Taz Pro, Taz Workhorse, Taz 6 (10mm), and Upgraded Taz 6 (12mm) Y Table In-Place Alignment Jigs

thingiverse

Hello Internets, Since the Taz 6 launched, the Taz has had a compensated bed "levelling" matrix applied to them through the 4 corner pads. The success of this calibration which happens at the beginning of each print depends on a whole bunch of things - one critical of which is the perfect alignment on all four corners of the Y Table. Lulzbot has jigs that they supply with their printer source code, but those jigs are designed for new build, not maintenance - they require that the table top is dismounted before you can install them. That's a massive PITA if you're someone like me and tinkering with various upgrades and have the bed off, but you don't want to do a complete bed teardown, having to remove the 4 bushings (16 screws) from the base. Enter this. Here are alignment jigs for a Taz 6 (12mm rail upgrade), and Taz 6 (Stock 10mm configuration), Taz Pro / Taz Workhorse that can be used *in place* with the entire table assembled! Get your table assembled square and perfect without having to tear a bunch of stuff apart. The tolerances on this are pretty well exact, so you CANNOT print these jigs in a filament that tends to swell - ABS, for example. Personally, I printed these alignment jigs with eSUN PLA+ with great success @ 20% infill, octet. *Directions: * Before starting: take level. Open Cura, connect to your printer, open the printer console (with debug messages turned on) and issue the following commands: M420 S0 ;disable bed levelling G28 ; home your printer G29 V4 ;run the bed levelling sequence You will get a report that comes out at the end with "Corrected Bed Height vs. Bed Topology". Write those numbers down. Now, to the adjustment. Slide the table to the opposite direction you want to adjust (away from you). Loosen the 4 bolts on the face of the metal Y-end that is closest to you (facing you). Attach left and right alignment jigs - If the fit is right, they should 'snap' into place tightly. Now slide the table (which was away from you) /towards/ you, sliding over top of the mounts, as close as you can pull it towards you. Torque the 4 bolts you loosened. Slide the table away from you, remove the jigs, and repeat on the other side. The table bearings act to align the steel rails to where the bearings on the table fit, while the jigs will hold the 20x20 bar in the correct place relative to the bar. Meaning, you are adjusting the ends to the way the bearings are installed, so you don't need to loosen the bearings to make this adjustment. Now, you want to realign/re-level the gantry. AKA - you want to confirm that your distance from the nozzle to the bed is even left to right. Slide the Y table so that the nozzle is centred front to back, move the head to the left edge of the bed, drop the nozzle so that it can /just/ fit a piece of paper under it. Slide the head to the right edge of the bed, and (with steppers disabled) adjust the z-lead screw to drop or raise the head so that you can (on this side, just like the other side) just slide a piece of paper under the head. Repeat this a few times (left, right, left, right, left, right) until it's consistent. Finally, Validate the improvement by running the Gcode sequence to cause the bed levelling calibration to reoccur: M420 S0 G28 G29 V4 If your variance is < 0.05mm, I believe the bed levelling sequence can compensate. Anything more than that, you still have some adjustment to do. If you're over that amount, it could be the ninjaflex bed corners - remove the glass bed & the heater, reattach the stainless steel bed washers (without any glass bed or heater installed), and run your gcode commands again - if your numbers are now within tolerance, than the issue is the 'squish' of your ninjaflex pads - They're probably worn in, replace them. Hope this helps someone as much as I find it useful :)