Cannot thank you enough for this. Dozens and dozens of failed first layers, and simply putting a sticky note down like you did immediately yielded better results. Thank you so much!
@@packetattack7437 Low-end consumer products QC, but applied to what's sold as a precision product... Cha bu duo (eh, it's good enough...) Using a slightly thicker aluminum plate and grinding it flat would add another $2.00 to the production costs... can't have that!!! /sarcasm The mis-aligned z-axis screw is a more obvious case of Cha bu duo, because the motor mount is a necessary part of the assembly anyway, and the differential cost to get it right (extra 1mm or so of plastic) is a truly insignificant cost that they don't bother to incur.
I spent several days trying to figure out why my Bltouch couldn't level the bed properly. Eventually figured out it was because the middle of the bed was depressed. The most annoying issue I have ever encountered with a printer.
@@packetattack7437 most things on this planet are made in China, even your Japanese brands like Sony and Toshiba etc are manufactured in places like China and Singapore etc.. its native and short sighted to just stereotype like that. Quality control is subject to the requirements of production. QA on a 200 dollar/pound printer isn't going to have the same QA as one worth 2k. If it's QA you're worried about, spend over 1k and you won't need to worry about 'Chinese quality control'
I just had to come back and thank you! Got my first printer as means to aid my DnD campaign and was very unexperienced. I noticed a dent and the shop told me to "untension and retension the bed and that it would be solved" and I did not know how to. I tried your memo trick, releveled the bed, and it WORKED!!! Thank you so so much sir, I couldnt have done without you!
The "generated" electricity that comes from moving the bed, and X gantry, most likely won't cause harm to the motherboard, but it actually can, if moving either one fast, and frequently. That's why it's recommended, by most users, to move them slower than that can occur. I am not sure, but today's more updated printers MAY not be as prone to this happening, as in the past. But an "ounce of prevention....." :) Leveling a "Cold" print bed will get you close, but if you're going to used a heated bed, then it will most likely change after heating. It ALWAYS has for me. I've always leveled after heating the bed and letting it stabilize for 5 - 10 minutes. I have a MUCH higher success rate with the First Layer this way. Thanks for sharing and teaching others.
Yes,yuo are ritgh...better move the motors slowly..and of course always level the bed hot -if yuo are gona print hot- becase the metal and the glass expand whith the temperature
You can also use Aluminium foil. This conducts heat so you won't loose heat from a spacer between the bed and the magnet sheet. I think its also safer because the aluminium foil wont burn if it gets too hot like paper.
The best bed leveling video I have seen, spot on with saying if the line rubs off it is too low, and if not there or pressed into the surface too high. Such a simple way to tell.
And i thought I was the only one using Post-its. I have spend hours leveling the corners while the center has a dip. Thanks a ton for confirming and an amazing video. :)
So thankful for your help! I spent too much time trying to level something that could never be near level and started to consider buying an ABL kit, but this was a) way cheaper, b) much faster. I am now producing great prints. Thank you!!!
My default Ender 3 bed seems to be warped a little. The center appears to be a little lower than the corners and I tend to experience adhesion issues from time to time. This idea with putting a sheet of paper underneath came to my mind too, but I am a little worried how it might impact to uneven heating of the bed (paper is known to be a poor heat conductor) ... So, from this perspective, an aluminium foil sheet is probably a better idea ...
@@Luca_CRF probably not on its own, i dont use a magnetic bed, but even if you use a little bit of glue, like there is on a sticky paper, aluminium would still be better than paper, i guess.
I have to say ty im 2 weeks into my 3d printing journey with my ender 3 pro. My bed isn't warped but this video helped understand the anatomy of bed mechanism and the z axes . Just finished leveling my bed and the first layer and letters of the benchy look smooth and clean......Thank you :-)
Thank you so much. I bought my first printer to make parts for my college project and couldn't figure out why the first layer was getting messed up. That trick saved me! This was so helpful
Many thanks for taking the time to share this fix. I was just about to contact the supplier until I realised that others may have the same issue. By the way, I found that if you carry out the levelling routine when the assemblies are cold you have to be sure not to have solid extruded filament giving a false endpoint to your nozzle. Clean the end with a plastic tool before going through the levelling process - it saves a lot of grief and head sctratching!
You should check the bed flatness and level when hot. It will expand substantially in the XY when heated and might warp in the opposite direction. It is also anchored in 4 places, it should be anchored in 1 place with less restrictive anchors in two more places. I check the bed level when hot with a drop indicator mounted on the head. It is super fast and way more accurate.
