Bed levelling for beginners to achieve a perfect first layer
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- čas přidán 24. 08. 2020
- Are you struggling to dial in a perfect first layer? Many beginners are, so you’re not alone. This video takes you through the aim and method of manually levelling your 3D printer bed, with a gcode test pattern generator and example diagrams of what to aim for and what to avoid.
It also answers the question of when you might need auto bed levelling, how it works and how to set the Z offset.
Thanks to the community for embracing my calibration website, and helping improve it greatly since launch.
First layer tab of calibration website: teachingtechyt.github.io/cali...
Previous video explaining the calibration website: • 3D printer calibration...
Bed levelling X: www.thingiverse.com/thing:407...
You can also compensate for an uneven bed with manual mesh bed levelling: • Manual Mesh Bed Levell...
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God, I just love this community (3d printing). A lot of people are happy to help and share what they have learned, and just trying so that we all can have good experience with printing. Love you all
Thanks, that is why I spend so much time - the great community
ya same, so many good tips online, and the creativity seems to bring out the best in people.
Agreed. Best community in tech. This is a good tutorial. Even as an experience print operator I have moments where my brain forgets to apply ordered process to bed leveling. This video always helps.
A clean bed is just as important. You can level all you want, if the bed is dirty it still won't stick.
Very true. I find a good quality glass cleaner is better than isopropyl alcohol too (obviously on a glass bed :-) I use Mr Muscle glass cleaner works brilliantly. Even better still, run a glue stick over the surface a few times, let it dry, then wipe the entire surface with glass cleaner, it leaves a small residue of glue and prints stick superbly well.
Im not going to say a clean bed isnt important, but I will say this, at least with build tack sheets and close to a years worth of use on the same one and I never washed it once. Until my build tack stated to get deformed I never had any problems with it at all, if anything it stuck too good.
Im not discouraging anyone from washing their beds, one thing I learned very early on with 3d printing is what works for one dosnt automatically work for everyone. I also just recently switched to a glass bed and I am guessing I am going to have to occasionally wash it, but I have still yet to wash my glass.
Just something to think about before you waste IPA.
PS my printer is in a location where collecting dust is next to impossible, and I only print pla with it. So I am no expert, and you shouldnt take my advice every anyway, but if you do your mileage may vary.
Oh man, thank you for posting what MILLIONS of people have already ever explained. Your words are a treasure of knowledge.
@@Yoursoul101 millions? wow, you must have spent a long time counting them...
@@Yoursoul101 Then are you mad about the video itself for going over what many others have explained?
Excellent, well detailed video as usual.
Just wanted to say thank you for all the effort you put into these videos. This gcode generator is a godsend for my different sized beds.
This system worked great. I’ve been struggling with first layer issues since I added the Bullseye shroud. So going back to the basic solved my Z-offset problem.
Thanks for the great work and keep it up.
I bought my first 3D Printer, an Ultimaker Original, in 2013. Tutorials like yours are great for newbies and even us users like me...who 'think we know it all'. You've reminded me of some great Best Practices (like heating the bed to do the leveling!)....great job!
I'm starting in 3D printing, so I'm so happy to find your video. Thanks a lot! Your explanation is great and useful to learn more!
Super video. I've rarely had adhesion problems but when I did, this video sorted me out. I re-leveled, checked my heights, increased my first layer width from 0.4 to 0.6 and slowed my first layer speed to 25%. I've never had better prints.
Michael this is awesome , As someone thats been 3d printing for a couple of years now I still find this stuff useful.
Thank you for this video Michael, I followed your instructions last night and I got five perfect squares. My prints on my new Artillery Sidewinder X1 are now amazing😀👍
After going on your calibration site i have leveled the bed and calibrated the extruder and the slicer just one word to say AWESOME
Most useful and clearest bed leveling video I've yet seen. Thank you.
Thank you so much for this guide.
