Sunhokey Prusa I3 Z Axis Rotation Alignment Gauge Thingy

thingiverse

I whipped up something quick to figure out if both Z steppers are in sync. I took the nema plate from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:26126 and gave it a remix. I noticed that they get out of sync sometimes, leading to issues with filament sticking or not extruding because the nozzle is too far or too close to the bed. This isn't 100% accurate but will give you a quick way to tell if something's off as the print starts, so you can cancel and make adjustments before it's too late. I made a vertical line on the rod couplings that matches up with the flat part of the stepper shaft and used this to sync both steppers. You could just use the setscrews as the alignment mark if you prefer. Then I leveled out the X axis and tightened up the set screws. As they turn, the line should always point to the same mark on the gauge. I did it so when I homed the hotend, the lines lined up with the frontmost mark, giving me a visual check that they're both level. Just use longer M3 bolts and attach them over top of the stepper mounts. Print one for each side. After making this, I took a closer look at the Marlin firmware and saw that it supports 2 Z Endstops. It looks like the MKS Gen V1.2 might support it too. I'm thinking of just adding a second Z stop to see how it goes instead of using this.