If you have a glass bed, I strongly suggest to clean with dish soap before every big print and alcool between small prints and sometime with dish soap.
Completely transformed my printer: I’ve had my printer for several years and have never really used it to its capabilities- just playing it safe printing simple objects in the middle of the bed. This video allowed me for the first time to make sure my printer bed is indeed level. I can’t wait to get started on the more complex things I’ve put off printing in the past.
Thank you very much when people say “the nozzle should drag the paper” it’s a problem because drag is a generic term and everyone has a different idea what drag means like does drag mean that the nozzle is barley touching the paper or a lot etc thank you for actually showing it on camera
Thank you! Yeah, that's why I've always hated the paper method, it's just not accurate enough for anything but a rough estimate. Even doing it myself, it's hard to be consistent with every corner. Printing the squares eliminates any guess work.
Yep, before this comment was made, I just yesterday started to under that I should start feeling resistance. I finally got a consistent 1st layer for the first time since owning a 3D printer.
I just want to thank you. I was gifted a used maker select v2 (prusa i3 clone) a few years ago and i have had nothing but issues. The paper method does NOT work for me. This method...absolutely beautiful prints now.
Thank you for this technique, I recently bought two second hand 3D printers and even after following the usual "use a piece of paper" tutorials around could still not get a satisfactory result. After following your instructions I detected improvements after two iterations and significant ameliorations after a few more. Great work, thanks again!
You are a lifesaver! I was using the paper method and I never got a good first layer. This helped me dial it in perfectly and now its almost impossible to get a print off without bed cooldown. Just like it should be!
@@HobbyHoarder I kept thinking that it cant possibly be closer than the paper thickness. i was wrong. You helped me a lot. Im still tweaking it to get it perfect
I don't know how long you've had your printer, but the springs on new printers need some time to settle. Don't be surprised if you'll have to re-level it again in a few days. After a couple of weeks, the bed will become much more stable and you might have to level it only every few months.
Yeah, that's quite common with the S4, it's just too big. Check the video description, I have a link there for wedge jack that you can put under the bed. You'll get a fifth adjustment point in the middle then and you can use it to raise the center just a little.
I know this has over 300 comments but I wanted to jump in and add my thanks for making this video. I've been leveling my bed this way since I got my printer after I stumbled upon calibration squares on thingiverse and it has saved me hours of frustration. All new entrants to 3D printing should watch this video and learn this process for bed leveling. This is even better than automatic leveling because you are adjusting the actual finished product. I will often watch my printer during the first layer of prints and make minute adjustments to get that first layer perfect and my print quality has been consistently awesome using this method.
Thank you Christopher, it really means a lot. It always makes me happy reading how I've helped someone. And you're right, I prefer manual leveling as well. It's easier and works just as well as the auto leveling on my Prusa.
@@HobbyHoarderSo I've just gone and got myself some mirror glass after your recommendation.. do you have any tips for changing the z height for the thickness of the new glass? Ideally I'd like to create a ' glass bed profile ' and a ' magnetic bed profile ' with the correct z height set for each. Thanks in advance
@@123benlambert Depends on your slicer, but Simplify3D has the Z-offset by default. In Cura, you have to install the Z offset plugin and then you can find it under Bed adhesion section.
Thanks, I was having trouble getting my Sovol SV-01 to print well until I came across this and now it's perfect. The levelling squares on Thingiverse work very well to level the bed. Thanks very much!
wow this is way way way way more helpful that any other video i looked at and I looked at loads when starting out I now use this method to do all my leveling.
I just bought my first 3d printer an artillery genius, i was struggling a lot with the bed leveling paper method, your video is a masterclass thank you so much Greetings from Chile PS: suscribed
Thanks for sharing, I just tried the bed levelling squares gcode and my printing improved so much, I can notice specially in the first layer. I had to print that pattern 6 times but it was worth it. Keep the good work up!
I'm very happy to hear that. If you end up buying it (and you really should!), then I'd like to suggest my other video as well. How to calibrate everything: th-cam.com/video/qddYsbHawno/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for this. I've had my nozzle too close to the bed, and your video helped me realize that. Your 60x60 square helped me dial my printer in nicely!
This is an excellent, practical very useful video for those of us just getting into 3d printing. It goes at a good pace, doesn't get too technical, not a lot of chit chat that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. This is a good example of what. youtube SHOULD be like.. Good job Mate!!
Just got my first printer today, was not getting good results with the "paper" method. Downloaded this, printed and could instantly see the problem. Fixed and printing great. Thank you for this, this is so much easier to see exactly what is happening vs guessing "is there enough drag on this paper".
Hey man! I almost understand and talk English, i'm from México and there's no a tutorial like this in ALL the spanish "leveling stuff", i come back here again to thank you! I have 6 months with my ender and even yesterday i have take about 20 mins to level correctly my Ender 3 Pro, today i wake up and watched this video and i level it in less than 2 minutes, it's very important to me to have a good leveling because i make dog plates, Thank you very muhc my friend :D i subbed and i'm watching your videos :D
Greetings to Mexico! I'm very happy to hear my video helped you out, thank you for letting me know. I hope you've seen it already, but a while ago, someone was kind enough to provide Spanish subtitles for this video. I hope that will make it easier to understand, I know I don't have the best English accent :)
Ok I’ve been going through all these tutorials for months using glue sticks and stuff and cleaning my glass bed with hot water and using a folded post-it note but using the rubbing alcohol and single piece of paper is seriously genius thank you
This is the best explanation of first layer settings/results I have found thus far. Dozens of videos and websites did not help me as much as this video has. 👍 Well done and thank you.
Great Vidio great meathod. I used feeler guages to get accurate levels. (Didnt like the paper meothod for all the reasons you gave) but after trying your squares I found that I was over a full turn to high the megacubic s has a great base so they stuck but I am geting a crease through the centre square. I know from feeler guages that it is .05 to 0.07mm higher than the edges. Does that seem a lot? Any suggestions?
