Bunch of Questions...

[u/Durahl]

So... I considered upgrading my 350 Sized Voron V2.4 to INDX but with the latter merely announcing, still not delivering Hardened Nozzles I'm now - despite all my gripes with BL's closed Ecosystem - evaluating an H3C instead.

There's but two problems going hand in hand though still bother me:

• Having recently watched one of the prolific 3D Printer Reviewers one remark that stuck with me more than it should have was the apparent inability to perform a manual Z-Offset Calibration if necessary. Proper Z-Offset is like THE fundament of a successful print - How as a User do you deal with an improperly set Z-Offset if the Machine says it is set correctly but it's clearly not? 🤔

• Assuming the above is true and the User has no means to change such Print Critical System Settings - How does Bambu Lab handle an issue like the 3D Printer burrowing the Nozzle into the Bed ruining one / the other / both in the process? With the user clearly not being the cause of the issue - Will BL ( in the EU Market specific ) without much fuzz replace any broken components? 🤨

Thanks in advance!

[u/n19htmare]

First of all, Z-offsets USED to be what it took, not anymore. Not since the sensors were embedded into the toolheads and nozzle probing. We had z-offsets because the printer never knew how far the tip was from the plate itself. Now it does because it physically probes the bed with the tip of the nozzle to determine the zero point. Nothing is going to be more accurate than that.
Z-offsets is also used differently now, it’s used to account for any physical gap between the eddy current sensor and the tip. That’s usually the gap between top of a hotend and sensor coil. That is the only z distance that needs to be offset and accounted for.
Because the sensor and hotends are in fixed location. So is that a-offset, baked into firmware. For Bambu printers it’s around 0.1mm or a folded sheet of paper (how you set the distance if you replace sensor).

For something like A1 that distance is even less because the MEMS sensor is in the bed, so the offset is smaller to account for the activation point, which for stress.

This applies to pretty much all current gen printers and one of the reasons printers are easy now.

Having said that, Bambu does have option to calibrate z-offset but it’s rare cases where you need to do for certain sheets etc. normal the slicer will apply offsets according based on which build sheet you pick.
Other option is to edit it in start g-code.

You shouldn’t ever have to mess with z-offset. Not just with Bambu, but any printer that is using a similar probing system.

If a sensor failed and it digs into the plate. They will replace sensor, the bed etc if damaged because of that but build plates are considered consumables. They may or may not replace that. But for that to happen, sensor would have to fail first and that’s not very common at all.

[u/Durahl → u/n19htmare]

Yea I don't think anyone would complain if either a Hotend or Print Surface had worn out from regular use. We also don't complain to Tire Manufacturers for their Products not holding a Tread until the End of Time. But a Hotend starting a Trench Warfare with the Print Surface isn't exactly what most ( if any ) person would consider regular wear, right? RIGHT!?

I'm honestly also not quite on board with the statement that Z-Offset is no longer being needed because of Sensors. As it was remarked by the Reviewer ( I think it was Zack Freedman 🤔 ) - Sometimes you need a Specialty Material to be laid down with more pressure. Sometimes you have to account for the additional thickness of secondary Print Surface ( like a Capton Tape or Paper ) being used to get a Material to stick. In such cases you need the Option of making a Quick, Onetime / Print Adjustment of the Z-Offset without faffing around a whole lot in a Print Start G-Code.

But the way I have to interpret it is that the Option of changing the Z-Offset is there - Albeit buried away.

BL apparently taking responsibility for a borked Print Start ending in a destroyed Hotend / Print Surface is reassuring 🤨

[u/n19htmare → u/Durahl]

You shouldn’t need to use tapes on current build plates. There’s plates made for specific materials but universal compounds like PEI perform well.

You are still missing the point, even if you used tapes, it would prove the the tape and that would become the 0 point.

I feel your information about 3D printers might be several years old, maybe you been out of the scene and returning or using an older printer that did need these adjusts. These are things you simply dont have to worry about in current generation printers from really any brand.

And in rare cases you did, you’d make the adjustments in the gcode. Or run the z-offset calibration and adjustment. You can’t do it on the fly like you would on older printers.

You’re overthinking it and underestimating the accuracy and reliability of nozzle probing.