controller-V1-3/181562900121?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3DMakerWorld-RAMBo-LCD-Adapter/171660215884?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

Things done so far.

replaced both Z steppers with moon’s. (should i replace the other 3 (x,y and extruder) would having different steppers effect the electronics ???)
Old steppers http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Nema-17-Bipolar-Stepper-1-8deg-12v-1-2A-400mN-m-42x42x40mm-4-wires-Nema17-CNC/152256050120?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649
i have replaced the LCD adaptor with the Luzbot LCD loom.
Bed level check done. ( i’ve put a spacer under the nozzle and manual checked the distance from the nozzle to the bed in most places and it check out ok)
Re-installed firmware using CURA luzbot ed.

is there anything else i should look at ??

That could potentially be an electrical conductivity issue. Did you use thread locker or anything non conductive on the washers, the nozzle ground wire, or the harness? I’d double check the wiring and assembly here: https://ohai.lulzbot.com/group/taz-6/

it’s possible you are in the wrong Z endstop plug, or maybe the switch on the bed isn’t detecting the low point of the bed properly?

i will double check my wiring and report back.

In the control window do people get the same Eqn coefficients and planeNormal results everytime you print?

So ,

Stepper motors changed for moon’s and everything seems to be working as it should. Im a very happy man :smiley:

Mini Taz next…? lol

What power supply did you end up using? The one I purchased will not work without drilling more holes in the control box as they do not match the meanwell power supply screw holes.
I priced out a meanwell supply and might just purchase that even though they are not the cheapest it might just be the best solution moving forward.

Thanks!

This is fantastic, I was just looking into starting this project. Would you be willing to share your sources for the hardware? Rails, controller box, bed etc…? This is really really cool.

Also what is the overall price of your build?

Well done!

Hi guys haven’t been on for awhile my apologies. TAZ 6 still going strong. Had some issues with the power supply (cheap copy) SD card reader not working properly, self leveling wasnt reliable so ending up buying a meanwell which seemed to solve all the above so dont skimp on this component if your building a TAZ 6.

I run a sheet metal workshop here in the UK so getting the sheet metal parts made was a bonus.

I’ve added WiFi, octoprint and some strength to the bed plate.

Thanks for the nice comments will add some pictures of finished machine soon. Happy to help anyone if needed.

I’ve also just started a Mini 2 build!

My finished TAZ6