Great process! Using this I was able make subtle adjustments (less than a quarter turn!) that had a significant effect on my print quality. Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you so much for the awesome video! It helped me so much with leveling my bed which have a dip in the middle. I placed layers of aluminum foil beneath the dipped area. Printer: ender 3 V2 with stock glass bed with upgraded bed springs.
On all the bed leveling video's I have not seen 1 that first says to wind the bed down so theres spring tension on the bed springs , if you dont have tension the bed is free to move around and wobbly all over the place during printing and also this is why every time you bed level its showing different measurements.... Tip of the day brought to you by Tony Den cheers happy printing.... 👍😊
As a beginner and having troubles with my new Anycubic Chiron the video helped me a lot !! Thank you very much you saved my life and many others ;) Keep going !
Super helpful! Thanks for taking the time to make this video. Your samples and corresponding explanations are excellent! Thanks for helping out the 3D community.
What a video, thanks for taking the time to make this. Amazing how simple something can be. I've used +-2 trees so far and was still struggling to level my bed. Thank you!
This was the best video, showing how to set your bed hight, i always had trouble with my printer, when i was only using the paper method thank you no, really, thank you so much, you saved 5 hours of googleing of my life, thanks
Yeah, I don't understand why the paper method gained so much traction, it's almost useless until you know how the first layer should look like (and then you don't need the paper any more). I'm very happy to hear it helped you out, thank you!
@@HobbyHoarder i always had bad quality printing the benchmark boat Forgot the name again But yeah its weird the paper method is useless, you might even get better results eyeballing it
Good video! Thanks! And something you said that really helped me a lot. If there are gaps, raise the bed. If there is a rough texture, lower the bed. I don't know if I've run across something as simplistic as that but with what you said and the calibration squares, it made more sense of the how to properly level your bed. Thanks again!!
I'm very happy to hear that John, thank you for taking the time for commenting. I was so frustrated with bed leveling when I was starting out, but it really is simple once you know what to look for. Good luck with your printing hobby!
This is the first video since March (when I bought my first and only 3D printer) that I should have seen BEFORE starting printing with it. It has an Ultrabase bed so I would like to avoid swapping it with a mere mirror. The problem is that my Ultrabase glass is warped like hell. The center is so low that even if I set the corners, what I print will never stick to the center of the bed. I will put some aluminium foil sheets in the middle and try to work on this square methodology. Thanks a lot!
Yep, alu foil in the middle is probably your best bet. I've had to stack a few on my CR10, but it worked great then. If it's really bad though, then installing leveling probe might be worth it. I'm not a big fan of BLTouch, it takes forever to probe. I ended up buying a flex steel sheet, then you can use something like EZABL or one of the many clones. Works great if you don't have a glass bed.
Real old timer here. I just installed a 2 piece magnetic pad on my ender 3pro. I walked away and when I came back at the allotted time, I found a mess that i can not get off the pad. I would post a picture but do not know how to do that. I tried all methods, using 70 and 90% Isopropyl,scraping with putty knife. I think I might try a chisel next. it is a mess. I manually leveled the bed, then used the CR Touch ABL. Nothing. I am a babe in the cradle with this but am fascinated with it. Tried sending DrVax but no return, came across this video.
I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds like your first layer was squeezed too much against the bed if you can't get it off, but it's hard to say for sure without a photo. You can upload a photo to imgur.com and copy the link here so I can take a look.
I have sent this message to numerous sites. You, (thank you) are the first to respond. I have been trying someone to answer. Thank you very much. The print was supposed to be a test print from a site called Thingiverse. I "think" I uploaded the one of the pics. Hopefully I did it right.
@@MrDee195 I'm afraid I don't see any photos under your name on Thingiverse. By "copy the link here", I mean uploading a photo on imgur.com (click on New post button to do this) and then you'll see an option somewhere to share a link. You can then copy and paste the link in a comment here.
Thank you, it's great to hear that. Bed leveling was the hardest thing for me when I was starting out and I'm sure I'm not alone. If you have any other issues that are ticking you off, let me know and I might do a video about it.
Always do the space check directly above the leveling screws because that is the pivot point. Then do the spacing above the other three screws. Your bed will perfect as it can be without having to making the adjustments several times.
I have found you have to adjust the bed by only lowering the bed with anyone of the knobs. If you raise use the knobs to raise the bed, it doesn't hold that position, there's slop or backlash on the knobs. If the bed needes to go higher, I need to raise the bed ABOVE where it will end up and then crank it down with the knob(s). It is like tuning a guitar, you don't ease the tuning key, you have to tighten it for it to keep the tension. Same on the Enders... This is the benefit of running with a BLTouch. On the stock machine the bed is relative to a fixed item, the Z switch. With the BLTouch the bed is relative to the BLTouch probe. I ease my knobs so the bed starts as high as it can go. Then whenever I run the test print, I only lower the bed with the knobs. Eventually (after many prints) you may have tightened all the way down and you have to start over by easing the bed to the highest level again. This way, when I run these bed level test prints, I only bring the bed down under tension. This has worked really we for me.
Thank you, this though be a test print for every printer, just adjust the model to the max and use the adjustment knobs how they were meant to be used! Awesome job
@@HobbyHoarder You were the only one that explained the needed resistance from the paper & nozzle clearly. Most of the guides I've watched, they always kept on just saying "slight resistance" without showing how "slight" should it be.
Have you checked if your Z endstop is triggering too soon? It's a small switch near your Z screw, and as the printer goes into the home position, it should hit that switch and then stop moving downards. If the Z endstop is too far up, the printer will stop before it reaches the surface.
The paper method is the best for manual leveling, and ive tried everything. The biggest problem most people have is they dont place the nozzel over each bed screw when leveling each corner (it should be directly over the thumb wheel) and they dont fine tune z-offset after. Paper is good for getting the bed level, not setting the z-height.
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.
Yeah, it's easy to accidentally raise or lower the Z gantry when you disable the steppers. I don't know if Creality has implemented this feature yet, but if you switch to TH3D firmware you'll have access to assisted bed leveling. The printer will move to different parts of the bed by itself, all you have to do is adjust the corners. You also never have to disable the steppers.
thank's for the information.. i have problem about bed levelling so the filament always slippery and not in to the extruder.. maybe it is the effect of the bad bed levelling.. thank you so much...
