Best procedure for leveling the bed.

[tinydancer 0]

So I've been having some issues since my feeder jammed, but I think I have resolved that. Although I do still have a question on what the position of the little white slider that's on the feeder should be? I think I put it back to where it was originally but would love to know what the recommended setting is for the UM2.

Right now I've having problems with getting the plastic to stick to the bed. I've been trying to print out Robert's feeder but it's failed literally 10 times in a row. I have done the atomic clean 10 times now, changed materials and yet every time I print at some point something doesn't stick to the bed and I end up with a mass of filament on the nozzle. So I'm guessing something with the bed level may be off.

I've leveled it the same way I always have (300 hours now on my UM2) but I've always wondered how much tension should be on the paper when you're doing the leveling procedure? I know it's strange to be asking this now but I'm at a loss as to why it keeps failing. Even tried applying some glue (which I usually don't for parts that small) but that doesn't work either.

Any help is appreciated, thanks guys!

 

[valcrow 144]

I usually prefer to print a test pattern and fine adjust according to how it prints.

You can try this thing:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/bed-level-pattern#!comments

-So level your bed normally.

-Scale it up 2.0 slice with most commonly used settings.

-Start the print, and adjust the screws AS it prints making sure not to push on the buildplate too much while turning the knobs.

-If it doesn't stick, bed needs to go up, if it starts smooshing you'll see that too.

Lastly make sure that your "first layer settings" is not set to something smaller than your layer height. (except for 0) I was scratching my head like crazy for a day because it wouldn't stick no matter what I tried. Eventually I found out my first layer was 0.1mm while my layer height was 0.2mm which caused massive under extrusion and therefore no sticking.

 

[ultiarjan 1,223]

I just use the build in procedure, with the piece of paper, and make sure there is some resistance on pulling the paper. I'm just using 0.3 start layer. Probably to lazy for more precise fiddling

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Hi TinyDancer,

For the paper like said, you must feel some resistance but the paper should be able to move.

I don't use that procedure anymore, i do it by the eye, then i print a pattern like suggested by Valcrow and fine tune it on the fly (or do that while the brim is printed).

Do you know what version of the firmware you are using? There was a problem with the bed level on an older version of the firmware, so this might be what you're experiencing?

 

[illuminarti 18]

Here's how we level all the beds on the printers we produce in Memphis:

The first thing to do is to make sure that all of your springs are reasonably tight. If they aren't, it's impossible to find the right height with a single sheet of paper, because the tension on the springs is minimal until they're compressed a bit. So, look through the bed from front to back, and adjust the back thumbscrew until the terminal block in the back left corner is about 1mm from touching the lower plate. Tighten the front screws about the same amount, to keep the bed roughly level as a starting point.

Then heat the nozzle and make sure it is clean at the tip.

Now run the leveling wizard again. When adjusting the rear height, just use the dial on the front of the printer. When adjusting the front corners, use the thumbscrews. I recommend not using the 1mm-then-a-paper-thickness approach. Instead, on both passes level the bed to the point where the nozzle just touches the glass. This is easy to see if you look along the surface of the glass; you can see the nozzle touch its own reflection.

When setting each point, move the bed up until it just touches the nozzle tip, then back it off and allow it to settle untouched, and then gently close the gap again.

If you find that you cannot compress the front springs enough to get the bed down to where it needs to be, then simply raise the back of the bed a few turns of the thumbscrew, and restart the leveling wizard. You want to end up with all the springs in a middle position, with a gap of about 10-13mm between the two plates of the bed assembly. The springs should be neither totally compressed, nor so loose that they aren't applying any meaningful upward force on the bed.

By doing two passes at the same height you should get fewer surprises; the second pass around should only require very minor adjustments. And aiming for the point where the nozzle touches the glass is a much easier target than trying to interpret the feel of nozzle on paper.

This will leave the nozzle about 0.1mm too close to the bed (the assumed paper thickness). This is very rarely a problem, if you print with a 0.2 or 0.3 first layer, and helps to ensure good adhesion.

 

[tinydancer 0]

As always guys, great advice and many thanks. And I checked my firmware and I'm currently at version 14.09.0

Man, I love this community!

 

[chrisr 18]

Here's how we level all the beds on the printers we produce in Memphis:

The first thing to do is to make sure that all of your springs are reasonably tight. If they aren't, it's impossible to find the right height with a single sheet of paper, because the tension on the springs is minimal until they're compressed a bit. So, look through the bed from front to back, and adjust the back thumbscrew until the terminal block in the back left corner is about 1mm from touching the lower plate. Tighten the front screws about the same amount, to keep the bed roughly level as a starting point.

Then heat the nozzle and make sure it is clean at the tip.

Now run the leveling wizard again. When adjusting the rear height, just use the dial on the front of the printer. When adjusting the front corners, use the thumbscrews. I recommend not using the 1mm-then-a-paper-thickness approach. Instead, on both passes level the bed to the point where the nozzle just touches the glass. This is easy to see if you look along the surface of the glass; you can see the nozzle touch its own reflection.

When setting each point, move the bed up until it just touches the nozzle tip, then back it off and allow it to settle untouched, and then gently close the gap again.

If you find that you cannot compress the front springs enough to get the bed down to where it needs to be, then simply raise the back of the bed a few turns of the thumbscrew, and restart the leveling wizard. You want to end up with all the springs in a middle position, with a gap of about 10-13mm between the two plates of the bed assembly. The springs should be neither totally compressed, nor so loose that they aren't applying any meaningful upward force on the bed.

By doing two passes at the same height you should get fewer surprises; the second pass around should only require very minor adjustments. And aiming for the point where the nozzle touches the glass is a much easier target than trying to interpret the feel of nozzle on paper.

This will leave the nozzle about 0.1mm too close to the bed (the assumed paper thickness). This is very rarely a problem, if you print with a 0.2 or 0.3 first layer, and helps to ensure good adhesion.

 

This works superbly and is a lot easier than the paper method. You can also hear a change in pitch (of all things resonant) when the nozzle touches the plate. :-) Thanks illuminarnti.

 

[illuminarti 18]

Yes, good point about the resonance changing. Siert and I were playing with that a few weeks ago when he was in Memphis; seems like it should be possible to do something with that to assist the leveling process.

 

[wcsp 0]

When I try and level the print bed on my Ultimaker2, there is a problem with front left and right of the print bed. There is a small amount of upward slop in the bed and when I slide the paper between the nozzle and the bed then remove it, the bed goes clunk, indicating that bed is being pushed down then moves back up when the paper is removed. Because of this I can't get an accurate gap with the front. Is there a way to take the slop out of the bed front??