I have a dip in the middle of the bed on my Ender 3 pro, which was causing slightly bad adhesion problems with almost no squish on the first layer.
After going through your first layer calibration guide on your website, downloading the G-Code and manually levelling the bed as it was printing the 5 point code I have managed to get a near perfect first layer in the middle of my bed, which is where I do most of my printing.
Thank you for taking the time to do this, it's helped me a lot, as I'm sure it has for many others : )
This is one of your better videos. Thanks so much for putting the work into the content and production value!!! This one is very helpful👍🏻👊🏻
You sir are a legend. After adding a glass bed to my Ender 5 Pro I had all sorts of problems getting the first layer to stick, even after levelling super carefully. But your levelling Gcode file showed me that the printer head to bed distance was still too great, and how to fix it. Awesome, thank you.
Hands down best video and guide to leveling. Thank you.
My printer runs fine , but after all your content ill try to squeeze more out of it , thank you for the great documentation. you explain everything really deatialed!
I had a huge deformation in the middle of the glass sheet on my Artillery Sidewinder after a print got really stuck to the surface. No matter how I levelled the 4 corners nothing would stick in the middle.
An Artillery Facebook group I'm on suggested loosening tension on all 4 sides, then heating the bed to 80 degrees and re-applying tension to try and pop the deformation out. It took a fair bit of time and trial and error, but I did see significant improvement.
I'm not promising results or permanent fixes, but it's worth a shot if things get ridiculous. ABL really is a must when your bed is warped.
I got my Ender 3 V2 today and I've started the steps on the site. Easy to follow instructions. My 1st printer.
This is definitely the most straightforward leveling tutorial Ive seen. I wish I'd had it when I first started!
I am struggling so bad with levelling
When I was trying to figure out my Z Offset, I was having trouble measuring the distance between the BL Touch probe and the printer nozzle.
So I used a pack of cards! it worked great!
If I had to pick one video to share with people new to 3D printing, this would be the one! This one helped me so much when I was starting a month ago. I went from absolute frustration and failed prints to consistent and reliable prints I'm really happy with. Thank you!
Yes, definitely
Finally someone actually explaining how to assess the correct amount of squish.😊
The best bed levelling video! Thanks 🙏🏻
Excellent presentation, very helpful, especially with the leveling test gnode file. Many thanks
This is great! I did however run into an issue, I would manually adjust during the print, and the final results were great, then I would re-run the print to verify and my auto level would re-adjust back to a bad print, I ended up turning off the auto bed level and selected no auto level for the print and it worked great!
Excellent stuff Michael. Your site is getting better and better. Lots of good info here too. Cheers, JAYTEE
I’d like to add that printing a raft can be a lifesaver for people not equipped with ABL to compensate for warping. Also, after struggling for months with bed adhesion, I bought a 1mm PEI sheet and never had an issue again with PLA.
Dude thanks!!! This video truly saved me with the bed levelling issues I had!!!
I had almost given up until I stumbled on this video!
Great guide!!! Really comprehensive!!! Keep up the awesome work!
Michael, I don't recall if you covered it in any of your previous videos but I compiled Marlin with Mesh bed leveling and Babystepping without ABL probe. It works like a charm and if you are not to ruff with your bed will last for quite some time before you need to redo it.
If you haven't done a video on it maybe you should for those that want to save a few more bucks and still get great prints.
Great!!! Very good! We’re working in a Portuguese version for The Calibration site.
I found that a feeler gauge, spirit level and/or inclinometer do wonders in the bed levelling process.
Saves the stress of not knowing how close you are to a level bed.
