Dinner is served...

Anyone want spaghetti? I’m making tons of it tonight! Even have multiple flavors. I’ve got: White, Purple, Black and Glow so far…

Hate it when that happens.

Story of my printing life so far. Lol. I’m having problems getting the first layer to lay down properly so I’m aborting a lot of prints once I see it’s going sideways. Trial and error I guess. I’m having problems dialing in the Z height off the PEI. Too low and my extruder just “clicks” as it can’t push and filament out, too high, and the first layer starts to peel up. I’ve been adjusting the Z height in 0.x increments, guess I need to start working in the 0.0x range…

don’t adjust the z height in software. That never seems to work right for me.

Set the z height for the first layer in software once.

With the printer at 0x0x0, use the leveling screws to set the actual z height so a single piece of printer paper just slides in under the nozzle.

What I typically do is home all three axis. Lower the bed using the leveling screws. Jog the printer out to 20x20 (x & y). Then raise the leveling feet until I can slide the paper through. Jog to 60x20 and adjust that leg. Do that again for the other two corners. Then go around the perimeter another time or two as adjusting one foot typically adjusts the hight of the other 3 slightly too.

Then I print a 150mm x 1500mm x 3mm rectangle. I sit real close to the machine and I watch how it’s printing. If the layer doesn’t look even, then I adjust the one wing nut up or down while it’s printing until I have an even layer.

It sounds like a lot of work, but it only takes me a few minutes to do it. Once it’s set, I find I only have to adjust the level about once ever other month or so depending on how much printing I’ve been doing.

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Damn, That’s a damn huge print bed! :slight_smile:

Thanks for the tips! I’ll give that a shot. I have to get wing nuts on my bed adjustment screws - that will make my life a lot easier.

I’ve been doing something similar by homing my XYZ and then raising Z until I can slip a 0.0016" feeler gauge underneath the tip. I then move the tip around the perimeter in 50mm increments and adjust the bed screws until I get them all as even as possible with that feeler gauge (the thinnest one I have). I’ve gotten close like that but some things are still going sideways on large flat prints where it starts to curl up at points. Trial and error I guess until I get it right. I’m also thinking of routing out a 4 point Y plate instead of the 3 point Speed plate I am using but I haven’t gotten to that point yet. A BL Touch might be in my future as well but I have to see if the miniRambo can handle that and the 3 endstops…

Before my printer crapped itself, I always made the first layer .01mm taller than my print layer height. Z0 was a paper thickness as well. It’s going to be neat to have a printer that can auto level itself. As much fun as it is watching a delta print, it was just too much hassle getting it to print flat.

PEI is some great stuff but you kinda need to know what you are doing. You need to make sure it is clean (with IPA). It must be warm enough. It must be level. ANd you need to make sure there isn’t any air flow going across it for the first few layers.

If you don’t mind spending a little coin you might find some of these might work better for you to get started with.

I am using the 12" x 12" size on the TAZ 5 at work and I have never had a problem with the print peeling up. The first few prints stuck too well. I had to intentionally rub my sweaty hands all over the bed to make it a little dirty so it wouldn’t stick as well. PLA, HIPS, ABS, PETG, and Nylon all stick really well.

Beer? Lol, I’m an IPA fan myself. I’m guessing you actually mean isopropyl alcohol? I haven’t “cleaned” it yet - that could be part of my problem. Lol. Funny thing is, when the prints stick - they really stick! I just gotta spend more time figuring out my bed and slic3r settings (and probably stops switching colors so often until I do get this thing dialed in so to speak).