God, I just love this community (3d printing). A lot of people are happy to help and share what they have learned, and just trying so that we all can have good experience with printing. Love you all

A clean bed is just as important. You can level all you want, if the bed is dirty it still won't stick.

Excellent, well detailed video as usual. Just wanted to say thank you for all the effort you put into these videos. This gcode generator is a godsend for my different sized beds.

Super video. I've rarely had adhesion problems but when I did, this video sorted me out. I re-leveled, checked my heights, increased my first layer width from 0.4 to 0.6 and slowed my first layer speed to 25%. I've never had better prints.

You sir are a legend. After adding a glass bed to my Ender 5 Pro I had all sorts of problems getting the first layer to stick, even after levelling super carefully. But your levelling Gcode file showed me that the printer head to bed distance was still too great, and how to fix it. Awesome, thank you.

Michael this is awesome , As someone thats been 3d printing for a couple of years now I still find this stuff useful.

This system worked great. I’ve been struggling with first layer issues since I added the Bullseye shroud. So going back to the basic solved my Z-offset problem. Thanks for the great work and keep it up.

I'm starting in 3D printing, so I'm so happy to find your video. Thanks a lot! Your explanation is great and useful to learn more!

I bought my first 3D Printer, an Ultimaker Original, in 2013. Tutorials like yours are great for newbies and even us users like me...who 'think we know it all'. You've reminded me of some great Best Practices (like heating the bed to do the leveling!)....great job!

After going on your calibration site i have leveled the bed and calibrated the extruder and the slicer just one word to say AWESOME

Most useful and clearest bed leveling video I've yet seen. Thank you.

Thank you so much for this guide. I have a dip in the middle of the bed on my Ender 3 pro, which was causing slightly bad adhesion problems with almost no squish on the first layer. After going through your first layer calibration guide on your website, downloading the G-Code and manually levelling the bed as it was printing the 5 point code I have managed to get a near perfect first layer in the middle of my bed, which is where I do most of my printing. Thank you for taking the time to do this, it's helped me a lot, as I'm sure it has for many others : )

This is one of your better videos. Thanks so much for putting the work into the content and production value!!! This one is very helpful👍🏻👊🏻

Thank you for this video Michael, I followed your instructions last night and I got five perfect squares. My prints on my new Artillery Sidewinder X1 are now amazing😀👍

If I had to pick one video to share with people new to 3D printing, this would be the one! This one helped me so much when I was starting a month ago. I went from absolute frustration and failed prints to consistent and reliable prints I'm really happy with. Thank you!

Hands down best video and guide to leveling. Thank you.

The best bed levelling video! Thanks 🙏🏻

When I was trying to figure out my Z Offset, I was having trouble measuring the distance between the BL Touch probe and the printer nozzle. So I used a pack of cards! it worked great!

This is definitely the most straightforward leveling tutorial Ive seen. I wish I'd had it when I first started!

I had a huge deformation in the middle of the glass sheet on my Artillery Sidewinder after a print got really stuck to the surface. No matter how I levelled the 4 corners nothing would stick in the middle. An Artillery Facebook group I'm on suggested loosening tension on all 4 sides, then heating the bed to 80 degrees and re-applying tension to try and pop the deformation out. It took a fair bit of time and trial and error, but I did see significant improvement. I'm not promising results or permanent fixes, but it's worth a shot if things get ridiculous. ABL really is a must when your bed is warped.

My printer runs fine , but after all your content ill try to squeeze more out of it , thank you for the great documentation. you explain everything really deatialed!

Great!!! Very good! We’re working in a Portuguese version for The Calibration site.

I got my Ender 3 V2 today and I've started the steps on the site. Easy to follow instructions. My 1st printer.

Excellent presentation, very helpful, especially with the leveling test gnode file. Many thanks

Excellent stuff Michael. Your site is getting better and better. Lots of good info here too. Cheers, JAYTEE

Finally someone actually explaining how to assess the correct amount of squish.😊

I’d like to add that printing a raft can be a lifesaver for people not equipped with ABL to compensate for warping. Also, after struggling for months with bed adhesion, I bought a 1mm PEI sheet and never had an issue again with PLA.