There's usually a separate screw under each corner of the bed. When you're adjusting it, you should only focus on the square that's in the same corner as the screw.
the commad G35 does exactly this for you, without printing anything, when set up right. It will probe the bed corners, and tell you exactly how many turns you need to turn each adjustment knob, and in which direction.
I'm seeing more and more printers using this feature. Although for printers without screws (like Prusa), you still have to do it visually by printing a test piece.
I do it like this: Drive the head on top of each adjustment knob, at each knob i set head to Z = 0 mm (gcode command) and adjust the knob so the head touches the surface. Ready to print. With your method the Z zero position is going to be depending on the paper thickness and the feel.
I'm going to try your squares at 200% (since my bed is 400x400). Everything prints out crooked so I'm hoping this will indicate my current bed level issues! Thanks :)
@@HobbyHoarder Thank you! I ended up using the squares combined with custom z-index all over the printing bed. Got it very close tuned in now. Printed 40+ squares haha. Only the middle one remains a little bit weird, but I'll figure it out eventually. The rest prints out very nice.
Thanks very much this video has helped me a lot as I have just bought a 2nd hand ender3v2 and it was way out... now I can tune it better and I'll clean the nozzle tomorrow and then print some test prints and see how it goes.
I know this is an old post but I have been struggling with my leveling lately. I adjust printer so it prints all squares perfectly then start a print which runs auto home and abl and 1 corner of the bed is so close it doesn't extrude anything. I can adjust during the print but it is groundhog day every time I print.
If it's a new printer, it takes a while for the springs to "settle in." I had to re-level mine almost every day at first, but then only once a week and after a few months, I only had to do small adjustments here and there. However, since you have ABL, it should compensate for that. Maybe the ABL isn't working correctly (happens a lot with Chinese sensors). Search for "ABL repeatability test" online and try doing that to see if your sensor is ok.
If you could develop a little bit more from @2:08? The bed is like 90 degree ccpm swashplate at a RC helicopter. When you are finnished at corner #3 corner #1 is out of level again.
My bed is warped upwards in the middle, wich resulted in either loose strings in the corners or some deep scratching in the middle when I started my first print
Try inverting the glass (if you're using one). You can also cut out square patches of aluminium foil and place them under the bed sheet in the corners. That way, you'll raise the corners without affecting the middle. There's probably some other issue though. Maybe the bed frame is bent, or the bed is sagging in the middle.
Mine keeps dragging the filament...what sign is this? It also will hit another line that is already down and knock it off and start to drag it as well.
It's probably a bit of everything; bed not clean, filament not squezzed enough and overextrusion (too much plastic coming out). Do you have a photo or video? Would be easier to judge then.
If your bed size is set correctly in the slicer, then check your gcode, maybe it's trying to go out of bounds there. You shouldn't have to change the bed size in your printer's firmware, all of these settings should be done from the slicer.
awesome video! random note and tip: if your first layer bubbles and sin't sticking mysteriously it's a dirty bed.... I disassembled parts of my printer cause I thought it's an extrusion problem but it was a dirty bed. I feel so dumb :D
Thank you! Don't feel bad about it, we've all made similar mistakes. There's still my ancient thread on Prusa's forum asking why my first layer doesn't stick. Turned out I needed to clean the bed more often. After that, I just give it a quick wipe with iso. alcohol before every print, haven't had an issue since.
This is a great tutorial. Thank you for putting it up. I have used a single line for checking my bed levelling. I may switch to your method as it gives a guide how to interpret the results. Can you mention more about getting PLA to stick to the mirror - you mentioned a special coating? I currently UHU stick on my glass bed as I can't get it to stick without.
Thank you, very appreciated. I meant that the mirror's surface is already good enough, you don't have to put anything else on there. I only use a bit of glue stick if I'm printing a really large object that might warp at the edges. Otherwise, you can print directly on the mirror. Note however that mirrors work much better than just plain glass.
@@HobbyHoarder is this due to some thermal reflection mechanic do you think? most mirrors I know of are glass surface. Maybe because transparent glass is manufactured to higher tolerance ranges and cut from larger sheets knowing that the level surface is not the manufacturing or usage intent, but in mirrors maybe a very level surface is required to not introduce distortion in the reflection?
@@kevin-bf4ww Yeah, I've since learned that there's no special coating on the mirror, it's simply flatter, which I guess creates more "suction" so to say.
I don’t really expect a reply because this video is like four years old but I just got my first printer a few weeks ago and it seems like I’ll have five or six things print fine and then I have a print fail that I struggle and struggle on. Part of me thinks it might be the level of my bad part of me thinks it might be the slicer settings that I’m using. I try my best to get the bad level. Right now I’m using a flexible PEI bedplate which I do like but I understand that a glass bed helps you keep a pretty flat surface so should I keep the PEI plate or should I switch to a glass bed. My printer does have auto bed leveling so as long as I can get my bed pretty close to level the auto leveling should take care of the rest
The channel is on pause until I'm done with renovations, but I still reply to everyone. If it makes you feel any better, my first printer caused me a lot of frustration to the point where I just wanted to smash it and be done with it. However, as your experience grows, most of your prints should be successful. Personally, I'd never use anything but PEI anymore. I did have glass on a few printers, but I've replaced everything with pei. If you keep it clean, nothing works better. Even when I did have glass, I still used auto leveling as it really helps overall. Good luck and come back if you stumble on something specific, I'll do my best to help.
@@HobbyHoarder thanks man. I really appreciate that. I think my bed may have a dip in the middle or something that the people sheet is following the contor of. 90% of the square prints perfect but there’s a few little spots that seem too far away
@@avgjoeshow4208 Try lowering the nozzle even further until those small areas disappear. It's ok if it's slightly over squished elsewhere. Of course, don't go so far that the nozzle actually scrapes against the surface or that the gap is so tiny that nothing comes out (you'll probably hear clicking in that case). Your auto leveling might not be ok either if it can't compensate for a slight dip in the middle. That's harder to detect and fix though.
