Thank you Mitchell for this video. If I may add, there is something critical that needs to be followed I think. For any shaft configuration, we need to follow the 2 points fixed and 1 point flexible rule, most common example are the drive shafs on car or trucks. If you lock the shaft at 3 places, you will overconstraint the system, I think the reason why you don't see any wobble, is because where you are measuring, you are actually measuring on a fixed part, the screw migh be bending, below the gantry. I have tried what you propose, but I have left the flexible coupling. Both ends are fixed, and what I noticed, as soon as the dial would shift, it was an indication the screw was not correctly aligned. I adjusted both ends, until there was no shift or compensation from the coupler, and was able to get good print. Also, what I noticed, I have 2 printer, but one has motor coupler exaclty like yours, and the other one has the flexible ones. the ones you have are called fix, and I think those are best. my printer with motor flexible motor, is a bad idea to use, because the shaft will not have a perfect run out, simply because it uses 2 set screws to hold in place. The fixed coupler seem to do a much better job, even for adjustement. I will change mine soon.

This is a big deal. You're helping the biggest issue people see on this machine.

Wow that was just a video on how to tune a printer, but why do I got chills? Amazing job dude

FINALLY, a useful video on KZfaq !!! Your troubleshooting skills are on the next level. I have several printers that exhibit the same symptom to varying degrees. I am looking forward to tuning this away. Thank You, Thank You

Is there an image of one of your prints after you've done this? and one before? I'm keen to know what no/minimal z-banding looks like. Thanks

Great video! not only for solving the issue but because for the deep analysis in order to find a root cause.

Just plain awesome. Thank you Cameron. Im not having this problem, but now i can fine tune my printer. Great job, simple and nicely explained.

Thanks soo much for this video. I have a new Artillery Sidewinder X1 on it's way but I almost didn't pull the trigger because of hearing about the Z banding issues I have heard of. I am glad now that I have a better idea of what to look for if I end up having the same issue.

Great video, all that was missing (for me) was some before and after shots of your prints.

Thanks for the great video Cameron! Very clear and concise :)

Nice job! That was a great video and made sense to me. I've linked this video in a running comment section for another SX1 user that has tried everything but I suspect not the procedure or the points you found in need of adjustment. Thanks!

I am a machinist and none of what your saying makes sense. I am really happy that this worked out for you. But hypothetically if your have a lead screw with a bend, or thicker spot or even a twist and you adjust a specific spot so your dial indicator reads zero. Potentially you are throwing out the alignment of the rest of the rod. You would be chasing your tail adjusting things as you travel up the rod. Also regarding the rollers by moving that eccentric nut all your doing it removing tension on the rollers. All you have done it released tension off the gantry so its effectively floating allowing you dial indicator to read 0. I don't think your have aligned anything and rather just loosen everything up. (Besides the gantry bearing. You have made that solid.)

Excellent method. Thanks for this extremely valuable video!

The first thing I did with my sidewinder was adjust the rollers on all axis. Being an old time tool and maker I am always concerned with any slop in guide ways. Did you notice the two Z axis lead screw nuts float in their mounts? That is to allow for the screws to wobble slightly without imparting that force into the moving carriage. The lead screws are not precision ground ball screws. They are roll formed acme thread, perfectly good for this purpose. You did the correct fix by adjusting the rollers, the minor wobble in the screws is not going to be an issue for functioning. Have fun.

Very well documented! As a licensed millwright I work with large scale machines using these “trueing” techniques almost exactly. Your thinking was spot on. I understood what you meant even without using the correct terminology which is amazing for the home user. Thank you for being so thorough and posting your findings! Just for knowledge sake, and to maybe help guide you or others in future “trueing” tasks , I’ve posted below just a few descriptive wording and terminology edits that I caught while viewing. Should make researching much faster in the future! *Dial gauge - commonly known as a “dial indicator” and can come on its own but is usually mounted to an adjustable sliding arm with thumb screws and bar clamps. It can use a magnetic base or other rigid devices to avoid use of locking pliers 👍🏻 but your method was executed perfectly with understanding the firm mounting. *The threaded rods are commonly known as “lead screws” or “acme thread positioning screws” due to the specific square cut and 20deg pitch angle which makes it very smooth and strong making them superior to traditional 60 deg threaded rod that is used for fastening. Hope this helps! We need more informative content like this to help the community of makers grow! Keep up the great work man! Cheers!

awesome. I just received my sidewinder from amazon yesterday and I think I'll test for this when I put it together.

