Taz 1 - Need Help

Hello. I am the original owner of a Taz 1, purchased back in 2013. I bought it with big ideas, and ended up using it only a dozen times or so, mainly to print some minecraft stuff for the kids. It has since been sitting in my office collecting dust.

Now I am trying to get this thing up and running again because the kids are showing interest. The original computer I had installed the software and drivers on is long gone. I think the program I was using before was Slic3r.

I tried installing CURA but I cannot for the life of me find how to install the settings for Taz 1. All I see are options for Taz Mini and 5 and 6. Unfortunately I tried running it with the settings for Taz 5 and it ran the nozzle into the print bed and melted the top layer about 4 inches before I could stop it. So I guess I’ll be replacing that.

So, to recap, if anyone is able to help me get this running with CURA or another program, and make me a hero in the eyes of my kids, I would greatly appreciate it.

ok, so the Taz 1 predates the adoption of Cura by Lulzbot, there are a couple things you can use to get it working.

If I were you, I would use either the simple but low feature Prointerface, or Repetier host to control the printer, but if you have your heart set on cura, it will work as well. Find the profile for a Taz 3 of you can locate one. The Taz 3 has the same leadscrews as the Taz 1 essentially, the main differences are the Taz 3 is a 24v machine where the taz 1 is most likely a 12v machine unless its been upgraded.

Next, you are going to need to adjust the Z height offset. if you hit the bed with the nozzle, its adjusted far too low. Look for a bolt with a spring on the left hand side of the printer, and adjust that all the way out so that the limit switch will hit that bolt before the nozzle gets to the bed. Keeping your hand on the power switch, Turn on your printer, home the Z axis, and if it starts making grinding noises when it hits the limit switch but does not stop, kill the power.

You should be able to hit the Home all axis button and have the nozzle come to rest at the lower front left corner. Now take something about the thickness of a business card (a metal ruler works well) heat the bed and nozzle to temperature, then use that business card thickness object to check the nozzle to bed surface space at all 4 corners, starting with the 0,0,0 home point. If 2 corners on a side are off, carefully adjust the threded rod by manually turning it slowly to compensate. if only one is off, adjust the corner springs up or down accordingly. Once you have it so it looks dialed in, print the bedcalib.gco gcode file from download.lulzbot.com The control program stuff for the taz one is also in there somewhere.

For slicing, you want to use Slic3r PE (Prussa Edition) these days if you aren’t using Cura. It produces better gcode than the largely abandoned Slic3r standard. They are essentially two different programs at this point.

You may want to consider sourcing parts to upgrade your Taz 1 to a Taz 5 spec. You need to go to 24v, which requires a new heated bed, new power supply and new hotend, replace the threaded rod with leadscrews and the metal side plates and the other printed bits, Replace the old style bed frame to main frame interface clamps which can move with the newer style. It does require some work, and you would end up putting another $400 or so in parts towards the machine, but it would print much better after.