This is great! I did however run into an issue, I would manually adjust during the print, and the final results were great, then I would re-run the print to verify and my auto level would re-adjust back to a bad print, I ended up turning off the auto bed level and selected no auto level for the print and it worked great!

Thank you for making that website. Thats all I wanted to say

Best video on this subject, thank you.

thank you very much, very useful video, nice structured and edited. subbed

Michael, I don't recall if you covered it in any of your previous videos but I compiled Marlin with Mesh bed leveling and Babystepping without ABL probe. It works like a charm and if you are not to ruff with your bed will last for quite some time before you need to redo it. If you haven't done a video on it maybe you should for those that want to save a few more bucks and still get great prints.

I found that a feeler gauge, spirit level and/or inclinometer do wonders in the bed levelling process. Saves the stress of not knowing how close you are to a level bed.

Thanks for the Micheal. I just got rid of my E5 magnetic bed and installed a spring steel bed. The challenge is now to get the prints to stick to the bed. I will get some glue sticks and try that. Thank you for the great helpful videos...

Excellent! Thank you!

Thank you, this helped a ton.

THIS VIDEO HELPED MUCH, THANK YOU 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Dude thanks!!! This video truly saved me with the bed levelling issues I had!!! I had almost given up until I stumbled on this video! Great guide!!! Really comprehensive!!! Keep up the awesome work!

Really helpful video - thanks!

Again, ANOTHER GREAT VIDEO!!!!

Yeay! I'm so happy that I installed inductive sensors on my machines and even a piezo on one.. UBL and ABL are so great. I completely forgot how hard it can be for new players to get the first layers right. Good luck to all the new 3D-printing enthusiasts!

Great video!!! Thank you!

Great explanation

Cheers for this info. Set my geeetech a10 perfect

thank you bro cheers from Canada

Great info on tramming the bed! I ultimately broke down and bought an inexpensive set of feeler gauges (or a very expensive 0.10mm feeler gauge if we're going to be honest), and the test print came out so much better than any of my attempts using paper. I'm now printing an all in one test model, and the base is about 60cm square, but two diagonally opposing corners curl up slightly while the other two lay perfectly flat. The quality of the fill lines shows slight ridging on the initial layer, but nothing that makes me think the layer is printing too thin. Any ideas why this would be? The result is that those two corners end up rounded instead of sharp 90 degrees on each face.

Nice Video as usual. I just want to add one thing. I had a huge Problem leveling my Ender 3 after a few weeks of using it. After long fiddeling I realized that the screws for the Z-stepper loosened over time and gave the Z-axis some wobble which made it impossible to get a good first layer. So definetly also check your frame, screws and belts if you get inconsistent first layers

Timing couldn’t have been better! Got my first 3D printer yesterday and had no idea how to level the bed right. Really useful guide and gcode generator. Can you add some info on mesh bed leveling? It seems like a middle ground between manual and auto bed leveling

6:47 As someone who's been bitten hard by his Anet A8 while doing precisely this, let me point out that you need to be damned sure of where the bed is going and/or damned sure you can't get bitten before you attempt this. Getting a thumb or finger pinched between the levelling screw and the frame really, really hurts.

Great video. Only thing i'm missing is to level the x gantry before you level the bed. At least when your printer has a double z motor it is important to get the x gantry levelled before you level the bed.

At 13:48 We should all follow your Nstructions to the letter lol Sorry Michael, I couldn't resist it 😂 Fantastic guide as always 👍

Thank you so much!

I would also highly recommend SunShine's printed dial indicator compliant mechanism.

Great video. I wish you would do one like this for a Delta (Kossel Mini), as you cannot keep the head at the same height after disabling the steppers. Also there are not any videos that really show this kind of setup for a Delta. Thanks again.

thank you for this

Genial amigo gracias por compartir , saludos desde Colombia

getting a square mirror as a bed works great. Since you can usually see warp areas in mirror if there are any. By spraying a bit of alchohol and water on the print after it finishes, the remaining print material comes off easily too. But yea, leveling bed is still another issue that's answered by the video :3

great video, I have been using bltouch and no issues so far

This video has solved so many damn headaches of mine.

