For the life of me I could not get past the first few layers without the print turning to crap until I realized that the Z axis is not moving during print for layer change, it is printing the first 3-4 layers at the first layer height. Problem: Z-Axis doesn't work during a print. It attempts to work, maybe climbs on the Z-Axis, but screws back down. It whines, too. But, Z-Axis DOES work while not printing. It doesn't matter if the bed and nozzle heating or not, if it's not printing, it works as it should. 1) over extrusion. Too much filament so the previous layer too thick (at least in spots) If the Z steps/mm is incorrect for your printer arrangement then that will (obviously) cause issue since the Z is not going 'up' enough. First few layers might clear, but eventually it will fail. You could write a small gcode with z moves and some xy moves in between for testing. That should work. Then add more and more of the print gcode making problems in the beginning until the problem reapears, then you know which commands cause the problem which should help finding the reason. Z axis not moving during print. hi everyone, so I recently have set up my new 3d printer. I have set up my printer and it works, but whenever i print the print just piles filament until it begins to stick to the nozzle. i'm just hoping someone may have had this problem before and is offering a solution. I thought my Z axis must be off so I set it to auto home, then told it to go up 50mm and measured it with calipers. It was up exactly 50mm. So seems like it's going up the right amount. However, when I print it's like it's only going up 0.001mm and just drags. I can literally hear it grinding against the infill. A 3D printer's Z, Y, or X-axis may stop moving due to loose nuts, inadequate lubrication, binding with the lead screw, a loose Z coupler, or faulty wiring. It can also occur due to a worn-out drive belt, a broken stepper motor, or a short circuit in the motherboard. IFcplb.

z axis not moving during print