@@HobbyHoarder I’m going to look into the dip more. I saw a different video that might have an explanation. I can always try tape or foil too if I can pinpoint where it is. Can I ask you an unrelated question? It’s not often I get somebody with knowledge to reply to me. Thank you so much by the way for your help. I’m printing (trying to anyway) a talk thinish part. It’s 1 section of a collapsible saber type of sword. It prints great and than halfway it comes off the the raft. Somebody mentioned trying a brim but I was under the impression, in a situation like that, that the raft would be the better solution. I’m not against trying a brim, but I’ve already failed with this like 6 times (I’m gonnna get it if it’s the last thing I do). What would be a better option for a tall(ish) slender part, a raft or brim?
@@avgjoeshow4208 Sure, putting aluminium foil under the area that's dipped always helps. It's just a bit tedious with a removable sheet since you have to re-adjust it every time. If you're having a hard time locating the exact spot, I highly recommend that you start using Octoprint. It's excellent anyway, but it also has an add-on that displays a nice graph of the bed, showing high and low points. I'm convinced that rafts are obsolete and have been for years now. They made sense way back when ABS was the main material. Today, with PLA and PEI sheets, there's no need for them anymore. In your specific case, I'd definitely use a brim. Go with 20 or 30 lines, it never hurts to have too much. Also, slow down your printing speeds to something like 20mm/s or even more if you have to. That should have a big impact.
What if the corners are too low (-> you have to raise them) but the squares inbetween the corners (so middle squares on the outside) are too high (-> you'd have to lower the bed there)? If you raise the corners, the middle ends up even worse.
Sometimes, simply flipping the glass around helps with this issue. If not, you can cut square patches of aluminium foil and place them under the glass, in each corner. That should slightly raise the corners while keeping the middle at the same level.
The "always clean with alcohol" tip deserves a thumbs up!
And so does your comment ;)
How I clean my insides too.
Unless you use buildtak
Never touch the glass print bed after cleaning. Body oils will reduce adhesion of the first layer.
If you have a glass bed, I strongly suggest to clean with dish soap before every big print and alcool between small prints and sometime with dish soap.
Completely transformed my printer: I’ve had my printer for several years and have never really used it to its capabilities- just playing it safe printing simple objects in the middle of the bed. This video allowed me for the first time to make sure my printer bed is indeed level. I can’t wait to get started on the more complex things I’ve put off printing in the past.
Thank you very much when people say “the nozzle should drag the paper” it’s a problem because drag is a generic term and everyone has a different idea what drag means like does drag mean that the nozzle is barley touching the paper or a lot etc thank you for actually showing it on camera
Thank you!
Yeah, that's why I've always hated the paper method, it's just not accurate enough for anything but a rough estimate. Even doing it myself, it's hard to be consistent with every corner. Printing the squares eliminates any guess work.
Yep, before this comment was made, I just yesterday started to under that I should start feeling resistance. I finally got a consistent 1st layer for the first time since owning a 3D printer.
@@HobbyHoarder lets not forget when people use "levelling paper"
like yeah, we all have some 3d printer levelling paper lying around.
The most accurate way to level a bed. I followed your tips and for the first time had more confidence in preparing for a print job. Thank you.
I just want to thank you. I was gifted a used maker select v2 (prusa i3 clone) a few years ago and i have had nothing but issues. The paper method does NOT work for me. This method...absolutely beautiful prints now.
That's excellent, thanks for getting in touch, I'm always really happy to hear my videos helped out!
Thank you for this technique, I recently bought two second hand 3D printers and even after following the usual "use a piece of paper" tutorials around could still not get a satisfactory result. After following your instructions I detected improvements after two iterations and significant ameliorations after a few more.
Great work, thanks again!
I'm very happy to hear that, great job!
You are a lifesaver! I was using the paper method and I never got a good first layer. This helped me dial it in perfectly and now its almost impossible to get a print off without bed cooldown. Just like it should be!
Every comment like this brightens my day, thank you.
@@HobbyHoarder I kept thinking that it cant possibly be closer than the paper thickness. i was wrong. You helped me a lot. Im still tweaking it to get it perfect
I don't know how long you've had your printer, but the springs on new printers need some time to settle. Don't be surprised if you'll have to re-level it again in a few days. After a couple of weeks, the bed will become much more stable and you might have to level it only every few months.
@@HobbyHoarder I do notice my CR10s4 glass plate sags a little in the middle according to the calibration prints.
Yeah, that's quite common with the S4, it's just too big. Check the video description, I have a link there for wedge jack that you can put under the bed. You'll get a fifth adjustment point in the middle then and you can use it to raise the center just a little.
I know this has over 300 comments but I wanted to jump in and add my thanks for making this video. I've been leveling my bed this way since I got my printer after I stumbled upon calibration squares on thingiverse and it has saved me hours of frustration. All new entrants to 3D printing should watch this video and learn this process for bed leveling. This is even better than automatic leveling because you are adjusting the actual finished product. I will often watch my printer during the first layer of prints and make minute adjustments to get that first layer perfect and my print quality has been consistently awesome using this method.
Thank you Christopher, it really means a lot. It always makes me happy reading how I've helped someone. And you're right, I prefer manual leveling as well. It's easier and works just as well as the auto leveling on my Prusa.
I can't Express my joy that you brought back to 3D printing again! :D Thank you SOOOOOOO much!!!!!!!
One of the best comments I've had yet, thank you :)
Dude! This works perfectly. I ran it 4 times and saw noticeable improvement on each run until all 5 squares were perfect. Kudos
Always happy to hear that, thank you :)
@@HobbyHoarderSo I've just gone and got myself some mirror glass after your recommendation.. do you have any tips for changing the z height for the thickness of the new glass? Ideally I'd like to create a ' glass bed profile ' and a ' magnetic bed profile ' with the correct z height set for each. Thanks in advance
@@123benlambert Depends on your slicer, but Simplify3D has the Z-offset by default. In Cura, you have to install the Z offset plugin and then you can find it under Bed adhesion section.
Finally true bed leveling. Took me a week to find this video.