Nice Video as usual. I just want to add one thing. I had a huge Problem leveling my Ender 3 after a few weeks of using it. After long fiddeling I realized that the screws for the Z-stepper loosened over time and gave the Z-axis some wobble which made it impossible to get a good first layer. So definetly also check your frame, screws and belts if you get inconsistent first layers
Timing couldn’t have been better! Got my first 3D printer yesterday and had no idea how to level the bed right. Really useful guide and gcode generator. Can you add some info on mesh bed leveling? It seems like a middle ground between manual and auto bed leveling
Best video on this subject, thank you.
thank you very much, very useful video, nice structured and edited.
subbed
Yeay! I'm so happy that I installed inductive sensors on my machines and even a piezo on one.. UBL and ABL are so great. I completely forgot how hard it can be for new players to get the first layers right. Good luck to all the new 3D-printing enthusiasts!
An ABL is a small price to pay for consistency. I prefer the EZABL to the BL Touch, speed and less damage.
bruh i was so pissed trying tp level the bed after getting a ender 3 pro and only being able to print 2 small things successfully in 3 days finally caved and bought a bl touch
Thank you for making that website. Thats all I wanted to say
Thanks for the Micheal. I just got rid of my E5 magnetic bed and installed a spring steel bed. The challenge is now to get the prints to stick to the bed. I will get some glue sticks and try that. Thank you for the great helpful videos...
Great video. Only thing i'm missing is to level the x gantry before you level the bed. At least when your printer has a double z motor it is important to get the x gantry levelled before you level the bed.
THIS VIDEO HELPED MUCH, THANK YOU 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
Thank you, this helped a ton.
Really helpful video - thanks!
Great video. I wish you would do one like this for a Delta (Kossel Mini), as you cannot keep the head at the same height after disabling the steppers. Also there are not any videos that really show this kind of setup for a Delta. Thanks again.
Excellent! Thank you!
Cheers for this info. Set my geeetech a10 perfect
getting a square mirror as a bed works great. Since you can usually see warp areas in mirror if there are any. By spraying a bit of alchohol and water on the print after it finishes, the remaining print material comes off easily too. But yea, leveling bed is still another issue that's answered by the video :3
I would also highly recommend SunShine's printed dial indicator compliant mechanism.
Getting the bed level with the nozzle plane was the biggest hurdle for me and it was so frustrating and infuriating that I was almost ready to throw my new Ender 3 Pro out the window when I bought it. Luckily I found out about EZABL and ordered one. Set it all up and it works perfect every single print. Only time an adjustment is needed now is when I change print resolution, then I have to change the Z offset to compensate.
thank you bro
cheers from Canada
Great info on tramming the bed! I ultimately broke down and bought an inexpensive set of feeler gauges (or a very expensive 0.10mm feeler gauge if we're going to be honest), and the test print came out so much better than any of my attempts using paper. I'm now printing an all in one test model, and the base is about 60cm square, but two diagonally opposing corners curl up slightly while the other two lay perfectly flat. The quality of the fill lines shows slight ridging on the initial layer, but nothing that makes me think the layer is printing too thin. Any ideas why this would be? The result is that those two corners end up rounded instead of sharp 90 degrees on each face.
Great video!!! Thank you!
Great explanation
At 13:48 We should all follow your Nstructions to the letter lol Sorry Michael, I couldn't resist it 😂 Fantastic guide as always 👍
Again, ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO!!!!
Genial amigo gracias por compartir , saludos desde Colombia
To level the bed, I believe Creality tells us to home the hot end, then disable the stepper motors to move from corner to corner and raise or lower these as needed. Problem is, when I follow this procedure I can never get the bed level the first time. It was infuriating. Then, I read an article someone wrote on the net. He said to stop using disable stepper motors. So, to move from corner to corner, I had to use the Move command. Doing it this way, I was able to level my bed the first time around! My print is perfect.
Thank you for this! Helped a lot!
Recieved my first printer today- ender 3- and this would’ve been super useful- but i figured out a pretty level bed :D
He's got lots of good advice here!
This video has solved so many damn headaches of mine.
First layer adhesion and the different types of print beds and how to make your print stick onto the different surfaces just right, might be useful too. I'm doing 3D printing for almost 3 years now, and i still struggle with first layer adhesion, elephant footing and warping on some prints.
