New machine won't print

[mrjayd]

Redo the alignment, but use two layers of paper as your gauge. Elegoo's vague specification of using a "sheet of paper" is as imprecise as anything could be, as there is no universal standard defining the the thickness of a "sheet of paper". If one assumes they mean the somewhat ubiquitous sheet of commonly used 20 lb. per ream (500 sheets) photocopy/printer paper then it specifies a gauge thickness of 0.09 to 0.10 mm (90 to 100 microns) as a gauge. (for clarity I will use microns [μm] in any further discussion). As the standard FEP is 150 μm this means the single sheet of paper gauge is 50 to 60 microns too thin resulting in an effective "negative clearance" of -50 to -60 μm.

I.e. adjusting the platen position so that a single "sheet of paper" fits snugly means that the FEP will need to be compressed by 50 to 60 μm when the resin vat is installed and the platen lowered¹. Using two thicknesses of "paper" increases the gauge thickness to  .18 to .20 μm--I.e. it leaves 30 to 50 μm clearance and no flexing of the Z-axis is required. This will produce a slightly thicker bottom layer, by 30 to 50 μm, generally a good thing as it aids adhesion to the platen and stabilizes the initial layers of the model.

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¹ - In practice the FEP cannot compress to that extent; so what happens is the Z-axis assembly flexes to accommodate the FEP's thickness--if there is not enough flexure in the Z-axis to accommodate that, the stepper motor growls and stalls out.

After I installed the Jackson Products Z-Axis upgrade on my Mars it's far superior rigidity served to highlight this issue as the improved Z-axis assembly could no longer flex sufficiently to accommodate the negative clearance "too tight" adjustme

Thanks Cliff but I did dig up your old thread on this last night so when I got home from work today I did start from scratch and folded my printer paper over to get the double thickness but it still does the same thing. And I am just upset the MMF support has not replied to my  email. Shouldn't be this difficult.