My god thank you so much you don’t know how much frustration I had with my bed because of leveling but this video truly helped me 👍
I'm really happy to hear it helped you out, thanks for dropping by!
Spent the last 3 days having printer problems. Immediately fixed my issue Great Video thank you!
I'm really happy to hear that, thank you for getting in touch!
I've tried to level my bed for 5 hours, but when I saw this video I got it instantly right. Thank you!
I love reading comments like this, I'm happy it helped.
I'm trying for days.. I'll try this method today! Hope!
Thanks, I was having trouble getting my Sovol SV-01 to print well until I came across this and now it's perfect. The levelling squares on Thingiverse work very well to level the bed. Thanks very much!
Happy to hear that!
wow this is way way way way more helpful that any other video i looked at and I looked at loads when starting out I now use this method to do all my leveling.
Glad it helped!
I just bought my first 3d printer an artillery genius, i was struggling a lot with the bed leveling paper method, your video is a masterclass
thank you so much
Greetings from Chile
PS: suscribed
Thank you, that really means a lot :) Happy to have someone from so far away!
by far the best manual method I've found so far, thank you for the squares!
Holy crap, bro! Thank you! I am 2 days into 3d printing, and I wish I had this video 48 hours ago. Liked and Subscribed!
Happy to help and thank you for subscribing :)
This is one of the best videos that I have found that explains common problems with bed levelling / first layers - thank you for sharing - awesome!
P.S - couldn't find a version of your test for the CR10 S4 so made the following: www.thingiverse.com/thing:3404473
Thank you Andy, I'm so glad it helped you out.
Thanks for sharing, I just tried the bed levelling squares gcode and my printing improved so much, I can notice specially in the first layer. I had to print that pattern 6 times but it was worth it. Keep the good work up!
Thank you, always happy to see my videos helping others.
This was super handy. These squares made the whole job easyer for me.
I've seen A LOT of leveling tips'n tricks. Yours is simply the BEST!
I'm probably buying my first 3D printer very soon, and this is very useful information, thanks for sharing.
I'm very happy to hear that. If you end up buying it (and you really should!), then I'd like to suggest my other video as well. How to calibrate everything: th-cam.com/video/qddYsbHawno/w-d-xo.html
Thank you for this. I've had my nozzle too close to the bed, and your video helped me realize that. Your 60x60 square helped me dial my printer in nicely!
Glad it helped!
Thanks for the guide. Finally got my printers leveling absolutely dialed.
Wonderful to hear that :)
This is an excellent, practical very useful video for those of us just getting into 3d printing. It goes at a good pace, doesn't get too technical, not a lot of chit chat that has nothing to do with the subject at hand. This is a good example of what. youtube SHOULD be like.. Good job Mate!!
Thank you! I try really hard to make my videos as short as possible, it's always a pleasure hearing when someone notices :)
Thumbs up to all of the test examples you showed us. Thanks for helping
Tysm! 3d printer bed leveling is such a pain and this way of leveling is much simpler.
I'm happy to hear that, thank you, good luck with your printing.
Thanks to your video now I know that I have to change the factory springs of my bed, they cost me a lot of PLA and time, your video is amazing!
Thank you Diego, I'm really happy to hear that :)
Just got my first printer today, was not getting good results with the "paper" method. Downloaded this, printed and could instantly see the problem. Fixed and printing great. Thank you for this, this is so much easier to see exactly what is happening vs guessing "is there enough drag on this paper".
I'm happy to hear it helped you out! I'm sure you'll have a ton of fun with your new printer, it really feels like magic at times.
Nice tips. I will use these the next time I go and print any pieces.
Hey man! I almost understand and talk English, i'm from México and there's no a tutorial like this in ALL the spanish "leveling stuff", i come back here again to thank you! I have 6 months with my ender and even yesterday i have take about 20 mins to level correctly my Ender 3 Pro, today i wake up and watched this video and i level it in less than 2 minutes, it's very important to me to have a good leveling because i make dog plates, Thank you very muhc my friend :D i subbed and i'm watching your videos :D
Greetings to Mexico! I'm very happy to hear my video helped you out, thank you for letting me know.
I hope you've seen it already, but a while ago, someone was kind enough to provide Spanish subtitles for this video. I hope that will make it easier to understand, I know I don't have the best English accent :)
Ok I’ve been going through all these tutorials for months using glue sticks and stuff and cleaning my glass bed with hot water and using a folded
post-it note but using the rubbing alcohol and single piece of paper is seriously genius thank you
Happy to hear it worked so well for you :)
Your post has made printing so much easier. Thank you.
Happy to hear that :)
Helped me to figure out how much drag was needed for the paper. Very useful video, thanks.
I'm very happy to hear that!
This is the best explanation of first layer settings/results I have found thus far. Dozens of videos and websites did not help me as much as this video has. 👍 Well done and thank you.
Thank you, I love reading comments like this :)
this worked perfectly, I slowed down the print during the corners and was able to adjust the hight while watching with a flashlight. tyvm
That's wonderful, I'm happy to hear it helped!
Great Vidio great meathod. I used feeler guages to get accurate levels.
(Didnt like the paper meothod for all the reasons you gave) but after trying your squares I found that I was over a full turn to high the megacubic s has a great base so they stuck but I am geting a crease through the centre square. I know from feeler guages that it is .05 to 0.07mm higher than the edges.
Does that seem a lot? Any suggestions?
Great process! Using this I was able make subtle adjustments (less than a quarter turn!) that had a significant effect on my print quality. Thanks for sharing this!
Yeah, it's really surprising seeing how such a small turn can affect the layer so much.
You have saved me from so much pain! Thank you!!
Thank you so much for the awesome video! It helped me so much with leveling my bed which have a dip in the middle. I placed layers of aluminum foil beneath the dipped area.
Printer: ender 3 V2 with stock glass bed with upgraded bed springs.
Oh and thank you for making the test squares available.🙏
You're very much welcome :)
Great idea about the foil, that's what I always recommend as well.
