How to guide: Z motor replacement

If you have decided to replace your Z motor, here is a guide on how to replace it.

1. One side of the x-rods will be glued to the sliders, one side will not. Hold the slider in one hand, and the x-rack in the other. ​

2. While holding the slider and X Rack, gently pull apart from each other. Please be careful as to not bend the Z Rods, only a small gap is needed. ​

3. Rotate the slider so the pegs point upwards. The X Axis is now free from the sliders.

4. Take the print head and begin to slide it off the x-rack towards the end that is free to remove from rack. Set print head aside.

5. With printer on and connected, click the gear in the upper right hand corner to access settings

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6. Navigate to the advanced settings tab and click the checkbox labeled "Expert Mode"

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7. The spooler window should now open and you will want to raise the z height by 50 or so to get the gantries to at least the middle of the Z plane.

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8. Unplug both USB and power cables from printer for next steps

9. Next, push down on a corner of the base and pull up on the same corner of the lid to remove the lid (see picture below for technique) Note: Take caution when pulling off lid. You do not want to pull the rods out from the base ​

10. In order to gain access to the Z motor, you will need to remove the back right screw located underneath the print bed. You will need a T10 screw driver.

11. Once the screw is removed, you will be able to push apart the base and fluff at the corner exposing the Z motor.

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12. Use needle nose pliers to grab the motor shaft to lift the Z motor from the motor cavity and remove.

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13. The wire harness from the Z motor will be wound underneath another wire harness. To make sure the other wires are not disturbed when pulling out the connector, snip the Z motor wire harness indicated in red in the photo below and then pull the connector from the PCB. Warning: Make sure you are snipping the Z motor harness and not any of the other wires

14. Take the new Z motor and drop it into the motor cavity

15. Take the wire harness and use needle nose pliers to seat the connector back into the PCB. Note: Be extra careful seating the connector back into the PCB

16. Once fully connected, rotate the motor shaft of the Z motor to match the pulley's position above. Then take the top and bottom parts of the printer body and press them together to snap the printer body back into place

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17. Screw in the back right screw to secure the bottom and top parts of the printer body

18. Take the top cube of the printer and align the rods into their respective holes. It may be easier to align one side of the printer at a time. Once aligned, press the cube top down until it snaps into place.

19. Once the cube top is back on, reverse the steps to put the print head back on.

20. With the printer plugged in, recalibrate the Z height before conducting a test print.