Once again, an incredibly important and helpful video...thanks so much!
great video, I have been using bltouch and no issues so far
Great video, but was hoping to hear you speak about manual mesh bed leveling too....
6:47 As someone who's been bitten hard by his Anet A8 while doing precisely this, let me point out that you need to be damned sure of where the bed is going and/or damned sure you can't get bitten before you attempt this. Getting a thumb or finger pinched between the levelling screw and the frame really, really hurts.
6yjjk very true, those motors are powerful and can really pinch you hard.
Awesome video and thank you a billion times. Ironically the mid of my bed has like a bump so I used Z offset plugin on Cura. But yeah I think now that a ABL would be benefical for accurate first layers in my case. But When I see the price tag then I just think I´ll wait ^^.
Can you make a video comparing some Auto Bed Leveling sensors ?? like a cheap, a mid tier and a high tier one ?
IMHO, manual mesh bed leveling works just as well as an ABL. It would have been nice if you covered that.
6:50 - One of the joys of a Hypercube style printer is that the bed only moves up and down, so you can live tune it with ease :-D
I just got a glass bed for my Ender 3 Pro. I was suprised how hard it was to get first layer adhesion! I missed the magnet bed. However, glue stick made it finally work!
Thank you so much!
hi, I just got a Biqu B1 printer and this video helped me a lot! I think I got a woop in the midle of the bed, cause I level up the 4 cornes but in the center the papershit seems to be a little bit loose.... so I got a few failures cause the peaces just poped off the bed, do you use hair spray on the black bed the biqu b1 uses? and what do you think abotu replacing the magentic black peace with a glass for more flatness.. Thank u so much!
Thanks for your video. I was waiting for you to mention mesh bed leveling. I think it as good as ABL only think that is manual. I know ABL is convenient but for us that have Ender 3 with 1. main board, from what i understand is a bit harder to add ABL unless you improvise or add adaptors.
There is a product that I'll probably be ordering this evening called EZABL, and they have a version that doesn't require playing with the main board at all, which is the one I'm going to get as my solitary attempt at soldering did not end well at all 😑. All you need to do is bridge the z axis plugs with it, and you're finished. Apologies if you are already aware of it...just trying to help. 😊
@@MAGA_Patriot2024 Thanks for your response. I didn't know about EZABL, yes is plug and play but you still have to play with marlin firmware and is much more expensive than BLT. to be honest for the amount of printing i am doing MESH leveling is enough.Thanks again for your response.
would you agree with the statement that sometimes the type or brand of filmament makes a difference when it comes to how it extrudes on the first? I've also found it by adjusting my temperature I can change how the squish appears to show on the build plate which I think is something that people also need to be aware of. This is a great video and very educational but that's one thing I do believe you should add as sometimes you may have under extrusion or poor adhesion causing it to appear as an incorrect squish however it could be that the temperature of the nozzle isn't high enough and the filament is not hot enough to go through properly.
thank you for this
Really needs a section on Delta printer levelling. I really appreciate the explanation of terminology and going through the basics but Delta beds - especially ones fixed to the frame - need a different levelling process.
I started 3d printing about 3 months ago now. I started doing this exact procedure to get my bed leveled correctly every time it needs adjustment. I never liked the guess work that came along with using a bit of paper or something like that.
Could you use calipers to measure a single layer thickness and use that with the pitch of the leveling screws or the z offset with ABL to properly set your z height and first layer flow properly?
Thanks so much
Small tip for cleaning I picked up from experimentation: glass doesn't always like to be cleaned with IPA. I don't know if it's the kind of glass or the kind/brand of filament in use, but sometimes I've found a glass bed that has been visually completely cleaned with IPA just won't "grip" the first layer.
Vinegar works well in this situation. Just regular cleaning vinegar you can pick up for $1-$2 a litre at the supermarket, so it's readily available and quite a bit cheaper than IPA. Also works well on other surfaces, and makes the printer room smell like a bag of chips for hours after.
chips shouldn't have vinegar on them :)
@@dirkvantroyen9170 Blasphemer! But that's OK - more SnV for me. Lemon is also good (on the chips, not the printer bed).