On all the bed leveling video's I have not seen 1 that first says to wind the bed down so theres spring tension on the bed springs , if you dont have tension the bed is free to move around and wobbly all over the place during printing and also this is why every time you bed level its showing different measurements.... Tip of the day brought to you by Tony Den cheers happy printing.... 👍😊
Yes, that's a very good point, thanks for adding it to the comments!
@@HobbyHoarder welcome mate Im new to the awesome 3d print world but have a bit of mechanical and engineering history so like to tinker... 👍
As a beginner and having troubles with my new Anycubic Chiron the video helped me a lot !! Thank you very much you saved my life and many others ;) Keep going !
I'm always very happy to hear that :)
Man, you should have to pay for this tip its helped me out so much thanks very much for this!
Hehe, keep me in mind if you win the lottery :D Seriously though, I'm really glad to hear that, it's why I've made the video in the first place.
Dude your printers are the most butter I have ever seen
I've never heard that expression before, what does it mean?
Super helpful! Thanks for taking the time to make this video. Your samples and corresponding explanations are excellent! Thanks for helping out the 3D community.
Thank you Barry. Reading comments like this really makes everything worthwhile.
What a video, thanks for taking the time to make this. Amazing how simple something can be. I've used +-2 trees so far and was still struggling to level my bed. Thank you!
Nothing like hearing that I was able to help someone, thank you!
Thank you for the squares & the video - spent days trying to level my Anycubic Mega S and the squares are really helping me.
That's wonderful to hear, I'm sure you'll get it set in no time!
This was the best video, showing how to set your bed hight, i always had trouble with my printer, when i was only using the paper method
thank you
no, really, thank you so much, you saved 5 hours of googleing of my life, thanks
Yeah, I don't understand why the paper method gained so much traction, it's almost useless until you know how the first layer should look like (and then you don't need the paper any more).
I'm very happy to hear it helped you out, thank you!
@@HobbyHoarder i always had bad quality printing the benchmark boat
Forgot the name again
But yeah its weird the paper method is useless, you might even get better results eyeballing it
Benchy :)
Are you still having issues with it?
@@HobbyHoarder its ok but still not perfect
It's never perfect :) Let me know if I can help with anything.
Wish I would have clicked here first the other videos I saw were no good this one here helped me the best thank you so much
Happy to hear that :)
I like Rick’s idea of true level (Rick & Morty). Honestly, great vid and I appreciate the tips!
Loved that scene! Thank you, I'm really glad it helped.
Good video! Thanks! And something you said that really helped me a lot.
If there are gaps, raise the bed.
If there is a rough texture, lower the bed.
I don't know if I've run across something as simplistic as that but with what you said and the calibration squares, it made more sense of the how to properly level your bed.
Thanks again!!
I'm very happy to hear that John, thank you for taking the time for commenting. I was so frustrated with bed leveling when I was starting out, but it really is simple once you know what to look for. Good luck with your printing hobby!
This is the first video since March (when I bought my first and only 3D printer) that I should have seen BEFORE starting printing with it. It has an Ultrabase bed so I would like to avoid swapping it with a mere mirror. The problem is that my Ultrabase glass is warped like hell. The center is so low that even if I set the corners, what I print will never stick to the center of the bed. I will put some aluminium foil sheets in the middle and try to work on this square methodology. Thanks a lot!
Yep, alu foil in the middle is probably your best bet. I've had to stack a few on my CR10, but it worked great then.
If it's really bad though, then installing leveling probe might be worth it. I'm not a big fan of BLTouch, it takes forever to probe. I ended up buying a flex steel sheet, then you can use something like EZABL or one of the many clones. Works great if you don't have a glass bed.
@@HobbyHoarder thanks for your answer. I shall give it a try!
Real old timer here. I just installed a 2 piece magnetic pad on my ender 3pro. I walked away and when I came back at the allotted time, I found a mess that i can not get off the pad. I would post a picture but do not know how to do that. I tried all methods, using 70 and 90% Isopropyl,scraping with putty knife. I think I might try a chisel next. it is a mess. I manually leveled the bed, then used the CR Touch ABL. Nothing. I am a babe in the cradle with this but am fascinated with it. Tried sending DrVax but no return, came across this video.
I'm sorry to hear that. It sounds like your first layer was squeezed too much against the bed if you can't get it off, but it's hard to say for sure without a photo.
You can upload a photo to imgur.com and copy the link here so I can take a look.
I have sent this message to numerous sites. You, (thank you) are the first to respond. I have been trying someone to answer.
Thank you very much. The print was supposed to be a test print from a site called Thingiverse. I "think" I uploaded the one of the pics. Hopefully I did it right.
@@HobbyHoarder I copied a one of the pictures on the site. Not sure what you mean by copy the link here. I don't see a place to do that. Thank you.
@@MrDee195 I'm afraid I don't see any photos under your name on Thingiverse.
By "copy the link here", I mean uploading a photo on imgur.com (click on New post button to do this) and then you'll see an option somewhere to share a link. You can then copy and paste the link in a comment here.
This is great information, and very well put together. Thank you. Would love a series of videos that go into tweaking our printers just like this one.
Thank you, it's great to hear that.
Bed leveling was the hardest thing for me when I was starting out and I'm sure I'm not alone. If you have any other issues that are ticking you off, let me know and I might do a video about it.
Cleaned my bed with isopropyl alcohol yesterday then levelled it properly and I’ve never had a better print stick
Best method ever, thanks it just made life a lot simpler. 👍
Always do the space check directly above the leveling screws because that is the pivot point. Then do the spacing above the other three screws. Your bed will perfect as it can be without having to making the adjustments several times.
Thanks, I was wondering if that took effect or not.
THANK YOU DUDE YOU ARE AWESOME!! So helpful. Needed my nozzle closer to the bed.
Glad to hear it helped :)
Thank you this is one of the only videos that actually helps level my CR 10 printer. Thank you very much!
I'm very happy to hear it helped you out, thank you :)
Just as the title says, "Best Method". Agree 100%, best method! Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for the video! It helped lots. And a special thanks for creating and making your Calibration square models available!!!
Thank you Shawn, it's really great to know my video helped you out.
