LULZBOT TAZ 5 - not so good

I bought the TAZ 5 when it first came out. I have not been able to level the print bed and lets face it, LULZBOT has not been a great help. I am just about done with it and it is about to go in the trash. I am at the point of adding shims between the print bed frame and the main frame it attaches to try to correct a space between the extruder nozzle at the right front corner of between 1/32 and 1/16 inch spacing. And then I will have to probably shim the feet of the whole printer to get the printer bed level from left to right and front to back. I just want to know if anyone else is having the same problem with this 5 version as I am. Looks like I will ultimately be hunting for a new printer.:mad:

I am having the same problem with my Taz 5. On another printer, I printed four new corner blocks that have a greater surface area for support (not lulzbot), and a holder for an indicator that fits next to the hot end. Right now I am waiting for some M3 barrels to screw into the corner blocks. I fully expect to have to shim the end blocks, and perhaps put a support in the center of the build plate. I suspect that my build plate is not level either. The springs on the corners as well as the corner block engineering seem to be of poor quality to me. While Lulzbot seems proud of the repeatability of the evenness of the build plate, I am not experiencing that blessed state. I was able to get the two front corners level to within 0.001mm, but as soon as I started to calibrate the back, the front went out. I will let you know how I fare.

I have had high priced equipment that arrived in far worse shape than the Taz 5. I used to cut gems, and I had to chase the threads on every piece as they all had burrs on them. The laps were not flat, the base leaked, and more. I was a biochemist prior to retirement, and we often got expensive equipment in which was poorly designed, and produced sloppily. It almost seemed that the more the instrument cost, the worse it was made. We had a lot of return shipments and/or onsite warranty repairs.

Okay. I am getting rid of the TAZ 5, out to trash and not re-sell it to somebody, but it's for a different reason than not being able to level the bed. I took the TAZ apart, back to how it was delivered. I then tried to put it back together on the kitchen table. The table leveling then went along okay. But that gave me a different problem. Once it leveled okay in all four corners, I then went to do the demo-print from that quirky LCD display. That took a lot of tries to get it to submit, but it finally did. The extruder started to move, and then promptly buried the extruder nozzle into the printer bed and created deep scratch lines right across the print bed, to the point that I would have to replace the print bed before the TAZ could be used again. SO, better research before I buy the next printer, but not before until some time has gone by and MICROSOFT has its' way with the product. It's obvious that 3D printers are not ready for the general population. It's where they are like the first PC data recording media were cassette and now we are at the CD level. With the way the 3D industry is having its technology turn over, the wait won't be too long because now with the sales being offered to the general public, which it is not ready for yet, there is a lot of money to be made.

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It's obvious that 3D printers are not ready for the general population.

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Think that's taking it a bit far. Okay you had a bad experience with this particular printer. There are plenty of really good printers out there that don't take much looking after and will produce consistently great prints.

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but not before until some time has gone by and MICROSOFT has its' way with the product

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Do you mean: bugger it up beyong all hope of ever working properly ?' - that's geenrally what microsoft does with a product.

Or are you actually advocating that the company that brought us windows 8 and office 365 - are actually capable of improving things ? Despite 30 odd years of evidence to the contrary.

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Originally Posted by curious aardvark

Think that's taking it a bit far. Okay you had a bad experience with this particular printer. There are plenty of really good printers out there that don't take much looking after and will produce consistently great prints.


Do you mean: bugger it up beyong all hope of ever working properly ?' - that's geenrally what microsoft does with a product.

Or are you actually advocating that the company that brought us windows 8 and office 365 - are actually capable of improving things ? Despite 30 odd years of evidence to the contrary.

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lol windows 8 was such an utter failure, if a 3D printer gets anywhere near analogous to the pile of dogsh1t that is windows 8, then I will take up a new business.

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Originally Posted by hdunker

Okay. I am getting rid of the TAZ 5, out to trash and not re-sell it to somebody, but it's for a different reason than not being able to level the bed. I took the TAZ apart, back to how it was delivered. I then tried to put it back together on the kitchen table. The table leveling then went along okay. But that gave me a different problem. Once it leveled okay in all four corners, I then went to do the demo-print from that quirky LCD display. That took a lot of tries to get it to submit, but it finally did. The extruder started to move, and then promptly buried the extruder nozzle into the printer bed and created deep scratch lines right across the print bed, to the point that I would have to replace the print bed before the TAZ could be used again. SO, better research before I buy the next printer, but not before until some time has gone by and MICROSOFT has its' way with the product. It's obvious that 3D printers are not ready for the general population. It's where they are like the first PC data recording media were cassette and now we are at the CD level. With the way the 3D industry is having its technology turn over, the wait won't be too long because now with the sales being offered to the general public, which it is not ready for yet, there is a lot of money to be made.

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I'll take it off your hands... less trash in the landfills am I right? ;)