Good work, well explained! Great content.

Awesome job! I've been really ticked at my x1 after a bunch of upgrades I had done and this helped me narrow down various alignment issues Soooo much easier than all the hoops I had been going through. After I had upgraded to an SKR 1.4 Turbo, TFT 3.5, Hermara Hotend I just assumed my issues lie somewhere with those upgrades, nope, all my issues were due to the dual Z rods not being perfectly synced / along with X gantry wasn't spot on anymore AND my bed rollers were loose. Bottom line, just by your example I used the same principals to dial in everything else and boom all better. Thank you for your time!

Subscribed, great video. Very thoughtful approach to rendering the issue. Thank you for sharing!

very nice detective work! thanks!

Thank you very much for this video. I have had athe X1 v.4 for a few weeks now, and it's a great printer, but I need to adjust this as I'm having the same issue. Not so big of a deal at first, but when I have seen what this machine is capable of, I want to tune it :D

Excellent video!

Excellent video. Thank you! Subscribed.

Excellent work! will be calibrating in a similar manner. A guy named sunshine also makes a 3d printed compliant dial gauge!

Excellent information. My only suggestion is call a nut a nut and call a bolt a bolt. 👍🏼

Perfect technical approach to solve the issue, congrats!

Great video, excellent diagnosis and explanation on how to fix the issue, 2 likes ;)

Very Good Information. Thank You !

i get off on indicating in my fixturing/setup prior to machining, i think im going to like the world of printing as a hobbyist now!

Thank you alot, I just bought the printer 3days ago and I faced the same problem. I would love it if you shared your reference.

There’s a reason why flex couplers are used. It’s to minimize any stress to the stepper motor and/or the bearings due to misalignments between the two different axes of rotation. No two axes can ever be aligned perfectly to be colinear. A flex coupler acts like a u-joint but without backlash or hysteresis. Using a solid coupler will introduce stresses in your system and will lead to premature bearing and motor failures.

Nice work bud. Im a machinist too. I'm very strict on my tolerances so if anything is out by .0005 it's getting adjusted. Lol

I'm still waiting for my X1 to arrive, but I think this might be my issue on my Ender 3. So I'm off to find one of those gauges & will be doing this to both my printers.

The dial gauge test is so smart

Thanks for the good video and the explaination. Have the same problem and trying to get rid of it... also I think the z-motor mounts on this printer are badly desinged and the motors are always tilted.

where did you get the metal parts that replaced the plastic ones? mine came stripped.

Ive been running this printer non stop for 3 years with 10-15k + hours and have just started to experience this issue. Replaced and tightened belts/rollers and all bolts. Countless slicer adjustments and i still cant get rid of wobble. Will be trying this fix next, running out of options.

Buenas. Buen video. Donde has conseguido los carros eje z de metal?? Un saludo

I just ordered one of these machines yesterday and have been digging into what I can expect to need to tweak. This video looks like it'll be super helpful. Thanks!

Thanks for the video. I am wondering how many workhours did this take you...

what brand name of dial indicator did you purchase, and where from?

fantastic!!! Best video I've seen.. people go over the line doing things that they don't even understand what is it for. This is it. Do you have a link of the tools you used on this video?

I could be wrong but loosening the motor screws wouldn't help since it's screwed into frame. Any adjustment from motor side would be lost when tighten back on frame unless you put shims between the screw(s) and frame. I assume only the top would need to be adjusted to correct screw "wiggling". Am I missing something? Oh and great vid. I'll be doing this

In my printer I found one side of the carriage plate where the lead screw nut is mounted is not 90 deg to the side of the carriage where v-wheels are attached it should be L shape with perfect 90 deg to avoid wobbling while sliding up and down parallel to z-axis. I think the blue thing or whatever it's called was there to compensate for this imperfection on the carriage and avoid stress on leadscrew due to misalignment while sliding parallel to the Z-axis. Am not sure if this non squared carriage plate is the case with all printers which explains why some people are having z-banding and other not.