Thank you very much. Just got an Ender 3 and had a low center. The post it note fixed the problem. I was racking my brain for a few hours on the leveling. 5mins after post it and it was fixed.
Well Heck! It worked! 😮 Been trying to level the bed on my brand new Ender 3 Pro all morning, still couldn't get it right....Post It note in the middle of the bed and BOOM! Working great. Thank you so much Sir :D
Thank you for the video. I have also a dipped print bed on my ender3 but a post-it was too thick, so I took one layer of cleanex tissue which was perfect to get a flat print-bed.
In my attempt to find someone out there that has a process for bed leveling I came upon your technique and I thank you very much because this is so simple and straight to it. Thank you again.
So glad I found this video! I've been trying forever to get a print out of my Ender 5 - one try of checking for a center dip with a metal ruler and one index card later, I'm up and running!
Thank you so much for this!! I have always wanted to fix the dip in the center of my printer and just didn't know how. Now my prints can finally be leveled! 😊
The bed warping is still an issue now. I used a couple of layers of aluminium foil rather than a PostIT note. I found using paper as a "shim" it affected heat transfer from the bed to the build surface.... Mine was pretty bad. It dipped almost a full millimeter in the middle.
I permanently fixed this problem with a new Creality heatbed and Creality's glass print surface. Works great, everything sticks and once it's cool the prints pop right off. Cost about $35 total free next day shipping with Amazon Prime. :)
I just gave up and ordered a glass bed because I could not get a decent combination of materials that would go high enough without causing dragging elsewhere e.g the top middle section but not on the top left and top right sections.
I was so frustrated with my Ender5 and now I'm kinda angry at it, because it was a so easy fix. I actually had to layer 2 postnotes on one side of the bed dip but, now it's fine. Thank you so much for the solution!!
Glad I was able to help. Want to learn more in additional to watching more videos check out forum.drvax.com where my viewers ask questions and participate in answering them for each other.
Thanks DrVax. I have been pulling my hair out trying to get a good first layer print. Unfortunately most of the videos out there only talk about leveling the bed spring and if there is a warp they only talk about how it's normal and just to not try to get a perfectly level bed. Gonna try this out later after letting my brain cool down from the amount of frustration over the past 3 days. I do have a glass bed that I was going to try next which, by most accounts it does give you a flat surface but then it introduces some other issues to deal with such as making sure it is properly heated up, reducing stepper motor jerk, adding glue to some in case they do not print. Was gonna try mesh bed leveling next but I would rather learn these other fixes as well. Ender 3 has always been as one of the best printers in it's price range for all it's mods and upgradeability but unfortunately the bed has always been a sticking point til this day since they stamp out instead of CNC machine the bed.
Thank you DrVox It really fixed the problem In addition, using the paper might decrease the Bed desired temp. So, as suggested by Motoshow below, I used an aluminum foil so it keeps the bed temp as desired. Thanks everybody. Good luck to all
Thanks for the video, make sure that what ever you are using has a high flash point or you could cause a fire. Paper has a flash point of over 450 F, much higher then the bed heater. I would use a aluminum foil to make sure that there was no chance of it breaking down over time.
Excellent point. Since the post it notes are very inexpensive you can replace them if you see any determination due to temperature. Also the top print bed temperature for the ender line is about 100c and the Ignition temperature for most paper is about 230c.
@@MakeWithTech I just think that aluminum foil would be more stable, also the aluminum foil would let the heat pass evenly to the build plate. The aluminum foil is thinner to make much finer adjustments. Thank you for the video, I'm going to be buying a Ender-3 and your videos are a great place to learn about 3D printing.
I have this issue... (i actually use feeler gauges for leveling... i have a little bit of machining experiance) for a little bit i was having adhesion issues across the bed when i would use a 0.10 mm shim ( aprox the width of piece of paper) I actually dialed it down to 0.05mm and bam sticking prints [first layer set to .24mm or so) i just recently discovered that the dip in my bed (cold) was approx 0.15mm cold and approx 0.05-0.08 mm hot (level your beds hot people) so good idea on using a shim in the center of the bed to raise level.... thanks for the info i usually find some inspiration to help a fix... i. Off to the hard ware store to buy some shim stock!
One thing I noticed is that sometimes when you level your bed, and have the Zoffset be realy low, yet get good first layers, your models would look compressed and be shorter. You will also get some lines or a basket weave look in your prints. Took forever for me to fuigure out the issue as it seems that no one has that problem. Fuigured it out myself. Still got the dip in the middle problem
I have no idea if you will see this since this is an older video. What do you do if the center is slightly higher? do you add posti notes on the sides????