I have found you have to adjust the bed by only lowering the bed with anyone of the knobs. If you raise use the knobs to raise the bed, it doesn't hold that position, there's slop or backlash on the knobs. If the bed needes to go higher, I need to raise the bed ABOVE where it will end up and then crank it down with the knob(s). It is like tuning a guitar, you don't ease the tuning key, you have to tighten it for it to keep the tension. Same on the Enders... This is the benefit of running with a BLTouch. On the stock machine the bed is relative to a fixed item, the Z switch. With the BLTouch the bed is relative to the BLTouch probe. I ease my knobs so the bed starts as high as it can go. Then whenever I run the test print, I only lower the bed with the knobs. Eventually (after many prints) you may have tightened all the way down and you have to start over by easing the bed to the highest level again. This way, when I run these bed level test prints, I only bring the bed down under tension. This has worked really we for me.
Thank you, this though be a test print for every printer, just adjust the model to the max and use the adjustment knobs how they were meant to be used! Awesome job
Saw many vids but only this one was fast and accurate enough. Thanks for helping me, buddy!
Happy to help and even happier to hear it worked out for you.
Thank you so much! You've saved me so much time & excessive efforts. God bless you! 😭❤️
Thank you, I'm very happy to hear that :)
@@HobbyHoarder You were the only one that explained the needed resistance from the paper & nozzle clearly. Most of the guides I've watched, they always kept on just saying "slight resistance" without showing how "slight" should it be.
what if your nosel is far away from the bed instead of it being too close? I cant seem to get mine to even touch the mat
Have you checked if your Z endstop is triggering too soon? It's a small switch near your Z screw, and as the printer goes into the home position, it should hit that switch and then stop moving downards. If the Z endstop is too far up, the printer will stop before it reaches the surface.
Best video on leveling the bed!!! Subbed and liked
Best method i have used yet thank u so much!
The idea with the mirror is so nice. Thank you!
Glad you like it!
Hey man , it was a really nice video to fix the 3d printer .
Thanks a lot and good luck .
Happy to hear that, thank you.
The paper method is the best for manual leveling, and ive tried everything.
The biggest problem most people have is they dont place the nozzel over each bed screw when leveling each corner (it should be directly over the thumb wheel) and they dont fine tune z-offset after. Paper is good for getting the bed level, not setting the z-height.
Also use thin notebookpaper or receipt paper, and the corner is done the instant you feel friction from the nozzle, and alternate corners.
Hope this saves me from hours of wasted time and returning it to the store
Really great examples for the squares! Thank you
I'm always happy to hear that, thank you.
This video may have actually saved my life. Thank you so much.
this method is very useful thank you very much for the work you've done
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.
Yeah, it's easy to accidentally raise or lower the Z gantry when you disable the steppers.
I don't know if Creality has implemented this feature yet, but if you switch to TH3D firmware you'll have access to assisted bed leveling. The printer will move to different parts of the bed by itself, all you have to do is adjust the corners. You also never have to disable the steppers.
thank's for the information..
i have problem about bed levelling so the filament always slippery and not in to the extruder..
maybe it is the effect of the bad bed levelling..
thank you so much...
It could simply be that the surface of your bed is greasy. I'd recommend cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol or soapy water and trying again.
Oh thats an amazing method thank you! Because this thing with paper is like not verry precise!
wdym you only have to adjust the closest corner for each square?
There's usually a separate screw under each corner of the bed. When you're adjusting it, you should only focus on the square that's in the same corner as the screw.
the commad G35 does exactly this for you, without printing anything, when set up right. It will probe the bed corners, and tell you exactly how many turns you need to turn each adjustment knob, and in which direction.
I'm seeing more and more printers using this feature. Although for printers without screws (like Prusa), you still have to do it visually by printing a test piece.
I do it like this: Drive the head on top of each adjustment knob, at each knob i set head to Z = 0 mm (gcode command) and adjust the knob so the head touches the surface. Ready to print. With your method the Z zero position is going to be depending on the paper thickness and the feel.
The whole point of this method is that you don't have to use paper and "feel" the resistance, which is very subjective and unreliable.
I'm going to try your squares at 200% (since my bed is 400x400). Everything prints out crooked so I'm hoping this will indicate my current bed level issues! Thanks :)
Sure, just be careful that you only scale it in the XY direction - the height (Z) should remain 0,2mm even after scaling.
@@HobbyHoarder Thank you! I ended up using the squares combined with custom z-index all over the printing bed. Got it very close tuned in now. Printed 40+ squares haha. Only the middle one remains a little bit weird, but I'll figure it out eventually. The rest prints out very nice.
@@TerrybleGamer That's great, happy to hear you've fixed it :)
Thanks very much this video has helped me a lot as I have just bought a 2nd hand ender3v2 and it was way out... now I can tune it better and I'll clean the nozzle tomorrow and then print some test prints and see how it goes.
Good luck with your printer, come back if you have any issues with it.
Amazing video. Short, helpful, clear. Thank you!
Happy to hear that :)
I know this is an old post but I have been struggling with my leveling lately. I adjust printer so it prints all squares perfectly then start a print which runs auto home and abl and 1 corner of the bed is so close it doesn't extrude anything. I can adjust during the print but it is groundhog day every time I print.
If it's a new printer, it takes a while for the springs to "settle in." I had to re-level mine almost every day at first, but then only once a week and after a few months, I only had to do small adjustments here and there.
However, since you have ABL, it should compensate for that. Maybe the ABL isn't working correctly (happens a lot with Chinese sensors). Search for "ABL repeatability test" online and try doing that to see if your sensor is ok.
this is the best video on the internet!
Hehe, that's the best compliment I've gotten on any of my videos!
If you could develop a little bit more from @2:08?
The bed is like 90 degree ccpm swashplate at a RC helicopter.
When you are finnished at corner #3 corner #1 is out of level again.
First time user of a ender 5 it worked mint 20 minutes to assemble. Less then 5 minutes to heat up and go
My bed is warped upwards in the middle, wich resulted in either loose strings in the corners or some deep scratching in the middle when I started my first print
Try inverting the glass (if you're using one). You can also cut out square patches of aluminium foil and place them under the bed sheet in the corners. That way, you'll raise the corners without affecting the middle.
