life adjust Z - my way  

Re: life adjust Z - my way

I'm using Sli3r Prusa edition. The PLA sticks ok now on the PEI but I cant seem to get the Z adjusted right. When printing the test sheet from Jeff most of the strands separate. I adjusted the Live Z all the way to 1mm. Then I lowered the Pinta probe a full turn, ran calibration. Still not much better, I currently have the Live Z up to -900 and its still stringy.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

I'm using Sli3r Prusa edition. The PLA sticks ok now on the PEI but I cant seem to get the Z adjusted right. When printing the test sheet from Jeff most of the strands separate. I adjusted the Live Z all the way to 1mm. Then I lowered the Pinta probe a full turn, ran calibration. Still not much better, I currently have the Live Z up to -900 and its still stringy.

hi michael, did you already calibrated your extruder ? if not, it's most likely that there isn't enough filament provided for the first layer.

if the extruder calibration is ok (which means when you move the extruder stepper by +100 through the move axis menu, 10cm of filament will disappear inside the extruder) it might well be that you need to lower the live z value a little bit more.

did you measure the thickness of the printed sheet (even with some strands) ?

Re: life adjust Z - my way

I haven't calibrated the extruder so I will do that. I actually was thinking the first layer was a bit thin on material. I don't have a tool to measure thickness though. Thanks so much for the tips.

Mike

Re: life adjust Z - my way

Yep, It was off by 5mm or so. I adjusted the Extrusion Multiplier as instructed in the post, Fine tuned the Live Z a bit more and now I seem to be good.

Mike

Re: life adjust Z - my way

So I felt the Pinta probe was a bit low and was catching on any slight protruding imperfection. I raised it a quarter turn , re-ran the Live Z test square and now its all messed up! I done some XYZ calibrations and re-ran this test square a bunch of times. I can barely get through a quarter of the test square with out it getting tangled on it self. all the strands are very very spaced and warped.

Where I'm at now:
-I've raised the probe so the top is level with the bracket next to it.
-I've removed the filament, put a single sheet of paper on the bed and ran the test square.
-I had to lower the Live z to -1800 to get the nozzle to start touching the paper.

I feel like something is way off, right? I'm kind of lost now.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

You're PINDA probe is clearly too high if you need to have a Z of -1800 to get the nozzel touch the bed.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

True but when I lower the PINDA it seems too close to the bed. Maybe I'll try lowering it a tiny bit at a time.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

Before anything else, thanks JeffJordan for your knowledge and Live Z Adjust Sheet.

I have a slight problem if you or anybody can help.

After I adjust the Z height it prints very good 0.2mm pieces, but when it comes to increasing resolution and slicing at 0.05mm, then the extruder seems to be too far from the bed, what causes the filament to not stick to the bed.

Is it anything due to z height or something else like the temperature or the extruder multiplier?

Thanks.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

the first layer always needs to be 0.2mm. you can't print the first layer below 0.15mm, due to restrictions inside the firmware. the (well adjusted) nozzle simply won't be lowered closer to the printbed.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

So why is my first layer in 0.2mm pieces comes out great and when I print something in 0.1 or 0.05 it doesn't stick that well?

Re: life adjust Z - my way

So why is my first layer in 0.2mm pieces comes out great and when I print something in 0.1 or 0.05 it doesn't stick that well?

check the settings of your slicer ! the first layer always should be 0.2mm, the layers 2 to whatever the height of the part is can be 0.1mm or even 0.05mm. but you have to make sure, that the first layer has (at least) a height of 200µm.

the printer doesn't "set" the first layer to 0.2mm, it limits it's height to 0.2mm. so you have to make sure that your slicer generates a layer in that height and provides all the necessary settings for this (like extrusion width, filament flow etc.).

inside your slicer there are usually settings for the first layer. if you want to print @ 0.1mm, you have to set the height of the first layer to 200% for example !