Great video. I have been searching for a solution to the bed leveling dip in the middle for a while now. I tried your sticky note idea and while it was better, it now made the middle too high. I was scratching my head trying to think of a material that was thinner than a post-it-note when my wife suggested cutting a static bag in half and using one half of the bag. It worked great and I was able to level the bed using Chep's bad leveling gcode file.
Nice trick. And I soppose postit in corners if center is high. But remember to wash your hands before touch printsurface, after manual twist the Z leadscrew, as the leadscrew might be (and should be) greased. Grease on printbed, lead to bad first layer adhesive.
Nice video again. I might be worth noting that after rubbing with fingers, isopropyl alcohol should be used to wipe out any grease that might weaken the adhesion
I was able to fix mine with a bit more of a brute force method. I took my bed off and bent the bed over my knee, applying force down on the high spots and up on the low spots. To measure my progress, I used a machinists straight edge and mechanic's feeler gauges. Lay the straight edge across the bed and slide the feeler gauges along the straight edge to look for where the gaps are. Do this for all in X, Y and diagonal axes. Same process as testing for warped cylinder heads on an automotive engine. I was able to go from greater than .2mm for the largest gaps down to not being able to fit .06mm under them.
Hi, i have a warped bed on my ender 3 pro. Bought a glass plate hoping that the bed isn't warped anymore, but when heating the glass bed takes the form underneath it. I've corrected the bed by putting tinfoil underneath. Still, a lot of hassle.
Thanks for the video. Question for you. You do the calibration with the printer off. Say I do a print with a bed temp of 50 deg C and a print head temp of 230 deg C, will the bed and nozzle expansion when heated change the gap? I don't want to ruin my bed surface (Ender 3 V1, non-magnetic plate) by having the nozzle dig into the print surface once heated.
Thank you so much for this video! I've had issues with my Ender 3 since I bought it in January, and you helped me fix it with a few post-its. Todah rabah!
Great video! Do you happen to have a video for the Ender 3 S1 pro? I am tramming the bed but when I run the auto bed leveling the mesh gets so wrong. Thanks!
If you happen to have done maintenance on old cars, you will have a set of feeler gauges - thin strips of metal - which you can slide under your straight edge until you find one where you can feel it dragging between the edge and the plate. A Post-it (TM) is roughly 20lb paper, or 0.003" (3 mils) = 0.076mm thick. If you want a somewhat more permanent shim than using a piece of paper, you can buy thin brass sheet shim stock at the auto parts store as well. The paper-thin brass can be cut with heavy duty household shears, or a hobby or utility knife (disposable blades can be handy, especially if your significant other is protective of their scissors!)
This was a BRILLIANT solution! It is simple and it works. I was thinking about doing complicated things like putting wedges underneath etc. Thanks a lot!
Unfortunately mine is too high at the center when it is hot. Yesterday after a bed leveling at 50C I have tried to print ABS w/ 100C bed and the head could not pump out the plastic due to lack of gap bw the bed and nozzle. The result is: the push of filament broke !!! the PC04 screw on the top of head and push out PTFE tube. So in my case i think I have to build a frame from postits/alu foil around the center.
I have a higher center bed compared to the 4 corners. Had the corners levelled but the center point has no gap. Any suggestions what to add to lift all 4 corners
what about if i have problem i have center more up than corners... i level corners by 0,25 metalsheet and its ok but in arround center of bed i cant put anything .. the nozzle is pressing of top of bed... what to do??? thanks for ideas...
What if, in my case I have a Voxelab Aquila printer which is a clone of the Ender 3 V2. I my leveling has found that the middle is a few mm higher than the corners, But I have a flat glass bed on top of the metal one! So how do I get around that problem where the middle is too high by a few mm than the corners? Your idea of the post it notes is good but will not solve my bed issue. Any thoughts?
Happy I was able to help. Sometimes simple is best. P.S. I have started a new discussion forum at forum.drvax.com where we can all have more elaborate discussions and share pictures on our prints and printers. Check it out. Irv
I like Dr Vax's description of how the Post It Note should move around... 5:32 "and see if it just slides around a little bit but with a lot of friction". I also like how he does it cold. What I usually do is level it off using the paper method but with the machine on. This gets the leveling pretty close. (I usually only use this paper method when the level has been toss off by, say, a hot-end adjustment.) I then print off 5 20x20mm pads from Thingiverse (one per corner, plus middle). I keep printing off the pads till I'm happy they are all just right. Interestingly, when I measure the thickness of the pads, they are all close to 0.2mm or 1mm for all 5 of them.
