1 Topic by eriemaker

  • eriemaker
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Topic: Calibration and Extruder to Bed Clearance Questions & Discussion

I am extremely new to the 3d printing world and I purchased a davinci 2.0 for my first printer.  I have been doing some reading and tinkering with the printer but I am still confused about a couple things.  When you use the auto calibrate ( mine seems to work fine) and you set it to a z-offset for all 3 points of say 125mm, does this directly affect how close the print head is to the bed on the first layer? 

Since I have messed with this it almost seems like my print head is too close to the bed, but I thought that would be in the print file itself and the calibration is just for level?

Also I remember seeing a picture description / guide of what a print looks like with the print head is too close and too far, anyone have a link to that?

Thanks for the help!

2 Reply by carl_m1968

  • carl_m1968
  • carl_m1968
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Re: Calibration and Extruder to Bed Clearance Questions & Discussion

The calibration sets the height of the starting layer unless the gcode file you generate specifies otherwise. Ideally it should be around .1 to .15mm about the thickness of a sheet of paper. Most of us don't use auto cal as it is not dependable. You can run it once and not touch anything then run again and all the values will be different. Just run it once till it passes. then store that value. Start a print and as soon as it starts the little purge line on the side turn of power. This allows you to move the head around by hand while it is close to the bed. The using a sheet of paper adjust it manually so that the paper just drags between the nozzle and the bed at all three screws. This is the best way to do it since the auto cal will have you pulling out hair before long.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
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3 Reply by eriemaker

  • eriemaker
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Re: Calibration and Extruder to Bed Clearance Questions & Discussion

carl_m1968 wrote:

The calibration sets the height of the starting layer unless the gcode file you generate specifies otherwise. Ideally it should be around .1 to .15mm about the thickness of a sheet of paper. Most of us don't use auto cal as it is not dependable. You can run it once and not touch anything then run again and all the values will be different. Just run it once till it passes. then store that value. Start a print and as soon as it starts the little purge line on the side turn of power. This allows you to move the head around by hand while it is close to the bed. The using a sheet of paper adjust it manually so that the paper just drags between the nozzle and the bed at all three screws. This is the best way to do it since the auto cal will have you pulling out hair before long.

Thanks Carl...  I did this and I am printing ok, I guess I will just need to get a gauge so I dont have to use a piece of paper.