There's probably some other issue though. Maybe the bed frame is bent, or the bed is sagging in the middle.
Mine keeps dragging the filament...what sign is this? It also will hit another line that is already down and knock it off and start to drag it as well.
It's probably a bit of everything; bed not clean, filament not squezzed enough and overextrusion (too much plastic coming out). Do you have a photo or video? Would be easier to judge then.
Hi, thanks for very instructive video. Really. Could you pass a link to Ikea mirror you use? Very impressive indeed.
Sure:
www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/blodloenn-mirror-30542379/
@@HobbyHoarder Thank's
Thx for your Video, it helped me as a 3d noob a lot! :)
i have the lots mirror but how do i make the bed smaller in the printer not the slicer. the first line it makes is off the mirror
If your bed size is set correctly in the slicer, then check your gcode, maybe it's trying to go out of bounds there. You shouldn't have to change the bed size in your printer's firmware, all of these settings should be done from the slicer.
awesome video!
random note and tip: if your first layer bubbles and sin't sticking mysteriously it's a dirty bed.... I disassembled parts of my printer cause I thought it's an extrusion problem but it was a dirty bed. I feel so dumb :D
Thank you! Don't feel bad about it, we've all made similar mistakes. There's still my ancient thread on Prusa's forum asking why my first layer doesn't stick. Turned out I needed to clean the bed more often. After that, I just give it a quick wipe with iso. alcohol before every print, haven't had an issue since.
Great video, you explained it perfectly, thank you. 👍👍👍
This is a great tutorial. Thank you for putting it up. I have used a single line for checking my bed levelling. I may switch to your method as it gives a guide how to interpret the results. Can you mention more about getting PLA to stick to the mirror - you mentioned a special coating? I currently UHU stick on my glass bed as I can't get it to stick without.
Thank you, very appreciated. I meant that the mirror's surface is already good enough, you don't have to put anything else on there. I only use a bit of glue stick if I'm printing a really large object that might warp at the edges. Otherwise, you can print directly on the mirror. Note however that mirrors work much better than just plain glass.
@@HobbyHoarder is this due to some thermal reflection mechanic do you think? most mirrors I know of are glass surface.
Maybe because transparent glass is manufactured to higher tolerance ranges and cut from larger sheets knowing that the level surface is not the manufacturing or usage intent, but in mirrors maybe a very level surface is required to not introduce distortion in the reflection?
@@kevin-bf4ww Yeah, I've since learned that there's no special coating on the mirror, it's simply flatter, which I guess creates more "suction" so to say.
I don’t really expect a reply because this video is like four years old but I just got my first printer a few weeks ago and it seems like I’ll have five or six things print fine and then I have a print fail that I struggle and struggle on. Part of me thinks it might be the level of my bad part of me thinks it might be the slicer settings that I’m using. I try my best to get the bad level. Right now I’m using a flexible PEI bedplate which I do like but I understand that a glass bed helps you keep a pretty flat surface so should I keep the PEI plate or should I switch to a glass bed. My printer does have auto bed leveling so as long as I can get my bed pretty close to level the auto leveling should take care of the rest
The channel is on pause until I'm done with renovations, but I still reply to everyone.
If it makes you feel any better, my first printer caused me a lot of frustration to the point where I just wanted to smash it and be done with it. However, as your experience grows, most of your prints should be successful.
Personally, I'd never use anything but PEI anymore. I did have glass on a few printers, but I've replaced everything with pei. If you keep it clean, nothing works better. Even when I did have glass, I still used auto leveling as it really helps overall.
Good luck and come back if you stumble on something specific, I'll do my best to help.
@@HobbyHoarder thanks man. I really appreciate that. I think my bed may have a dip in the middle or something that the people sheet is following the contor of. 90% of the square prints perfect but there’s a few little spots that seem too far away
@@avgjoeshow4208 Try lowering the nozzle even further until those small areas disappear. It's ok if it's slightly over squished elsewhere.
Of course, don't go so far that the nozzle actually scrapes against the surface or that the gap is so tiny that nothing comes out (you'll probably hear clicking in that case).
Your auto leveling might not be ok either if it can't compensate for a slight dip in the middle. That's harder to detect and fix though.
@@HobbyHoarder I’m going to look into the dip more. I saw a different video that might have an explanation. I can always try tape or foil too if I can pinpoint where it is. Can I ask you an unrelated question? It’s not often I get somebody with knowledge to reply to me. Thank you so much by the way for your help.
I’m printing (trying to anyway) a talk thinish part. It’s 1 section of a collapsible saber type of sword. It prints great and than halfway it comes off the the raft. Somebody mentioned trying a brim but I was under the impression, in a situation like that, that the raft would be the better solution. I’m not against trying a brim, but I’ve already failed with this like 6 times (I’m gonnna get it if it’s the last thing I do). What would be a better option for a tall(ish) slender part, a raft or brim?
@@avgjoeshow4208 Sure, putting aluminium foil under the area that's dipped always helps. It's just a bit tedious with a removable sheet since you have to re-adjust it every time.
If you're having a hard time locating the exact spot, I highly recommend that you start using Octoprint. It's excellent anyway, but it also has an add-on that displays a nice graph of the bed, showing high and low points.
I'm convinced that rafts are obsolete and have been for years now. They made sense way back when ABS was the main material. Today, with PLA and PEI sheets, there's no need for them anymore.
In your specific case, I'd definitely use a brim. Go with 20 or 30 lines, it never hurts to have too much. Also, slow down your printing speeds to something like 20mm/s or even more if you have to. That should have a big impact.
Thanks for the well produced video. It is really helpful.
What if the corners are too low (-> you have to raise them) but the squares inbetween the corners (so middle squares on the outside) are too high (-> you'd have to lower the bed there)? If you raise the corners, the middle ends up even worse.
Sometimes, simply flipping the glass around helps with this issue. If not, you can cut square patches of aluminium foil and place them under the glass, in each corner. That should slightly raise the corners while keeping the middle at the same level.