@@asterchades2082 Weird. English? We don't do crazy stuff like that in Belgium ;-)
@@dirkvantroyen9170 Australian, actually. So even weirder than English!
Thank you so much, I just couldnt level my bed correctly for the life of me
I noticed that you said to disable steppers in the video. I have had issues with bed leveling in the past with disabled steppers because the Z axis is also disabled. In some cases the gantry will fall back towards the tray as you push the extruder around the build tray.
I agree. With steppers disabled you can move the z and not even know it. But I think the idea here is to let new gamers move it by hand because when moving with code, if you aren't experienced you can slam the nozzle into the bed. Once you know what to look for in the code and make it yourself for your specific printer it makes the task so much easier and more accurate. The only issue now: I can't tell you how many times I've had my hand on a leveling wheel when the bed takes off after its ten seconds pause in one corner - with the bed motion the wheels comes out of my hand rotating - so much for that corner, lets go round again.
Lol could have needed this like an hour ago. Did my own calibration code by using a big square with a skirt and the removed ever code except the skirt. This way I get 3 lines of extrusion all around and I can see what corner is incorrect and if the bed is uneven
Cant help notice that the table has belt holder for the Lowrider2. Any chance we will be seeing any more videos for the Lowrider?
Didn't you do a video about manual mesh leveling? I've been using manual mesh for about a year and only occasionally think I should throw more money (buy/install abl) at the problem of my warpy bed.
Hello! 2 Questions: Newbie here! 1.Can you print multiple 3d projects at one time, is it wise, is it feasible? For instance, if I have a numbers set 0-9 and they are not connected, can I print them at one go? 2. Is it okay to have the Ender 3 Pro sitting in a cabinet right next to another Ender 3 Pro (within a few inches from the other) ? I didn't know if there would be any sort of friction that would harm the other printer. Many thanks!
Hi Michael, any chance of you doing a review of the Troodon 400?
Marlin G35, I've never had such a freakishly perfect bed.
Can you throw some more light on this g35 technique?
@@ananthpadfoot G35 is a "Tramming Assistant" code for Marlin firmware that helps level the bed using a probe, such as the BLTouch. marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/G035.html
@@ananthpadfoot marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/G035.html
You type g35 into a terminal, like in octoprint or just pronterface. It taps each of the corners and the center with the z-probe, it then tells you to turn the threads clockwise or counterclockwise, rinse and repeat for a fully level bed to x gantry with zero effort or skill. This gets it level, but then you just babystep it to the correct nozzle height in the center and you're golden all over the bed.
Question for you, where did you get your x axis linear rail kit from?
Hi and thank you as always for sharing! i was wondering if there is there a way to add the auto bed leveling hardware to a newer tronxy IDEX 3d Printer. the Tronxy Gemini S..? not sure how i can update the firmware or rather what to use for updating the firmware for this feature to be used.. (if even possible?). i believe there is an option for updating firmware using Repetier host as that software is compatible and can connect with the Gemini S. i have not tried octo print yet.. any advice would be great. this printer is fabulous when i can get the first layer to stick. I think the way the stop sensors are read for "home" positions are the biggest downfall. as each print seems to be off a bit from one print to the next with regards to the starting z height. the gantry is solid and heavy and extends up a great deal from the bottom of the printer base that it is secured to and the 4 mounting screws on each side are not enough to hold the printer stable IMO. if i keep the speeds down though and as i said if and WHEN i can get the first layer to be stick and be consistent the prints turn out great. any help and or advice would be much appreciated!
Could you make (or have you already ?) a video about trouble shooting for infill? Because I've tried seemingly everything and still have under extrusion. The top, bottom and walls are perfect but for some reason the infill is stringy af and therefore not super strong (it's not too bad but far from perfect or even great). The last thing to try would be to swap the hotend but with everything else working fine, I fail to see what it would do. Great vid as always by the way!
