1 Topic by wimismith

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Topic: Bed will not calibrate

Hello, newbie here, just bought a da Vinci this past week from eBay, got it Wednesday and got to printing Thursday. When I got it on eBay it was listed as new open box never used, but when I got it there was a chip in the glass and you could see that it had been used. Considering I got it for around half price, and the seller refunded my shipping, this didn't bother me much. When I went to print I decided to calibrate the bed, I have gotten it set to what is listed in the manual but it fails calibration every time. I've tried adjusting to the listed settings and printing anyway after it fails but I keep getting squished layers and the initial layers start peeling up. I updated the firmware hoping that it would fix the calibration issue, not no luck. I tried painters tape like I had seen suggested in one of the other topics, and it seemed to work, until the extruder caught on an edge of the tape and pulled it up. The next thing I try will be a layer of acetone abs slurry. Aside from what I'm already going to try is there a way I can get the bed to properly calibrate? Sorry if I rambled a bit, just spent the past 4 hours trying to get a couple of successful prints and failing.

2 Reply by carl_m1968 (edited by carl_m1968 2014-11-09 06:41:13)

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

wimismith wrote:

Hello, newbie here, just bought a da Vinci this past week from eBay, got it Wednesday and got to printing Thursday. When I got it on eBay it was listed as new open box never used, but when I got it there was a chip in the glass and you could see that it had been used. Considering I got it for around half price, and the seller refunded my shipping, this didn't bother me much. When I went to print I decided to calibrate the bed, I have gotten it set to what is listed in the manual but it fails calibration every time. I've tried adjusting to the listed settings and printing anyway after it fails but I keep getting squished layers and the initial layers start peeling up. I updated the firmware hoping that it would fix the calibration issue, not no luck. I tried painters tape like I had seen suggested in one of the other topics, and it seemed to work, until the extruder caught on an edge of the tape and pulled it up. The next thing I try will be a layer of acetone abs slurry. Aside from what I'm already going to try is there a way I can get the bed to properly calibrate? Sorry if I rambled a bit, just spent the past 4 hours trying to get a couple of successful prints and failing.


Just use the calibration to get a pass value and save it. Then start a demo print. As soon as the head moves over the platform and begins the purge line on the side turn off the power. Using a feeler gauge or even a piece of paper between the head and build platform adjust the platform at each of the three screws to the point where you can feel the paper just drag. Never run the auto cal again unless you do something to just really mess things up.

Also the information in the manual about the numbers are wrong. If you have android there is an app on the amazon store you can buy for 99 cents unless some one here has the APK and it will tell you the changes to make on each knob based on the system numbers.

You are better off just following the manual method however. Reason being is the auto is not accurate. You run it once and it passes, touch nothing and run it again and the number will change and may even fail. Most users no longer use auto cal.

All you want to do is to get it to pass once then store that value. Then set it by hand. It does not know that the value it has stored and the value you set manually with a gauge or paper are not the same.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

3 Reply by wimismith

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

Yea, I have an iPhone, so I can't use the android app. However, if some knows what those values are supposed to be, I will gladly set it with them.

4 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

wimismith wrote:

Yea, I have an iPhone, so I can't use the android app. However, if some knows what those values are supposed to be, I will gladly set it with them.


Ideally you want them all to be around 250 or lower. The final number that it reports as a pass is just an average of the three. The numbers from left to right are A , B , C. They represent the leveling screws from right to middle to left. So the are reverse from the actual layout. You just want to adjust the screws a small amount until you get the numbers all close to matching with in ten of each other. Once you do that and get a pas, store it then do the manual adjust to get it closer.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

5 Reply by darkhawk

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

I've had similar issues. Whereby I can't get consistent numbers during calibration.....

What I found to really increase the probability of getting a good and consistent calibration is cleaning off the very bottom of the small metal 'nub' that is protruding downward next to where the filament comes out.

If you ensure that the bottom of that nub is COMPLETELY CLEAN, it greatly increases your chances of getting a good calibration. I had very inconsistent numbers until I realized that what the calibration does is look for a 'completed circuit' through the metal tabs on the heated bed and the head of the hotend.
If, like me, you had burned/leftover melted pieces of plastic that were stuck on the bottom of that nub, it can't complete the circuit, and makes the calibration very ineffective, as others have noted.
I can honestly say that after cleaning it off multiple times with the brush, and even going as far as using some acetone to finish off cleaning it, the calibration went MUCH smoother and actually worked very well.

