I’m about 80% done building. So far everything has just fit perfectly. However, I’m getting close to installing zrods and seeing some preliminary binding.
I’ve done a test fitting and one side seems to fit perfect and when engaged (snugged into the coupler) moves the motor and rides up and down fine( left side). However the y rail side, the rod doesn’t seem to line up perfectly with the coupler and doesn’t have the same motion. The weird thing is, the y rail side the rod itself moves cleanly, through the brass fitting. To the point it will spin freely and drop with gravity, but doesnt align perfectly.
Any advice? Wait till I mount it to the y rail before fiddling with the z rods like in the documentation timeline?
attached are 2 images of the motor and xz plate/screwring. it looks aligned, but the yrail (right side) seems to be misaligned. might look to pick up another coupler. the left (wheeled) side, it fits smoothly, but the right (yrail) side seems to be off kilter a little and when trying to make sure the screw fits, the coupler wants to compress a bit and when attached and tightened to the coupler, it doesn’t want to turn at all. I can manually turn the stepper without connected, but once the rod is connected i think there is just too much pressure to get a spin.
Will look to put the rod and coupler on one of these days this week to provide a better visual of what i’m explaining. without the rods, the linear rails slide very smoothly up and down
Hmmm. So far, the only other time I have seen this (not many to go off of) was the prints themselves being skewed. So I think the best next step is print a few of these and see if your Z axis is perpendicular to your X and Y.
Printables Print two of these, one at a time, then turn them back to back and see if your printer is skewed or not.
Also measure how tall that is and verify your Z axis is printing correctly vs. the model itself.
If it is drilling out the Leadscrew nut hole a bit might help. Just depends in what direction your screw misses. A picture of your leadscrew in place with no coupler would help.
I’ve noticed today messing around with it, that if I put the coupler on and pull just a hair of tension outward (left if looking at the picture), the leadscrew will rotate and the zaxis will come down smooth just like the other side with gravity.
I’m printing a replacement and will see if it works as expected. If not, I’ll look to loosen the z stepper mount and perhaps add a washer or 2 between the mount and the plate on the inside on the bottom two bolts to get the angle for the coupler more aligned. The only thing i can think of is perhaps i overtigtened the zstepper mount a bit too much causing it to be snugger and more “in” closed to the plate causing the misalignment. the rods are straight and the set screw seems to function fine. if i switch rods, the same thing happens. works fine on the wheel side and binds on the rail side.
i did notice a knick on the stub. My wife moved all my stuff last week and the only thing i can think if it wasn’t something i did installing or printing, is maybe she dropped it while moving and “forgot” to tell me. it’s definitely not a printing defect, looks like it had a light impact right on the edge of the stub, which if it fell hard enough could have bent the stub a hair.
Reprinted the plate and reassembled and it aligns well. The plates looked almost identical and both have the same 0.02 tolerance of the model, but somehow either the screw hub or the stub itself was off on the original.
