Itty Bitty Double Extruder

[printbus]

Properly tightened, the eight M5 bolts that hold the X-motor and X-idler plates to the horizontal v-rails turns the x-carriage into a pretty firm assembly. The z-rods can really only be used for minor adjustment once those M5 bolts are tight. As csader is seeing, you can't use a z-rod to pull down one side very much without the nut pulling out of the bracket on that side. The nut is intended to back out like that in case of a failure that causes the Z-motors to attempt driving the extruder into the print bed. Here, it's the other side of the x-carriage being held up by the other Z rod rather than the extruder hitting the print bed. Different cause, same result.

EDIT 4: Removed portions of the post that were a bad idea...

[clough42]

No matter what I do, I can't get the hotends level...my right side Z-nut spins itself out of the nut trap by the time the right side hotend touches the paper (see gap on right side in photo). I'm at a loss...

If you've already got the left nozzle on the bed, lowering the right z rod won't do anything. Raise the left side slightly and then lower the right to get them both to settle evenly.

If the nozzles are in the air and the right nut is backing out, your axis is binding and resisting the tilting motion. If it's tilted a lot (more than a couple of mm), you may have something misaligned. Check that your hot ends are the same length and that the pockets in the bottom of the extruder block are cleaned out.

You could loosen the screws holding the extrusions to the wood x motor and idler assemblies, adjust and retighten. You could also just adjust the bed to touch the nozzles evenly.

[TopJimmyCooks]

+1 on loosening the eight bolts and realigning the x carriage.

RobH2 - I have never been able to print that arch because as soon as it bridges from side to side at the top the tension pulls the small piece off the bed. if I set the settings so the bridges aren't stretched at all they sag and look terrible. I see you added a foot to the outboard end. is there a secret to being able to bridge this properly?

[RobH2]

You could loosen the screws holding the extrusions to the wood x motor and idler assemblies, adjust and retighten. You could also just adjust the bed to touch the nozzles evenly.

Maybe you need to make a backing plate adjuster like I did for the rod version of the MakerFarm i3. I'd make that for your but I don't have the rail version to use for measurements and details. I think I've posted this before but here is what I did again. It works beautifully. I can get very, very precise leveling in just a few minutes.

[beerdart]

1+ on the tilt plate I did it to mine and its great..

[beerdart]

Rob can you move the test prints and S3D discussion to this thread as not to mud up this thread?
http://3dprintboard.com/showthread.php?9768-simplify3d

Good point. Done... (RobH2)

[csader]

Probably not the place to post this, but since I'm using Cloughs configuration.h, I figure what the heck.

Having an issue where Z axis isn't homing on G28 or G29...I can move the z axis up and down just fine using Pronterface, but when I send G28 or G29 the X and Y home. With G28 Z does nothing. With G29, Z raises 10-ish then does nothing.

Going crazy trying to figure all this out.

Edit: Sorry, I'm an idiot. Typo in my firmware had the Feedrate setting itself to 0. Fixed.

[clough42]

Probably not the place to post this, but since I'm using Cloughs configuration.h, I figure what the heck.

Having an issue where Z axis isn't homing on G28 or G29...I can move the z axis up and down just fine using Pronterface, but when I send G28 or G29 the X and Y home. With G28 Z does nothing. With G29, Z raises 10-ish then does nothing.

Going crazy trying to figure all this out.

Edit: Sorry, I'm an idiot. Typo in my firmware had the Feedrate setting itself to 0. Fixed.

Double check that you have the max endstops disabled in Configuration.h. I let a few copies of my file into the wild with them enabled and triggering randomly. There should be a link to my current file in the first post of this thread.

[clough42]

Oh, and if you're using my Configuration.h file, note that I have the EEPROM functionality turned on. You will want to do an M502 (factory defaults) followed by M500 (store to EEPROM) after flashing the firmware.

[csader]

Should I be able to see the e-steps for both extruders via the LCD? I only see one.

Using clough's configuration.h.