I have created a foam enclosure so that I can print ABS without the problem of warping and its working like a charm but I am having an issue with the Z home position when printing one part after an other. The first part starts just fine with the 1st later laying down with just the right amount of squish to make it stick to the bed, but when I go to print the next part the nozzle seams to be a little too close to the bed so that its just making a scuff mark and not letting enough plastic out of the nozzle so I have to adjust my leveling screws a little to bring the bed down so that the first layer is the right thickness. Has anyone else experienced this issue? I would like to use auto bed level only with out the bed leveling part just an auto Z home position. Does anyone know if this is possible…just to have an auto Z home position.
Well sure, they all need a Z home. Do you have a micro switch on the Z?
You didn’t mention what printer you’re using, but it sounds like whatever your platform is mounted to is warping and/or thickening due to thermal expansion over the course of a print.
What you’re talking about is called a Z probe, which just means that your Z endstop is positioned to trigger against the platform (and one way or another avoid hitting the layer being printed). Search for Z probe to see some of the ways other have implemented this.
@Whosa_whatsis Thanks I’ll look for that. BTW I have a Prusa I2 with a 1/4" MDF platform with bolts in each corner with my heated bed on top of the bolts
Yeah, MDF is going to expand and warp when the platform has been hot for a while.
I never thought of that. I had thought about putting the Z endstop on the X carriage but I don’t know if there is a way to have a servo lower the endstop when you home Z and then retract after its been homed. I’ve only seen the auto bed leveling setup that checks 3 points of the bed. I’m not sure that I want the bed leveling.
If you are going to go as far as using the servo to drop the homing switch then why not use the built in leveling feature.
@Ryan_Hescock_Stanos At this point I do not have anti-backlash nuts on my Z axis and since the Z only goes in one direction I don’t have to worry about backlash and my layers being off. If I went with the auto bed leveling the Z axis will be traveling up and down and any slop in the nuts could cause an issue with my layers…especial when my layers are at 50 microns. Not sure I want to tackle that issue yet. I am in the process of building @Tim_Rastall 's ingentis which will have belts for the Z axis instead of all-thread and nuts, so once I have that built and running I will probably look into the auto bed leveling.