First layer adhesion and the different types of print beds and how to make your print stick onto the different surfaces just right, might be useful too. I'm doing 3D printing for almost 3 years now, and i still struggle with first layer adhesion, elephant footing and warping on some prints.

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.

Recieved my first printer today- ender 3- and this would’ve been super useful- but i figured out a pretty level bed :D

Great video, but was hoping to hear you speak about manual mesh bed leveling too....

6:50 - One of the joys of a Hypercube style printer is that the bed only moves up and down, so you can live tune it with ease :-D

Getting the bed level with the nozzle plane was the biggest hurdle for me and it was so frustrating and infuriating that I was almost ready to throw my new Ender 3 Pro out the window when I bought it. Luckily I found out about EZABL and ordered one. Set it all up and it works perfect every single print. Only time an adjustment is needed now is when I change print resolution, then I have to change the Z offset to compensate.

IMHO, manual mesh bed leveling works just as well as an ABL. It would have been nice if you covered that.

Could you use calipers to measure a single layer thickness and use that with the pitch of the leveling screws or the z offset with ABL to properly set your z height and first layer flow properly?

Awesome video and thank you a billion times. Ironically the mid of my bed has like a bump so I used Z offset plugin on Cura. But yeah I think now that a ABL would be benefical for accurate first layers in my case. But When I see the price tag then I just think I´ll wait ^^. Can you make a video comparing some Auto Bed Leveling sensors ?? like a cheap, a mid tier and a high tier one ?

Thanks so much

Thank you so much, I just couldnt level my bed correctly for the life of me

Once again, an incredibly important and helpful video...thanks so much!

I just got a glass bed for my Ender 3 Pro. I was suprised how hard it was to get first layer adhesion! I missed the magnet bed. However, glue stick made it finally work!

hi, I just got a Biqu B1 printer and this video helped me a lot! I think I got a woop in the midle of the bed, cause I level up the 4 cornes but in the center the papershit seems to be a little bit loose.... so I got a few failures cause the peaces just poped off the bed, do you use hair spray on the black bed the biqu b1 uses? and what do you think abotu replacing the magentic black peace with a glass for more flatness.. Thank u so much!

Really needs a section on Delta printer levelling. I really appreciate the explanation of terminology and going through the basics but Delta beds - especially ones fixed to the frame - need a different levelling process.

I started 3d printing about 3 months ago now. I started doing this exact procedure to get my bed leveled correctly every time it needs adjustment. I never liked the guess work that came along with using a bit of paper or something like that.

Cant help notice that the table has belt holder for the Lowrider2. Any chance we will be seeing any more videos for the Lowrider?

Thanks for your video. I was waiting for you to mention mesh bed leveling. I think it as good as ABL only think that is manual. I know ABL is convenient but for us that have Ender 3 with 1. main board, from what i understand is a bit harder to add ABL unless you improvise or add adaptors.

Also, manual mesh bed leveling can correct for a warped bed, too.

Marlin G35, I've never had such a freakishly perfect bed.

Any info on adding ABL to the Ender 3 V2? I’ve ordered 2 silent driver boards 1.1.5 for my 3 pro and 5 and received the V4.2.7 board that comes in the V2. After some digging it seams that Creality is no longer shipping the 8 bit silent driver boards anymore.

Hi and thank you as always for sharing! i was wondering if there is there a way to add the auto bed leveling hardware to a newer tronxy IDEX 3d Printer. the Tronxy Gemini S..? not sure how i can update the firmware or rather what to use for updating the firmware for this feature to be used.. (if even possible?). i believe there is an option for updating firmware using Repetier host as that software is compatible and can connect with the Gemini S. i have not tried octo print yet.. any advice would be great. this printer is fabulous when i can get the first layer to stick. I think the way the stop sensors are read for "home" positions are the biggest downfall. as each print seems to be off a bit from one print to the next with regards to the starting z height. the gantry is solid and heavy and extends up a great deal from the bottom of the printer base that it is secured to and the 4 mounting screws on each side are not enough to hold the printer stable IMO. if i keep the speeds down though and as i said if and WHEN i can get the first layer to be stick and be consistent the prints turn out great. any help and or advice would be much appreciated!

