Wanhao Duplicator i3 Z-Axis Alignment Posts by zolan

Last crawled date: 2 years, 12 months ago

NOTE: This one works just fine but I recommend checking out my other version http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1241496 It has a customizer so you can tweak the size just how you want it as well as other nifty tweaks.
This is by no means a mind blowing item but it was handy for me so I'm sharing. I'm also not a guru when it comes to printers so keep that in mind and use at your own risk.
This is to help you align your Z-Axis in case it ever goes wonky or you just want to double check it. You should print 2 of these.
A Note Before You Begin:
If you twist one side of the Z-Axis and the other one doesn't move at all, you may want to consider following Jetguy's fix for that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaroNfMVE4M
I did it and now when I rotate one side, the other side moves along with it and my Z-Axis very rarely gets out of alignment anymore and when it does it is very minor.
Guide:
Raise your Z-Axis high enough that you can fit the posts between the frame and the X-Axis bars.
Turn off the stepper motors. (This is important)
Place the posts on the far left and far right side with the square part on the frame and the curved part under the X-Axis bar.
Hand twist the Z-Axis until the X-Axis bar is resting on the posts on either side. (If you haven't done the Jetguy fix mentioned above, make sure if you have to do a lot of twisting that you don't twist one too far without twisting the other. Try to keep them level while you are doing it.)
Slide the posts off of the frame parallel to the bar so you don't accidentally bump one side up or down.
Celebrate because your Z-Axis is aligned.