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Mastering Bed Leveling? – Tabletop 3D Printing Ep 4
September 6, 2017 by warzan
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…But the back looks like a beautiful piece of concrete cast within a rough wooden frame. Where would modern architecture be without such wonderful texture?
OK – so this is a plastic game piece and probably not the context for such a finish. It’s got to go straight on the bed unless you have a power sander handy.
Hey @warzan before you completely redesign the product why not try flipping the print so it prints stood up and only use supports that touch the bed (this is an option in Cura). Also what wall thickness are you using in Cura?
I still think if I was you I’d print some thing like an xyz cude or a benchy so we can all see if you have any underlying issues.
On bed levelling I alway level preheated and prior to every print. I’ll go over to the forum post later and try to give my limited knowledge.
But I am really enjoying the series of vlogs and it is helping to know I’m not the only one who is going through the same frustration at times.
WOW Warren looks soooo strung out over this . 3d printing seems to hit and miss for the huge investment .
As a newbie I am struggling with bed leveling too. I took a class over the weekend and he recommended calibrating the bed with a heated plate. My printer this is easy as there is a preheat PLA option which also heats the bed. He also was checking the gap with a business card instead of a sheet of paper. The idea is the excruder should be leaving scratch marks on the card, yet the card can be moved into and out of the gap. Finally, he now has me printing a brim on my models and watching the print to see if the brim is printing out evenly. If its thin on one corner that corner is too low, adjust and see if the print is corrected. I set to a 8mm brim which gives me several passes before the print starts. Still, two nights ago I had to stop and throw away the brim and restart twice before I got a good print. Since then I have printed 5 pieces without having to calibrate. I also discussed with him changing PLA colors and what I perceived is the volume changes based on the color I chose. He said changing colors may require extruder temperature adjustment due to the chemical additives to gain the color. Finally, I use glue stick with great success. Hope these thoughts are helpful.
@warzan the important question we are all thinking is when does Scooby Doo Mysteries come to Kickstarter because I am on board!
manual bed level video :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QhUgq4C008&t=7s
I’ve only ever levelled my printer infrequently and when it’s cold.
It doesn’t have any automatic levelling process so the instructions were for the ‘piece of paper’ method, which basically means you slide a standard A4 sheet between the bed and the print nozzle in both front corners and the rear centre, and adjust the bed height until the nozzle just catches the paper when you try and move it, so you feel some slight resistance.
This has worked fine for me for a couple of years and you quickly become used to which thickness of paper, card, or whatever works best for your printer. The idea being that the paper thickness is about the same as the ideal nozzle height to squish the extruded filament across the diameter of your print nozzle.
If you have the option to use a glass print bed then definitely try it- a properly adjusted nozzle height should give you a glossy mirror-finish on the print where it touches the glass. Your ropy initial layers look much more like nozzle height issues than bed temp problems to me.
You probably want to try increasing the number of layers you print on the top and bottom final layers to fix your logo- you can see cross-hatching on the top layer which means it’s probably too thin. 3D prints generally want several layers on the top/bottom and a couple of layers on the side walls to give it some strength beyond infill, and more top layers will sit better on the layers below that can sag unless your infill percentage is stupidly high.
If you still have bed adhesion issues try some papercraft glue stick on the glass bed. I got a sheet of Build Tak which is a super-matte stick-on surface which gave a bond so strong I’ve had to attack prints with razors and spatulas to try and prise them off…
I am in the same boat as flak tower as for now half a year or so I have not leveled my printer. It works just perfect and reliable. My printer needs to be leveled manually with the paper trick and I always did this when it was cold.
For my the success came when I added a glassbed. I am not sure, but I think I may had unleveled the bed before when trying to get the models from the bed. Now the models are usually just standing loose on the glass when the bed has cooled down.
I clean the glass before any print using just hot water and a sponge. I even take the glass from the bed to do so and the leveling is still perfect afterwards.
I don’t have to use any adhesives at all.
Just be careful when adding a glass to your bed:
– The temperature for the bed now needs to be higher (at least with my printer) as it is measured under the glass
– Use glass that is deigned for this (borosilicate glass)
Although have not got a 3d Printer, have been enjoying the blogs, been following it during my lunch break, even a non gamers been watching it out of interest.
Thanks Warzan
Rick who works me would love one but wants to wait they’ve ironed out all the kinks.
@warzan, I am really enjoying your series. I have long considered getting myself a 3d printer and the lure of plentyful cheap terrain from free 3d models was great. So watching and learning from your experiences has been really beneficial for myself.
Please try not to get disheartened by any failures, as Bob Ross would say, they are “Happy Little Mistakes”, every time something doesn’t work out perfectly you are helping everyone here learn and prevent us from making those mistakes. Thus your “Failures” are far more valuable to the community than an immediate success.
Thank you for this series and please try not to get disheartened, I have personally learned a lot and am looking forward to more in the series. Thank you.
Thanks @warzan – I’ve learned more watching this project take shape than watching anything on youtube. Seeing what goes wrong and the steps to avoid / fix and why is something that will give me confidence to try this my self when I do eventually go for it.
Also kudos on the one man blog format – its great to see the extra content that you’re making with it.
I feel like I’m watching survivor man… lol