But when you turn on the 3D printer and pre heat it will it burn the post-it? Sorry I'm trying to learn about 3D printers so I can start but all of this is very confusing
You left out a critical detail and one I had to discover on my own. Now this method you show is find for a low temp bed print but for higher bed temps things change and the bed expands. I have found that I need to first bring my bed up to temp for the print I plan on using and level at that temp to ensure accurate leveling. Also I found the paper trick was to close and ended up using a card stock instead which is about two sheets in thickness. Hope this helps someone else who found this video did not work ideal for them.
You are correct. Thanks for sharing. P.S. I have started a new discussion forum at forum.drvax.com where we can all have more elaborate discussions and share pictures on our prints and printers. Check it out. Irv
I had a dip in the centre of my endear 5. I got a glass sheet. It appeared to be Flat to a straight edge but still had dip when I levelled it. Presumably the x or y axis has a dip. Bl touch kind of cures it and it's a good fix for for what I do but I'm very aware that it' not right really.
Cannot thank you enough for this. Dozens and dozens of failed first layers, and simply putting a sticky note down like you did immediately yielded better results. Thank you so much!
Your welcome.
Chinese quality control.
@@packetattack7437 Low-end consumer products QC, but applied to what's sold as a precision product... Cha bu duo (eh, it's good enough...)
Using a slightly thicker aluminum plate and grinding it flat would add another $2.00 to the production costs... can't have that!!! /sarcasm
The mis-aligned z-axis screw is a more obvious case of Cha bu duo, because the motor mount is a necessary part of the assembly anyway, and the differential cost to get it right (extra 1mm or so of plastic) is a truly insignificant cost that they don't bother to incur.
I spent several days trying to figure out why my Bltouch couldn't level the bed properly. Eventually figured out it was because the middle of the bed was depressed. The most annoying issue I have ever encountered with a printer.
@@packetattack7437 most things on this planet are made in China, even your Japanese brands like Sony and Toshiba etc are manufactured in places like China and Singapore etc.. its native and short sighted to just stereotype like that. Quality control is subject to the requirements of production. QA on a 200 dollar/pound printer isn't going to have the same QA as one worth 2k. If it's QA you're worried about, spend over 1k and you won't need to worry about 'Chinese quality control'
Well, what do you do if your printer is warped in the center and it's higher than all 4 corners? Mine is bent pretty bad!
mine also! did you find any solution?
turn it over and follow the video. duh. /s
I just had to come back and thank you! Got my first printer as means to aid my DnD campaign and was very unexperienced. I noticed a dent and the shop told me to "untension and retension the bed and that it would be solved" and I did not know how to. I tried your memo trick, releveled the bed, and it WORKED!!! Thank you so so much sir, I couldnt have done without you!
The "generated" electricity that comes from moving the bed, and X gantry, most likely won't cause harm to the motherboard, but it actually can, if moving either one fast, and frequently. That's why it's recommended, by most users, to move them slower than that can occur. I am not sure, but today's more updated printers MAY not be as prone to this happening, as in the past.
But an "ounce of prevention....." :)
Leveling a "Cold" print bed will get you close, but if you're going to used a heated bed, then it will most likely change after heating. It ALWAYS has for me. I've always leveled after heating the bed and letting it stabilize for 5 - 10 minutes. I have a MUCH higher success rate with the First Layer this way.
Thanks for sharing and teaching others.
Yes,yuo are ritgh...better move the motors slowly..and of course always level the bed hot -if yuo are gona print hot- becase the metal and the glass expand whith the temperature
I just did a video about this:
ua-cam.com/video/zfTm0SqIFm4/v-deo.html
You can also use Aluminium foil. This conducts heat so you won't loose heat from a spacer between the bed and the magnet sheet. I think its also safer because the aluminium foil wont burn if it gets too hot like paper.
The best bed leveling video I have seen, spot on with saying if the line rubs off it is too low, and if not there or pressed into the surface too high. Such a simple way to tell.
Thanks. I am a big fan of simple.
After several frustrating attempts with ruined prints from poor bed adhesion, this worked! Thank you for tip. Saved us some tears for sure.