I think I had the same issues. If I remember correctly it was because the amount of filament that is extruded is higher for infill than for perimeters (obviously also depending on your settings). For me it was something with my extruder. So that might be worth checking. I ended up with a different extruder, that kind of solved my problems.
@@mycelstorm7101 yes that might be it. I remember noticing some enhancement when I decreased the speed but it really wasn't practical (something like 25mm/s, I mean I didn't built a custom 3d printer for that kind of speed 😂)
Might be interesting to point out that the extruder make a "knocking" sound like all the time too.
Infill is usually printed at twice the speed of the walls, so the hotend has to provide more energy to keep the filament flowing well enough. Either slow down the infill printing speed, which can usually be controlled separately from the wall speed, or increase the temperature a little. 5 degrees can make a difference. The knocking sound is the extruder skipping steps because it can't push the filament fast enough; it's probably not hot enough and too viscous.
I think it could also be due to a partly clogged nozzle. Your extruder is loosing steps, like pnt said. Nozzle, heaterblock and extruder are the tree things I'd check. And Maybe your step per mm setting. Could be too high and might have caused a partial clogg. Good luck tracing down the issue!
The automatic bed leveling thing would definitely be nice to have as well, hopefully it doesn't set me back too much..6.6
@Teaching Tech would you say that it is better to level the bed closer to the corners or closer to the center?
I have just got an Ender 3 S1 printer in place of my V2 that I traded in recently. Since the S1 has auto bed leveling, it's been an experience to try and get that perfect 1st layer. Any tips for a newcomer for the auto bed leveling?
I've really been struggling with whether bl touch would be worthwhile, and I know for a fact my bed has a minor warp, so I'm sold. Now if I can just figure out how to utilize the full size of the bed in cura...
Also, manual mesh bed leveling can correct for a warped bed, too.
This is what I use
@@dunlop64 how do you know which point in the mesh corresponds to its physical location on the bed?
@@irql2 not sure what you're asking tbh. With manual mesh bed leveling turned on, it's under the motion option on the printer itself to level the bed and the print head automatically moves from point to point, I believe you can set the number of points you level as well default is 9 (I think). I had a difficult time compiling the firmware and had someone from the btt skr Facebook group do it for me
@@dunlop64 yea I’m familiar with the leveling process but what I’m curious to know Is if I were to manually enter the offset for each point or element in the array, how would I know where on the bed that specific point is. Like I’d probe point 1 at the bottom right and the second one just a little to the left, etc etc. on my ender 5 plus I watched the firmware populate the mesh when it probed and it seemed there was no order to where it probed. I know there was, but I couldn’t find it. It was like it was probing random spots until it finished if that makes sense.
@@irql2 as you probe (without an abl system) you're setting the height with the printer like you would normally level it with paper except you're controlling the z height with the control knob and it's saving that height to the printer
Omg i having this problem rn but this should help
Do the ABL corrections remain throughout all the layers? if so... that would mean a warped bed at the end of the day, or it just compensates during the first layer?
@12:40 "The Z-Offset is simply the vertical mesurement between the tip of the nozzle and where the probe triggers" Is this true also for capasitive-based sensors? How do we know where the probe triggers?
So the bed *should* be warm. Flsun Q5 has the autolevel/home/adjust z0 in one sub-menu by default and it doesn't heat. This explains why I have to make the head nearly crash into the bed for the prints to stick right!
What are the clips for on your bed? Are they holding your bed cover in place? I use those for glass, but it suddenly occurs maybe I should with the OEM mat too? Does it slip?
I've got the lines right (thanks) but I'm still getting globs, randomly. assume extrusion and temp tests next?
i noticed you still use a zstop switch in addition to the BLTouch (or equivalent) do you move this higher than its lowest position?