Tips on bed levelling

Zortrax M200 Tips & Tricks
#1

I noticed while levelling the bed the other day that the bed wasn't moving smoothly when I turned the screw underneath and the plate was getting caught up on the vertical pins. I dabbed a little silicone grease on the pins and things were nice and smooth again.

An obvious and easy fix I know. But if you don't notice the bed not moving properly during levelling it can make the task quite frustrating, and you end up chasing your tail going back and forth. Ask me how I know!  :o 

Another suggestion is to remove the filament before starting. As the nozzle is heated during the auto bed levelling process material oozes out the nozzle, sometimes interfering with the nozzle making immediate contact with the bed. This of course then gives incorrect readings.

#2

Yes, i noticed it too. I think check-procedure before printing should be done before nozzle is hot enough to melt filament (or before warming nozzle at all), or at least should make some "cleaning move" before check-procedure.

#3

yes , i have to sit and wipe nozzle until the print starts because the filament oozes out of the nozzle and effects leveling .

would like to see a cleaning move before bed levels.

#4

Hopefully Zortrax implement a "filament will now be ejected" feature before the bed levelling procedure starts. This would solve most of the oozing issues I think.

#5

+1 on that wilsonj

That would be a great addition

#6

How often are you guys leveling the bed?

I leveled it once. Then after probably 50 hours of printing all sorts of objects, decided to clean the underside of the mesh material and decided to "re-level" the bed while I was at it.

(It turned out It didn't need it... bed was still level)

So basically, after hundreds of hours of printing I have only ever leveled the bed twice. And one of those times it was un-necessary.

- Checking the accuracy of the level bed w/ the firmware feature told me that the accuracy was spot-on.

another question: Can anyone tell me whether or not the firmware "calibrate" is used just for viewing-information or if it is used for actual in-print manipulation to maintain levelness. I'm guessing it's used for user-information, but I haven't looked into it. (I don't really like the idea of firmware trying to make up for an un-level bed, so hopefully my guess is correct).

Thanks.

#7

@joshpit2003

I also level very seldom, as I understand the raft is used for a perfect leveling, so as long a you do not have issues and the raft is being distributed evenly on the building platform and sticks there is no need to relevel IMHO.

best

Andreas

#8

Can anyone recommend a descent machinest level they use for leveling the print bed?

I was looking at these on Amazon but they are pricey.

$100+

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Amachinist%20level

I'd be happy to spend that as I think a level bed is a lot of the problems I'm currently facing with a large print but still to new to the M200 to know.

P.S. Anyone can tell me how I got this half printed layer on the last layer printed?  The filament is intact and I did get peeling of the raft but the last layer is level.  I really like the look of this but it's not intended.  This is my 3rd print so I'm assuming the build plate is clean still.  It's printed .09µm layer thickness and one down from solid and normal speed with Zabs.

#9

@co3Dprints

Your print is affected to normal material shrink. Please reduce infill (you can even try to print this file using “mesh” 0% infill).

Apart of that I recommend to place this model on the another side (to get tall and thin print) and use 0.14 layer heigh.

#10

Can anyone recommend a descent machinest level they use for leveling the print bed?

I was looking at these on Amazon but they are pricey.

The term "Leveling the bed" is misleading, you tram the bed to the nozzle path, not level to gravity!

The nozzle path is not "level" to gravity, there is no need for this and why a printer in space/micro gravity can still work, you should be tramming the nozzle to the bed, in simple terms you should be adjusting the bed position so that the nozzle path is parralel to the bed surface and the nozzle is a consistant distance from the build plate surface.

you could use a simple shim material to test the nozzle distance in multiple positions and adjust the bed as needed, or you can purchase a dial indicator and mount it to the extruder and probe the build plate using this method.

#11

Thanks for the clarification on leveling the bed.  For the Zortrax this makes perfect sense.  My SLA/DLP printer wants gravity level as the first layer that is printed wants to be consistently flat to the build plate and resin is gravity based but not as applicable here.

Can anyone tell me why the last surface is cross hatched as I posted the above pic?  Again It's a really neat finish but wasn't intended and the sides of the print and bottom are smooth as expected.  This was a test print for a prototype I'm making.  It appears that the filament was simply not feeding out 100% but maybe this is a common artificat when the part is warping and shows its self on the last layer.

Side note: anybody use a planar to remove warping and can recommend a method or inexpensive planning solution?

Best regards,

Jason

#12

I've tried "lapping" the part on a large sheet of sandpaper that has been placed over a large flat surface, like a surface plate, but had mixed results.  Usually the warp is so bad that part won't mechanically fit with other parts in the same project, but I tend to print mechanical projects.  For things like model houses or other stand-alone parts where the dimension perpendicular to the sanded plane is not critical may work just fine.

This is a crude example, though with a metal part:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xP0Fexa_p0

Mike

#13

The fastest way to level the bed is to...

1.  Turn the machine off and make sure the nozzle tip and bed are clear of any blobs of plastic

2.  Screw all three bed screws down tight then loosen the front one one turn

3.  Manually move the print head nozzle as close to being directly above the front leveling screw as possible

4.  Manually move the Z-axis up close to the nozzle by turning the ball screw.  Move it back and forth until you get just a little friction with a piece of paper between the nozzle and the bed.

5.  Manually move the print head so the nozzle is as close to being directly above one of the rear leveling screws as possible.

6.  Adjust that leveling screw so that you get just a little friction with a piece of paper between the nozzle and the bed.

7.  Repeat step 6 after moving the print nozzle directly above the other rear leveling screw

8.  Check the three positions one more time with a piece of paper and adjust as necessary to get the same friction with the paper in all three locations.

9.  If you need reassurance, run the auto-leveling sequence with the Zortrax turned on.  You may need to make some slight adjustments since this is done with the bed and extruder warmed up.

Its faster to do the manual leveling then run the Zortrax routine afterwards than trying to home in using just the Zortrax routine.

Also, on my machine the screws turned with the nuts so when I tried to level the bed nothing moved when I turned the leveling nut.  To fix this problem I did the following:

1.  Removed all of the leveling screws and magnets.  

2.  I sanded the surface of the magnet that touches the screw head

3.  Cleaned all the screws and magnets with acetone.  

4.  Super glued the head of the screws to the magnets so the screws would no longer turn when the adjustment nut was moved.  

This is worth the 10 minutes it takes to do because it saves you a LOT of frustration of trying to level a bed when nothing happens when you turn the adjustment nuts.

I only level my bed about every 3 spools of filament but when I do it only takes a few minutes using this method.  I use the Zortrax bed leveling routine to determine when the build plate is pushed up enough in the center to warrant removing it to clean and bend it back.