And i thought I was the only one using Post-its. I have spend hours leveling the corners while the center has a dip. Thanks a ton for confirming and an amazing video. :)
So thankful for your help! I spent too much time trying to level something that could never be near level and started to consider buying an ABL kit, but this was a) way cheaper, b) much faster. I am now producing great prints. Thank you!!!
So what would you do to fix the center being too high?
DUDE!!! My print bed was bent, and this was the first video I clicked on...not a whit of disappointment! If I could like this video twice, I would!!!
My default Ender 3 bed seems to be warped a little. The center appears to be a little lower than the corners and I tend to experience adhesion issues from time to time. This idea with putting a sheet of paper underneath came to my mind too, but I am a little worried how it might impact to uneven heating of the bed (paper is known to be a poor heat conductor) ... So, from this perspective, an aluminium foil sheet is probably a better idea ...
I used a piece of aluminum foil to deal with the dip on my Ender. Has worked great.
Im about to try that , wish me luck .
Good call, considering heat conductivity!
But does it stick to the bed when you take off your magnetic bed?
@@Luca_CRF probably not on its own, i dont use a magnetic bed, but even if you use a little bit of glue, like there is on a sticky paper, aluminium would still be better than paper, i guess.
@@Luca_CRF aluminum is not magnetic
Any tips if the bed is warped upward in the middle?
I have to say ty im 2 weeks into my 3d printing journey with my ender 3 pro. My bed isn't warped but this video helped understand the anatomy of bed mechanism and the z axes . Just finished leveling my bed and the first layer and letters of the benchy look smooth and clean......Thank you :-)
Thank you so much. I bought my first printer to make parts for my college project and couldn't figure out why the first layer was getting messed up. That trick saved me! This was so helpful
1 post-it note and an hour of bed levelling later my ender 5 is finally printing. Thank you so much!
Glad I could help!
Damn, After watching so many 40+ minute videos, he gives the best advice in 8minutes... Definitely gained a sub from me!
Many thanks for taking the time to share this fix. I was just about to contact the supplier until I realised that others may have the same issue. By the way, I found that if you carry out the levelling routine when the assemblies are cold you have to be sure not to have solid extruded filament giving a false endpoint to your nozzle. Clean the end with a plastic tool before going through the levelling process - it saves a lot of grief and head sctratching!
You should check the bed flatness and level when hot. It will expand substantially in the XY when heated and might warp in the opposite direction. It is also anchored in 4 places, it should be anchored in 1 place with less restrictive anchors in two more places. I check the bed level when hot with a drop indicator mounted on the head. It is super fast and way more accurate.
Yes you are absolutely correct. You should level the bed when hot.
Man! Your advice of using post-its to calibrate the Ender-3 bed is awesome! It really helped me a lot! Thank you very much!!!
Glad it was helpful.
Thank you very much. Just got an Ender 3 and had a low center. The post it note fixed the problem. I was racking my brain for a few hours on the leveling. 5mins after post it and it was fixed.
Well Heck! It worked! 😮 Been trying to level the bed on my brand new Ender 3 Pro all morning, still couldn't get it right....Post It note in the middle of the bed and BOOM! Working great. Thank you so much Sir :D
Thank you for the video. I have also a dipped print bed on my ender3 but a post-it was too thick, so I took one layer of cleanex tissue which was perfect to get a flat print-bed.
In my attempt to find someone out there that has a process for bed leveling I came upon your technique and I thank you very much because this is so simple and straight to it. Thank you again.
So glad I found this video! I've been trying forever to get a print out of my Ender 5 - one try of checking for a center dip with a metal ruler and one index card later, I'm up and running!
I know this is an ancient video at this point but it was very helpful in figuring out the dip in the center of my bed and how to fix it. thanks!
You should preheat the bed before setting the gap, as heating it changes the shape, and you want to level as if you were printing.
Yes.
Thank you so much for this!! I have always wanted to fix the dip in the center of my printer and just didn't know how. Now my prints can finally be leveled! 😊
Wow, this is really clever. I would have never thought to do anything like this on my own.
The bed warping is still an issue now. I used a couple of layers of aluminium foil rather than a PostIT note. I found using paper as a "shim" it affected heat transfer from the bed to the build surface.... Mine was pretty bad. It dipped almost a full millimeter in the middle.
I permanently fixed this problem with a new Creality heatbed and Creality's glass print surface. Works great, everything sticks and once it's cool the prints pop right off. Cost about $35 total free next day shipping with Amazon Prime. :)
Thanks for sharing.
