What is Reddit's opinion of
Steelex D3383 Precision Square, 4-Inch?
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5 reviews of this product found across Reddit:
A lot of people like the double edge japanese saws on Amazon (the Ryoba ones). I have one and it works well, but I also have a table saw, circular saws and a band saw, hackzall.. etc.. so it doesn't get used often.
I'd recommend getting a decent #4 hand planer.. but not the cheap stanley one that makes you mess with two knobs to adjust the cut depth (it's hard to keep straight).
Little machinist square helps make sure blades are square to tables (also that corners are square) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005W0W34O/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Also worthwhile to pick up a cheap kanna block plane, they work well for chamfering corners: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071CF33BG
Pick up a good dual-grit sharpening stone for your chisels, and preferably a chisel bevel guide. You don't need expensive chisels to have them work well (they will hold an edge better though). Being sharpened well is the most important thing. Finish off your sharpening jobs with light strokes on a leather strop with some polishing compound.
Check to see if your frame is squared up. Right angle check the upper corners. If not loosen and re-tighten the bolts for the frame ensuring they are square. What happens is the slight mis-alignment gets worse and worse the further from the build plate you get.
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e.g. If you are off 1 degree near the build plate that might be only .01 mm off but by the time you are half way up that 1 degree could be 3 mm off. That misalignment also can affect how the print carriage behaves, belt tension, z-rod, etc. When I first got mine I wasn't square and had issues the higher the print. Go the the big box store or amazon and get an enginner\machinist's square (https://www.amazon.com/Steelex-D3383-Precision-Square-4-Inch/dp/B005W0W34O/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=engineer+square&qid=1605036307&sr=8-3 for example) and make sure everything that should be at right angles actually are.
When you tram (bed level) you are leveling against that frame so you don't necessarily catch the mis-alignments until the angle variance is high enough to notice.
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I suggest the following:
A: ensure the surface you are putting the printer on is level. I use an old TV center with doors and leveled a shelf using shims.
B: re-check all the right angles on the printer to make sure things are squared.
C: center the bed in the frame and level the bed with a regular bubble level as a starting point.
D: Check you wheel and belt tensions.
E: Use a firmware that has mesh bed leveling or a ABL system.
F: Tram your bed as usual (mesh\abl\or manual) and adjust your z-offsets as needed.
G: Grab a STL that tests for wobble.
H: Check your temps. When you are close to the build plate you have ambient heat coming off the bed plus the nozzle heater. By the time you are half way up, the ambient temp is likely much lower. If there is a lot of airflow things might be getting too cold too quick as you get higher. My problems vanished when I re-purposed an old TV cabinet (armoire) like this:
Now that is stupid expensive but cheap ones are a dime a dozen on craigslist or even at places like office max. Mine was $50 at target of all places when I got it 20 years ago. But the doors keep the ambient heat in. My problem now is stuff sticks too well to the glass plate I have.
An engineers square like this is plenty good enough for woodworking tool setup: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B005W0W34O Way more precise than you can actually adjust the tool to.
Definitely not square.
You know I've only just got involved in the 3d printing community in the last year or so but one thing that is very surprising and kind of alarming is how there are not agreed upon best practices for assembly/setup/etc. Everyone has their own way to make it right by "feel" which is very imprecise and esoteric. These practices have existed by machinists for hundreds of years and there are tools available to make things like this easier and repeatable.
Not to undermine the value of "feeling" when something is just right but that is not precise and very vague and hard to understand for most people without months or years of experience. But everyone can buy a machinist square or feeler gauge set on amazon for less than 10 bucks and all of our printers would be assembled and leveled properly.
I think in the last couple months of frequenting these subs I've read hundreds of posts about assembly and leveling and it's kind of frustrating because there are tools for this and yet we're all left trying to decipher what our favorite youtubers "mean" when they say certain things. It makes sense because the 3d printing community is by nature a DIY field but man, we could all make things much easier.
Sorry for the rant, yeah your x axis isn't square.
Kit or prebuilt?
If its a kit get a machinist square. Get that frame square from the get go.
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