Hey Cameron, I loved the systemic approach to the analysis. How did you remove the plastic spacer blocks? It is not obvious

Great video and good explanation.. With the plate at the top of the Z, did you leave it with 2 screws or tighten it back up? If the latter, did you have problems getting it aligned to screw back in?

I just tested mine. it printed better than my Ender5. I can physically see a slight wobble on my right gantry but testing using your method showed nothing at all. Tested both sides and nothing. Do you have a video showing this wobble and what was showing up on your prints? I'd like to know if my wobble is NOT affecting my prints.

Has it ever happened to you that the printer randomly stops climbing during the print? like for several layers continuosly and at random points? Because it is a sort of z wobble but less regular and with the motors completely dead at least for 10-15 layers before returning to spin (and they don't most of the time)

Amazing find Cameron. So if i understand correctly, the steps are to loosen the 3rd nut on the top rod bearing bracket, and dial in where needed while progressively moving up and down the z axis? or should you adjust for an overall difference with a small margin/tolerance for wobble? Thanks for any help! Hope this works for me as well, great work doing the R&D👍👍

I think I am getting Z-banding, but even when I print a flat object, the first layer has banding on the surface. That's only the first layer. Can it still be Z-whopping causing the print head issue?

Hello, just new with this product. As I turned on my 3d printer, the bed does not move and error appears telling printer halted kill() called. I tried to press confirm but the next page has no option icon and reset option. What shall I do Sir?

Thanks mate. So the only way that i can make that adjust is with that gauge? There is not other way? Thanks!

Do you have an idea how the wobbling of the screw is influencing the head/gantry and would it be possible by properly decoupling x/y movement? It's my first printer and I haven't even used it yet. Just looking into the issues I can run into along the way.

I need to get me one of these indicators! For now I s'pose I can print some tests and see how bad my own is.

you are a god

Спасибо, очень хорошее видео поможет думаю многим.

Great video Cameron! Thank you! Can you post some pictures after this adjustement?

Struggling to understand how this helps as if the rod is bent, it is bent - and the printer is designed so that it floats and does not transfer the wobble to the gantry. Maybe if the wobble is really bad the rod will hit the brackets and transfer the wobble and maybe your adjustments would help for that (as mentioned I don't quite get it).... One lead screw on my X1 wobbles quite a lot laterally, the other is straight, but it entirely floats and does not appear to transfer any wobble onto the print. In terms of gantry pitch changes probably tightening the rollers and possibly other adjustments you made help but I also don't see how that has anything to do with wobble in the lead screw(s).

Interesting video, I was watching it and told myself, Damn! I dont have a gauge like that. It got me thinking that you could do the same thing with a cheap laser pointer attached to the extruder assembly with a quick cad design and a target on the bed and you'd see the wobble pretty easily

Thanks.

thanks for this! life saver! I was about to give up on this machine and buy a prusa

I need one of those gauges

Haven't you noticed "artillery Sidewinder X1" that I have been defending your machine for a long time but I am now finding issues that need your attention, such as: I now have to print everything 10-20 degrees hotter than I previously had too! What is going on with your printer?

What and where did you get the metal spacers that are on the z shaft. Great video, simple to follow.

Hi, do you use only one z-endstop?

Where did you get that gauge?

I wish you could come to my house and do this..lol

Your runout guage should be in the middle of the unsupported section to get a real measurement of the play. I have an Anet A8 converted to an AM8 with an aluminum frame with 8mm linear guide rods, but I still get the _slightest_ z-banding that bugs me. I don't know if it's the video making the pattern, but look at your lead screws at 6:19 .......There is a definite pattern - you can see a dark thread separated by 3 lighter ones all the way up.Also, take into consideration that the runout guage has a spherical tip which will 'ebb' and 'flow' as it rides over and sinks into the threads of the lead screw. That's probably where the play comes from that you see on the gauge. Glad its fix tho!

I can visually see that my right rod, the same as yours, wiggles, I don’t need a dial to see the problem, it’s way off 😢

So much work for an average printer

im afraid to try this..ive seen vids where they have those 2 screws holding motor in place by using zip ties inside because there is no thread material because extrusion is hollow wonder if they fixed that

4:02

These nuts 4:02

I was the 1,000th like 🎉 where my prize at 😂

Great the issue to my problem is solved. Only problem is that I'm too stupid to understand

so not gambling on this printer yet