I just gave up and ordered a glass bed because I could not get a decent combination of materials that would go high enough without causing dragging elsewhere e.g the top middle section but not on the top left and top right sections.
I was so frustrated with my Ender5 and now I'm kinda angry at it, because it was a so easy fix. I actually had to layer 2 postnotes on one side of the bed dip but, now it's fine. Thank you so much for the solution!!
Glad I was able to help. Want to learn more in additional to watching more videos check out forum.drvax.com where my viewers ask questions and participate in answering them for each other.
The post-it note trick has worked perfectly! Thank you for the tip!!
I have a dip in the center and, da never thought of doing this. Thanks. Truthfully I clean and check level between almost every print.
Thanks DrVax. I have been pulling my hair out trying to get a good first layer print. Unfortunately most of the videos out there only talk about leveling the bed spring and if there is a warp they only talk about how it's normal and just to not try to get a perfectly level bed. Gonna try this out later after letting my brain cool down from the amount of frustration over the past 3 days. I do have a glass bed that I was going to try next which, by most accounts it does give you a flat surface but then it introduces some other issues to deal with such as making sure it is properly heated up, reducing stepper motor jerk, adding glue to some in case they do not print. Was gonna try mesh bed leveling next but I would rather learn these other fixes as well.
Ender 3 has always been as one of the best printers in it's price range for all it's mods and upgradeability but unfortunately the bed has always been a sticking point til this day since they stamp out instead of CNC machine the bed.
Thank you DrVox
It really fixed the problem
In addition, using the paper might decrease the Bed desired temp. So, as suggested by Motoshow below, I used an aluminum foil so it keeps the bed temp as desired.
Thanks everybody.
Good luck to all
Thanks fir sharing.
Thans you so much,have been struggling many months to get it levelled like this worked well for me
Thanks for the video, make sure that what ever you are using has a high flash point or you could cause a fire. Paper has a flash point of over 450 F, much higher then the bed heater. I would use a aluminum foil to make sure that there was no chance of it breaking down over time.
Excellent point. Since the post it notes are very inexpensive you can replace them if you see any determination due to temperature. Also the top print bed temperature for the ender line is about 100c and the Ignition temperature for most paper is about 230c.
@@MakeWithTech I just think that aluminum foil would be more stable, also the aluminum foil would let the heat pass evenly to the build plate. The aluminum foil is thinner to make much finer adjustments. Thank you for the video, I'm going to be buying a Ender-3 and your videos are a great place to learn about 3D printing.
Thank you! This fixed the problem with a new Ender 3 Pro that started within the first few weeks of use. Really appreciate it!
You seriously make the best videos. I have no idea how you don't have more subscribers. I've used 4 of your videos to fix things so far. Thanks again!
Thanks for the kinds words. I do my best and love doing it. So it is a win for me and a win for my viewers.
The sticky note in the center of the bed saved the day! very nice!
I've been printing for a while and found this very useful thanks for the tips great job
The Creality sermoon D1 also has the dip problem. I will try the post it fix later.
I’ve always been advised to move the print head or print Bed slowly when powered down to avoid a voltage spike which may damage the electronics.
Good suggestion. Thanks for sharing.
Awesome!!!!! I've been dealing with my warped bed for more than a few years... Who knew it could be solved with 2 post it notes.
I have this issue... (i actually use feeler gauges for leveling... i have a little bit of machining experiance) for a little bit i was having adhesion issues across the bed when i would use a 0.10 mm shim ( aprox the width of piece of paper) I actually dialed it down to 0.05mm and bam sticking prints [first layer set to .24mm or so) i just recently discovered that the dip in my bed (cold) was approx 0.15mm cold and approx 0.05-0.08 mm hot (level your beds hot people) so good idea on using a shim in the center of the bed to raise level.... thanks for the info i usually find some inspiration to help a fix... i. Off to the hard ware store to buy some shim stock!
One thing I noticed is that sometimes when you level your bed, and have the Zoffset be realy low, yet get good first layers, your models would look compressed and be shorter. You will also get some lines or a basket weave look in your prints. Took forever for me to fuigure out the issue as it seems that no one has that problem. Fuigured it out myself. Still got the dip in the middle problem
I have no idea if you will see this since this is an older video. What do you do if the center is slightly higher? do you add posti notes on the sides????
you know those tings that are so obvious but you never think of it, ya that is what happened after I watched this video. THANKS SO MUCH
Great video. I have been searching for a solution to the bed leveling dip in the middle for a while now. I tried your sticky note idea and while it was better, it now made the middle too high. I was scratching my head trying to think of a material that was thinner than a post-it-note when my wife suggested cutting a static bag in half and using one half of the bag. It worked great and I was able to level the bed using Chep's bad leveling gcode file.
