Z offset starts out cleaning at correct height, but goes up 5mm or so when it starts to print

[sandcrab123]

First let me confess that I am new to 3D printing! I'm finally at the stage where I can start to print on my smoothie board Cartesian printer. I have everything working and I am trying to print a test block. I am using Simplify3D to slice and prepare the g code. This is what is happening. When the printer starts to run a print, the print head does a cleaning cycle with the z axis at the correct level. It then moves to the center of the bed raises the print head approximately 5 or 6 MM and starts to print. Of course all this does is make a mess and I abort the print. I've tried to adjust the Z offset in Simplify 3D, but this doesn't seem to help. Any ideas to correct this problem would be appreciated. I can do a video if that would help.

Thanks Dan

[Xenocrates]

So, as a quick aside, this forum is mostly aimed at delta printers. Keep that in mind as we offer advice, because it may not be the best for a Cartesian printer.


That said, a video and your slicing settings would be very helpful in trying to figure this out.

[IMBoring25]

Raising the nozzle 5mm so it doesn't run a risk of hitting the edge of the bed is a common element of start gcode. It sounds like you may have that command in your start gcode but not the one that restores the nozzle to the first layer height. Slic3r does that step automatically but Simplify3D may not.

[sandcrab123]

O.K. Thanks guys. I'm going to move this over to the smoothie site then. Thanks for trying to help.
Dan

[Mac The Knife]

This is NOT a mostly delta printer forum. Other printer styles are discussed here. With that being said, I agree with IMBoring25, I would look into S3d first. It would possibly be in the advanced process settings under "Scripts". For a start script, for my Delta, it is: G28 ; home all axes

[Xenocrates]

I said mostly, and stick by it, not because there aren't people with them as there are, and not because they aren't welcome, because they most certainty are, but because most of the discussion is based around them, and most of the people here have them (And in cases with multiple printers, many have both).

I'm personally very willing to help and to have him here (I am not the sort to turn away anyone I can help), but I wanted to make sure that in case someone asked him to check his horizontal radius, or arm length, or some other uniquely Delta thing, he knew where we were coming from, and that he knew that forums with more of a focus on Cartesian machines, or on Smoothie, might offer better advice. A focused forum is great at what it focuses on, but it's a crapshot outside of that as to what speed and quality of advice is offered outside there. There are forums more focused on his issues, and if he wasn't asking there as well, it's best for him to do so.