Didn't you do a video about manual mesh leveling? I've been using manual mesh for about a year and only occasionally think I should throw more money (buy/install abl) at the problem of my warpy bed.

Lol could have needed this like an hour ago. Did my own calibration code by using a big square with a skirt and the removed ever code except the skirt. This way I get 3 lines of extrusion all around and I can see what corner is incorrect and if the bed is uneven

The automatic bed leveling thing would definitely be nice to have as well, hopefully it doesn't set me back too much..6.6

would you agree with the statement that sometimes the type or brand of filmament makes a difference when it comes to how it extrudes on the first? I've also found it by adjusting my temperature I can change how the squish appears to show on the build plate which I think is something that people also need to be aware of. This is a great video and very educational but that's one thing I do believe you should add as sometimes you may have under extrusion or poor adhesion causing it to appear as an incorrect squish however it could be that the temperature of the nozzle isn't high enough and the filament is not hot enough to go through properly.

Hi Michael, any chance of you doing a review of the Troodon 400?

I've got the lines right (thanks) but I'm still getting globs, randomly. assume extrusion and temp tests next?

Question for you, where did you get your x axis linear rail kit from?

Small tip for cleaning I picked up from experimentation: glass doesn't always like to be cleaned with IPA. I don't know if it's the kind of glass or the kind/brand of filament in use, but sometimes I've found a glass bed that has been visually completely cleaned with IPA just won't "grip" the first layer. Vinegar works well in this situation. Just regular cleaning vinegar you can pick up for $1-$2 a litre at the supermarket, so it's readily available and quite a bit cheaper than IPA. Also works well on other surfaces, and makes the printer room smell like a bag of chips for hours after.

Question: I'm trying to go through your calibration site with my CR 6 SE and I don't know what to put on the "auto-bed leveling" section of the gcode generator because none of the options seem to be applicable. The CR 6 SE bed leveling is *exclusively* automatic and the starting gcode doesn't seem to have any of the calls that you have listed on that page. Maybe I'm not understanding something properly because I'm still so new to 3D printing, but I want to make sure I do this right. Please help.

I've really been struggling with whether bl touch would be worthwhile, and I know for a fact my bed has a minor warp, so I'm sold. Now if I can just figure out how to utilize the full size of the bed in cura...

What if your printbed is warped? I've got a heated glass printbed that is leveled as far he 4 corners, but has dips and crown in the surface such that there are spots where the nozzle is scraping the bed and spots where it is laying filament in midair.. I do manual mesh leveling because I don't have a level sensor (but even if I did, my bed has a severe warp right along one edge that a probe could not be reached due to the probe offsets) with a 6x6 grid which is time consuming and still needs to be redone regularly and with different bed temps etc..

Omg i having this problem rn but this should help

I noticed that you said to disable steppers in the video. I have had issues with bed leveling in the past with disabled steppers because the Z axis is also disabled. In some cases the gantry will fall back towards the tray as you push the extruder around the build tray.

Could you make (or have you already ?) a video about trouble shooting for infill? Because I've tried seemingly everything and still have under extrusion. The top, bottom and walls are perfect but for some reason the infill is stringy af and therefore not super strong (it's not too bad but far from perfect or even great). The last thing to try would be to swap the hotend but with everything else working fine, I fail to see what it would do. Great vid as always by the way!

So the bed *should* be warm. Flsun Q5 has the autolevel/home/adjust z0 in one sub-menu by default and it doesn't heat. This explains why I have to make the head nearly crash into the bed for the prints to stick right!

can you do a video about CR-6SE style beds?

That smile in the end was.... scary. Where are the 3d Printed skeletons in your closet!? :P

@Teaching Tech would you say that it is better to level the bed closer to the corners or closer to the center?

I always have an issue with the centre of my bed being to close to my nozzle, how do I adjust this? The other four corners are perfect