I've Fixed Z Banding on my 3D Printer...FOREVER

Something most don't know about stepper motors: Inside them is a spring-washer type pre-tensioner, it preloads the motor and keeps it from rattling if you shake it, guess what side it's usually on though? The bottom(bushing upwards when used in the z-axis like this), your gantry weight might be sufficient to deflect this spring and cause irregularities as the print gets heavier. You can tell by watching the coupler while giving it a little push down against. Your thrust bearing is probably fixing this. On mine I took the motor apart and relocated the sprint to the top so it pushes down instead, resulting is a more stable Z-reference.

This is one of the best produced 3d printing videos I have ever seen. Engaging at every segment.

"Self lubricating" is code for "material lost to wear acts as a sort of lubricant".

This video NEEDS to be on the wiki of all manufacturers! Amazing, very clear and top quality! New sub!!!!

Wow this video is great, you deserve far more views and subscribers. Really well researched and exposed, amazing job!

Excellent video! These kind of deep dives are the best 👍

Quite comprehensive. Great stuff. Appreciated how much effort you put into it.

Loving this video, your quality and explanation, and the channel as a whole. Can't wait to see what else you do man

Phenomenal show, sir. Great enthusiasm and top notch experimentation.

Thanks for all your testing!!

I literally fought a gantry level problem for a whole weekend, settled on using my Angle Cube, then 3 days later I found that you did the EXACT same thing.

Finding this at a good time. About to pull out the old V2 and maybe try to tune it up again. Thank you for such a thorough and approachable how-to.

Bent lead screw itself wont deflect in travel at any noticeable rate, extremely small effect (a2 + b2 = c2). Most Z issues are simply binding from being out of square, the rest are bad PID tuning (temps jumping around) and bed bounce/vibration, mostly just on bed slingers. BUT if you have dual Z motors and there tied together with a belt and not in phase, it's better to simply unplug one if that gantry holds up when turned off. If you need both, loosen one coupler and activate the motors then level your gantry and tighten it up. That will put them in phase so that there not constantly trying to fight each other paying a back and forth tug of war. The last one, a loose carriage. The POM nuts work just fine and can be "loose" as gravity will do the job of keeping them in place, maybe if you need to print while its on it's side.. idk. The thrust bearing would compensate for bad/cheap bearings in the factor motors, but you can get nearly the same effect of the oldham with nylon washers and only tightening the brass nut so that there's no play, allowing to the stock cheap brass nut to move around in the x/y AND also wobble to play along with a bent lead screw.

Incredibly well done video! Definitely subbed and look forward to more from you!

I wanted to thank you here. You changed my print quality. With this training you gave. Everything changed for me. I was not at all satisfied with the quality of my print. But when I did what you said. The result I got was unbelievable. My print quality has improved so much that there is no difference with resin. I would love to have a place where I could show you the results. And see how the quality is. It looks like it was taken with bamboo printers. With this tutorial, you showed me that it is possible to get a good quality print. And it is not a wish. I am very sorry that I got to know your channel earlier. I wish I had seen this video earlier. thank you. Thank you generous man. Thank you for your great advice. Please continue your work and post more tutorials. No matter how much I thank you, I have thanked you little. Thank you, kind man. thank you❤❤❤❤❤❤🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏thank you thank you

What a great video! Fun to watch, too. :) Thanks Maxy,

The most critical thing with leadscrew alignment is that the bearings and nut are all in exactly the same relative position to the linear axis the screw is driving. The screw being straight is irrelevant if the top & bottom bearings are at different distances from (or laterally to) the linear slide! That is probably why the top bearing caused problems - the opposite end was not in line with the nut, so it was causing lateral force on the nut near the ends of the travel. It applies to the industrial machine tools I work on, and equally to 3D printers or any small CNC.

i became one of the 2K subs cause of this vid, keep goin!

I've subscribed without even watching the whole video. The intro was so captivating. :face-red-heart-shape:

Thanks a lot for this clear view man,