Troubleshooting

Fine Tuning your Nozzle Height

• 1.1
• 1.2
• 1.3
• 1.4

The nozzles on The Replicator's dual Stepstruder are aligned at our factory, and the difference in height between them should be no more than 0.3 mm -- about the height of one printed layer.

We don't recommend adjusting the nozzle yourself at home, but if you do want to fine-tune your nozzle heights, here's how to insert a shim between your Stepstruder's bar mount and the extruder carriage.

Here you can see that the left nozzle isn't quite touching the platform. 1.1 We're going to slightly raise the right side of Stepstruder in order to make the nozzles more even.

Unscrew the bolts attaching your Stepstruder to the extruder carriage and turn the Stepstruder over. Note the long metal block in the middle of the assembly -- that's the bar mount. You're going to layer Kapton tape over the side of the bar mount that you want to raise.

Cut a small piece of Kapton tape and lay it over the end of the bar mount. 1.2 Then lay another small piece on top of that. Start with three or four layers of tape -- if that's not enough, you can always add more later.

Use a knife to cut a hole in the tape over the hole in the bar mount -- that's where the bolt that attaches the Stepstruder goes in, and you don't want to block it. 1.3 Make sure the tape over the hole is cut away completely; hanging pieces of tape can get in the way of the bolt when you try to reattach the Stepstruder.

Now you can bolt the Stepstruder back on. Raise the platform all the way and check to see if the nozzles are more level. If you've added the right amount of tape, they'll be nice and even, as in 1.4

If you haven't added the right amount of tape, don't worry -- just unbolt the Stepstruder again and add or subtract a couple of layers of tape. It shouldn't take long before the nozzles are perfectly even and you can go back to printing!