Re: life adjust Z - my way

Did anyone was able to find a solution for those two persons? Because I had exactly the same result as them, and I am not able to fix it.
Thanks
Ben

I am using your solution and it has been very helpful!

I discovered something interesting last night that was repeatable over several tests. I followed your instructions and got to a very nice print that was 0.20 microns. I then decided to do one printout using the same Z adjust value for the whole print. What I found is pictured below. Basically, the bottom right diagonal prints out well, but when the top left diagonal is printed it tears apart at each strand. I tried up to + 50 microns with the results basically staying the same, lower right diagonal (where the print begins is good, top left breaks apart. I redid the XYZ calibration and the result was still the same. I also cleaned the bed with ISO before each print. My Z height is currently at -200

This lends me to believe that my bed is not level, but before changing too many variables I thought I would share my picture and get thoughts of others.

So, I've been messing with this for a few hours now and I think as far as the Z adjust itself goes, it's very close (this is way easier than the calibration code included on the SD card). The problem I'm seeing now is that it appears that my bed is not level. The lines on the front/right are perfect, but just over halfway through the print, all the lines start getting thin and separate.

I've tried adjusting the Bed level adjust to -50um for both left and rear This gave me a complete square with all lines looking pretty good except with some dragging on the right side. I adjusted the right side to +10um, but as soon as I do this, the left side starts to thin and separate again. At this point, I reset everything back to zero, redid the xyz calibration and tried again.Same end results. Front/right side looks perfect, rear/left side is thin and separate. Open to any suggestions at this point.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

Hi benoit,
the thing is that messing around with these settings (rear, front, left, right) does affect not only the "locations" you've targeted to adjust.
have a closer look inside the thread about hyperfine bedleveling, there peter (PJR) describes what's going on when using these adjustments and provides another solution, which requires that you compile the firmware with his modification but is far more effective.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

Hello!
I have problem with live-z adjust.
I printed few kgs of PLA with live-z adjusted to -0.430
After that I tried to print ABS, and nozzle started to scratch PEI.
I had to raise live-z to 0.000 and now it's still too squished but possible to print.
I can't change to positive values, so how I can move nozzle higher?
By moving PINDA probe?
Are these live-z adjust deviations normal:
PLA -0.430
ABS 0.000?

Re: life adjust Z - my way

Do you print inside an enclosure with heigher temperatures for abs ?
Normally there should be no difference for the value of live adjust z between the different materials.
But as mentioned already in several posts: the sensitivity of the p.i.n.d.a. probe, and with it the accuracy of measuring the height of the hotend, is a function of temperature.

and yes, if you can't get the adjustment right at the heigher temperature, you need to lower the probe a little bit.

Re: life adjust Z - my way

Do you print inside an enclosure with heigher temperatures for abs ?

Yes, printer is in enclosure made from IKEA lack table 😉
Now I have problem to understand something...
I changed filament back to PLA, and 0.000 settings are good... 🙄
No need to adjust after switching from ABS. Magic is happening here 😉

Re: life adjust Z - my way

maybe the fixation of your p.i.n.d.a. probe is not as tight as necessary.
is it an MK2 or MK2S ?

Re: life adjust Z - my way

MK2S

Re: life adjust Z - my way

i tried printing this today after facing issues with calibrating live z height (no idea how far I should go before scratching the bed, which i did due to another fault),

there's seems to be a strange beeping noise at the end of it?

Re: life adjust Z - my way

...
there's seems to be a strange beeping noise at the end of it?
should be a little melody that reminds you that the print is ready... but the sound quality of the prusa is very awkward.
there are some beeps in the middle of the print as well (to remind you that you might change the adjustment value to try another setting that you can compare with the first half of the print).

@marcin: with the MK2S it is easier to align the probe up- and downwards... but it's easier to move it accidentially as well.
so it might be that you've previously pushed the probe up- or down without intention.... or even that the probe hit an upcurling part at the print and dislocated itself a tiny bit.