How to set the height of the nozzle above the heat bed?

[johnboyman 0]

Hello. I am using a mingda d2 fusion 360 and cura. I have a problem that my nozzle starts a bit too close and it hits the matt which is leaving a scar now. I tried going to move the z up on my printer but it doesn't really effect it when i start printing so I am thinking it must be a setting in cura that is setting the distance. Thanks for any help.

[Kamakanaaa 4]

There is a plugin called Z-Offset Setting.  It adds the ability to manually change the z-offset which should help with your issue.  Another thing to check is your bed leveling with a sheet of paper.  A regular size copy paper should have little friction when moved between the nozzle and bed.

[GregValiant 1,251]

You need to level your bed.  Along with insuring that the first layer is uniform thickness across the whole surface, it insures that no point of the bed is above zero.

Cura never generates a Z value less than the Initial Layer Height and that is always a positive number.  Cura has no idea where your build surface is.  It's up to you (or your Auto-Level system) to make sure it is at or just below zero.  There are a lot of videos that cover leveling for printers like yours.

[johnboyman 0]

Thank you. I have got that down finally.

[GregValiant 1,251]

You are now officially on your way.

I always use a skirt.  Yes, it gets the plastic flowing, but it also gives me a chance to see how my bed leveling went.  If it too thin or thick I can make a quick adjustment on-the-fly.  Like many things about 3d printing, it takes practice.