Nice trick.
And I soppose postit in corners if center is high.
But remember to wash your hands before touch printsurface, after manual twist the Z leadscrew, as the leadscrew might be (and should be) greased.
Grease on printbed, lead to bad first layer adhesive.
Nice video again. I might be worth noting that after rubbing with fingers, isopropyl alcohol should be used to wipe out any grease that might weaken the adhesion
Excellent point. Thanks for sharing.
I have had where the magnetic pad that goes over the print bed has a corner that lifts at some time during the print
I was able to fix mine with a bit more of a brute force method. I took my bed off and bent the bed over my knee, applying force down on the high spots and up on the low spots. To measure my progress, I used a machinists straight edge and mechanic's feeler gauges. Lay the straight edge across the bed and slide the feeler gauges along the straight edge to look for where the gaps are. Do this for all in X, Y and diagonal axes. Same process as testing for warped cylinder heads on an automotive engine. I was able to go from greater than .2mm for the largest gaps down to not being able to fit .06mm under them.
You get my thumbs up, every time. Thank you so much for all your time and effort in every video. Wishing you well 👍👍👍☮☮☮
How is this man so cool. I would be everyone's friend if I was 1% as cool as this guy.
Doesn't having a post-it note on the heated bed element cause an issue?
I have had no issues.
Hi, i have a warped bed on my ender 3 pro. Bought a glass plate hoping that the bed isn't warped anymore, but when heating the glass bed takes the form underneath it. I've corrected the bed by putting tinfoil underneath. Still, a lot of hassle.
Placing shims under the bed is the technique I use most often.
ua-cam.com/video/y_xCtxcwDrQ/v-deo.html
Irv, I just saw this video tonight and decided to see how you fixed the problem. I see great minds think alike. You did the same thing I did.
Nice
Very clever. I imagine in the case of warping toward the edges one could place tape right on the edges as well.
Thanks for the video. Question for you. You do the calibration with the printer off. Say I do a print with a bed temp of 50 deg C and a print head temp of 230 deg C, will the bed and nozzle expansion when heated change the gap? I don't want to ruin my bed surface (Ender 3 V1, non-magnetic plate) by having the nozzle dig into the print surface once heated.
Irv the post it note is brilliant! Thank you!
Thank you so much for this video! I've had issues with my Ender 3 since I bought it in January, and you helped me fix it with a few post-its. Todah rabah!
Glad it helped!
How would you go about fixing a glass print bed that’s level at the corners but higher in the middle?
Great video! Do you happen to have a video for the Ender 3 S1 pro? I am tramming the bed but when I run the auto bed leveling the mesh gets so wrong. Thanks!
Great video. I wouldnt suggest powering it off without letting the hot end cool via the fan as that leads to killing the ptfe tube.
Good point
If you happen to have done maintenance on old cars, you will have a set of feeler gauges - thin strips of metal - which you can slide under your straight edge until you find one where you can feel it dragging between the edge and the plate.
A Post-it (TM) is roughly 20lb paper, or 0.003" (3 mils) = 0.076mm thick.
If you want a somewhat more permanent shim than using a piece of paper, you can buy thin brass sheet shim stock at the auto parts store as well. The paper-thin brass can be cut with heavy duty household shears, or a hobby or utility knife (disposable blades can be handy, especially if your significant other is protective of their scissors!)
This was a BRILLIANT solution! It is simple and it works. I was thinking about doing complicated things like putting wedges underneath etc. Thanks a lot!
Thanks
I have a 0.1mm hight stainless steal sheet is it better then the note, for heat transfer? Maybe should get copper foil ?
Thanks for your comment. Yes a metal surface will transfer heat better but I have not seen any negative side effects of using a pop it note.
Thank you! This fixed my problem! Cant believe that this paper thing works!
Yep. Simple is generally best.
Hello, the post it wont cause any fire hazard with heated beds?
Unfortunately mine is too high at the center when it is hot. Yesterday after a bed leveling at 50C I have tried to print ABS w/ 100C bed and the head could not pump out the plastic due to lack of gap bw the bed and nozzle. The result is: the push of filament broke !!! the PC04 screw on the top of head and push out PTFE tube.
So in my case i think I have to build a frame from postits/alu foil around the center.
is that bed one that will heat up?If so will will the post it handle that?
