A30T extruders on Z-Axis?

[rotormansa]

I spotted a person who modified the printer so the three extruders ride up and down the Z-axis. This allowed this user to significantly shorten the distance from the extruder to the hot end. While making sense, going through this effort have that much of an impact on printing? The user said it eliminated stringing completely. This person has an aluminum bar that attaches to the two plates that the anti-backlash nuts are attached to. Anyone with thoughts on this? I was contemplated doing this mod but I would purchase additional anti-backlash nuts and have the mod ride on that rather than on the X-axis bar.

[gruenfron]

This was also my thought to reduce stringing. After printing the PLA temperature tower (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2729076) for my PLA assortment it is obvious, that the ideal temperature is 215°C where stringing is nearly gone. It interestingly increases with higher and also lower temperature. My retraction distance is 4mm, using more has ended up in clogging the nozzle/mixer. So indeed best solution would be shortening the bowden tube length. Do you have a link to visit the modification?

[rotormansa]

check out thiniverse and search for A30T and you'll find the post. A German fellow (I recall). I held on to the teflon tubes during a print and mine really don't move. I'm more concerned about added vibration and load on the Z-axis stepper motors. I'm torn .

I still have a way to go. I'm very proficient with my I3 Pro but it took me 6 months to iron out all the details. The A30T I think will be a bit longer. First layer really sucks, but after that everything is great. Using the Cura plug in for Repetier produces the best results. Have tried Cura and Prousa and both had worse results for slicing than the Geeetech settings for the Cura Repetier plug in. I only use PLA (too many head aches with ABS). I am still waiting for replacement parts, my base, cooler fan, and display came in damaged. I have a pin stuck in the side of the display to get it to work... it's a nightmare at the moment.... what a hobby.

[gruenfron]

Thanks, found it (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4737611). I'll give it a try. The weight of the bar lies on the lead screws, hope there is nothing to worry about vibration. Best test is to print same temperature tower gcode then and see whether stringing is reduced. Maybe usable print height is reduced to 410mm but this is not a big problem. What I can see from the temperature tower is that the layer cooler fan duct is too far away from the nozzle, I checked a few designs on thingiverse but found nothing I like so far.

it's a nightmare at the moment.... what a hobby.

Yeah, women without problems buy a horse, men without problems buy a 3D printer...

[jokerit]

So I rebuild my A30T and extruders on Z axis are excelent. I´ve lowerd extractions and no stringigng at all. Vibrations are not problem. I´m very satisfied.

[gruenfron]

So, I gave it a try and can say: it is worth it. See details here https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4825065 - a bit stringing is left on the lower temperatures (185°C). Also printing with flex material (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4824544) worked.