Solved First Timer

Hello everyone,
I apologize if this question has been answered before. I am a total rookie when it comes to 3D printing but I started teaching at a school that has 12 Robo3D R1 printers and no one who knows how to use them. The only teacher that had any experience with them left. I am very anxious to get them going but I am having some issues. I have followed all of the getting started instructions and have attempted to print the calibration circle contained in the MatterControl library. The problem is that when starting the print the nozzle seems to be all the way down on the bed and the material can't extrude because there is no gap. The printer runs the print but nothing ever comes out of the nozzle. I have attempted to raise the nozzle but the auto leveling feature always takes it right back to the bed. I have tried three different machines and all do the same thing. I even think one of them now has a jammed nozzle because of rubbing on the bed covered in glue stick. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Nathan Armentrout

 

Nathan

With MatterControl you will need to set your Z offset using an M565 command in the startup scripts. Normally a good starting point is M565 Z-1.0 and adjusting that number up or down to get the filament to stick correctly for the first layer. Let me get you a screenshot of where to find that setting.

 

Ok. In MatterControl, go to the menu header and select View->Settings. You will then select from Basic to Advanced on the drop down menu on the right under Quality and Material drop downs. You then can select Custom G-Code and put the M565 command after the G28 and before the G29 commands.

 

oops...fixed...I said M565 on the first response and not sure where M561 came from. Thanks Mark.

 

Thanks, everyone. Changing the Gcode regarding the Z-axis offset seems to have worked. I appreciate all your input.

 

Great to hear. If you need the layer to squish more you can change to a less negative number. I would change in .5 increments like -0.95 to start. If you need it to lay a thicker layer then you can change to a more negative number like -1.5. Hopefully that makes sense. Having a dozen Robo's they all will have a bit different offset.

Here is a good blog post discussing what a good first layer is supposed to look like.
https://printedsolid.com/blogs/news/tagged/first-layer

 

Also, having these tethered to a USB cord and a PC for 12 printers at a school might be cumbersome. There are alternatives if you get to that point.

 

Wish I had 12