Thank you Dr Vax...after your solutions, my headaches (failed prints)are gone!
I shared a link in the Help section of the Creality Discord server. After your video I might actually love CURA and able to finally print something.
I tried your post-it note method on my bed with a higher middle but the middle becomes too low. What should I do?
A POST-IT NOTE. Why didn't I think of that?! This is awesome! Thanks.
Sometimes simple is best. Thanks for commenting.
I have a higher center bed compared to the 4 corners. Had the corners levelled but the center point has no gap. Any suggestions what to add to lift all 4 corners
Same technique. As an alternative switch to a spring steel print bed like layer lock from MatterHackers.
what about if i have problem i have center more up than corners... i level corners by 0,25 metalsheet and its ok but in arround center of bed i cant put anything .. the nozzle is pressing of top of bed... what to do??? thanks for ideas...
Excellent tips! Thank you! I have no dip but a bulge. Going to try with several post-it to shim it up.
What if, in my case I have a Voxelab Aquila printer which is a clone of the Ender 3 V2. I my leveling has found that the middle is a few mm higher than the corners, But I have a flat glass bed on top of the metal one! So how do I get around that problem where the middle is too high by a few mm than the corners? Your idea of the post it notes is good but will not solve my bed issue. Any thoughts?
What would you recommend for a glass bed dip?
Thumbs up for an intro I can tolerate. I have a BLTouch, but before that I found out about the dip in the middle. Still going to watch your video.
Post-it notes are a genius solution!!. Thanx for sharing
Happy I was able to help. Sometimes simple is best.
P.S. I have started a new discussion forum at forum.drvax.com where we can all have more elaborate discussions and share pictures on our prints and printers. Check it out. Irv
Thanks for the video. What should I do if my bed is coming up in the middle?
can we try the sticky note trick if we print with heated bed ? wont it cause problem ?
It will be fine. The temp of the bed is well below the temp to start paper on fire. Not even close.
@@MakeWithTech Thanks a lot for the reply appreciate it! Will make sure to try this out today since bed leveling is a constant struggle for me :D
Just remember that worm thin aluminium bed will deform more than cold ;) So lvl should be check on hot bed (then is much worse than cold :p )
Good suggestion.
@@MakeWithTech I have 3, 3pro, 5 ;) So I know this issue too ;p
How to do this calibration check?
Could not find it in the TF came with the printer.
I like Dr Vax's description of how the Post It Note should move around... 5:32 "and see if it just slides around a little bit but with a lot of friction". I also like how he does it cold.
What I usually do is level it off using the paper method but with the machine on. This gets the leveling pretty close. (I usually only use this paper method when the level has been toss off by, say, a hot-end adjustment.)
I then print off 5 20x20mm pads from Thingiverse (one per corner, plus middle). I keep printing off the pads till I'm happy they are all just right.
Interestingly, when I measure the thickness of the pads, they are all close to 0.2mm or 1mm for all 5 of them.
I have a glass print bed that has a dip in the middle, would this solve it too?
hi, i bought a creality tempered glass yet the bed is not leveled, is there anything else to check? tyvm
I’m struggling with a warped bed. Any suggestions a new one for ender 3?
Great video. What if my surface is glass with a center dip?
Do you not find this is better done got in case warping changes with temperature?
But when you turn on the 3D printer and pre heat it will it burn the post-it? Sorry I'm trying to learn about 3D printers so I can start but all of this is very confusing
You left out a critical detail and one I had to discover on my own. Now this method you show is find for a low temp bed print but for higher bed temps things change and the bed expands. I have found that I need to first bring my bed up to temp for the print I plan on using and level at that temp to ensure accurate leveling. Also I found the paper trick was to close and ended up using a card stock instead which is about two sheets in thickness. Hope this helps someone else who found this video did not work ideal for them.
You are correct. Thanks for sharing.
P.S. I have started a new discussion forum at forum.drvax.com where we can all have more elaborate discussions and share pictures on our prints and printers. Check it out. Irv
@@MakeWithTech Thanks, will be joining in on the discussions there.
I had a dip in the centre of my endear 5. I got a glass sheet. It appeared to be Flat to a straight edge but still had dip when I levelled it. Presumably the x or y axis has a dip. Bl touch kind of cures it and it's a good fix for for what I do but I'm very aware that it' not right really.
ABL fixes a number of issues and is perfectly ok. Nothing wrong to use software to compensate for manufacturing variation.
Could someone please advise if this is viable for a printer with a hot bed? Running 60* Degrees C