6 Reply by wimismith

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

darkhawk wrote:

I've had similar issues. Whereby I can't get consistent numbers during calibration.....

What I found to really increase the probability of getting a good and consistent calibration is cleaning off the very bottom of the small metal 'nub' that is protruding downward next to where the filament comes out.

If you ensure that the bottom of that nub is COMPLETELY CLEAN, it greatly increases your chances of getting a good calibration. I had very inconsistent numbers until I realized that what the calibration does is look for a 'completed circuit' through the metal tabs on the heated bed and the head of the hotend.
If, like me, you had burned/leftover melted pieces of plastic that were stuck on the bottom of that nub, it can't complete the circuit, and makes the calibration very ineffective, as others have noted.
I can honestly say that after cleaning it off multiple times with the brush, and even going as far as using some acetone to finish off cleaning it, the calibration went MUCH smoother and actually worked very well.


I have cleaned it multiple times with the brush, but hadn't thought about using acetone, thank you for the tip.

And thank you carl_m1968 for telling me what I need to calibrate to.

7 Reply by scobo

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

Some great tips here guys !
I tried the Android app earlier. It worked after 2 or 3 goes but I just cleaned the metal calibration contact points and the app worked 1st time.
This takes a lot of the hassle out of calibrating.
I still prefer to adjust the bed manually after the auto cal to get the right gap between the bed and the nozzle and to be sure of a good 1st layer.

Davinci 1.0 with repetier firmware & E3D V6 Lite
Anycubic Photon DLP printer, Einscan-S 3D scanner
Simplify3d, 123D Design, Meshmixer
http://www.thingiverse.com/scobo/designs

8 Reply by markvanhaze

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

Just want to second that. Clean the contacts well, heat up the nozzle using the printer menu for nozzle cleaning, make it shine, then the auto calibration works.

9 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

markvanhaze wrote:

Just want to second that. Clean the contacts well, heat up the nozzle using the printer menu for nozzle cleaning, make it shine, then the auto calibration works.

Try running auto cal three or four times in a row without changing anything and see how many times those numbers change and even fail. Regardless of how clean you try to make it, the system in general just does not work mainly because the beds substructure is plastic and prone to thermal deformation based on temps. I am actually considering a complete remake of the bed and carriage.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

10 Reply by wimismith

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

carl_m1968 wrote:
markvanhaze wrote:

Just want to second that. Clean the contacts well, heat up the nozzle using the printer menu for nozzle cleaning, make it shine, then the auto calibration works.

Try running auto cal three or four times in a row without changing anything and see how many times those numbers change and even fail. Regardless of how clean you try to make it, the system in general just does not work mainly because the beds substructure is plastic and prone to thermal deformation based on temps. I am actually considering a complete remake of the bed and carriage.


what are you considering using as your replacement substructure?

thank you everyone for the great tips, I've managed to get a couple small things to print, still a couple bugs to deal with, but I think I'm on the right track now.

11 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

wimismith wrote:
carl_m1968 wrote:
markvanhaze wrote:

Just want to second that. Clean the contacts well, heat up the nozzle using the printer menu for nozzle cleaning, make it shine, then the auto calibration works.

Try running auto cal three or four times in a row without changing anything and see how many times those numbers change and even fail. Regardless of how clean you try to make it, the system in general just does not work mainly because the beds substructure is plastic and prone to thermal deformation based on temps. I am actually considering a complete remake of the bed and carriage.


what are you considering using as your replacement substructure?

thank you everyone for the great tips, I've managed to get a couple small things to print, still a couple bugs to deal with, but I think I'm on the right track now.

I was thinking of aluminum or Carbon fiber/Kevlar composite. I am concerned about the composite being able to hold the bearings so maybe an aluminum frame to keep it light and then a Carbon Fiber/Kevlar material for the heated bed area. The CF composite should be good for several hundred degrees beyond what that bed heater could do even shorted max output.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

12 Reply by nemako

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

Has anyone had a case where it seemed like the build plate was bulged (curved). I've been trying to calibrate my Da Vinci 1.0 for at least a week. I tried different methods (manual and auto). But recently I've noticed that even when the extruder looked well calibrated at the adjustment screws (paper method) it appeared to be touching the surface of the build plate in the middle. When I move the extruder I can literally see small gaps between the extruder and the build plate close to the edges but I can also see it touching the plate in the center. Please advise.

13 Reply by scobo (edited by scobo 2016-05-19 07:23:36)

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Re: Bed will not calibrate

Yeah, the glass plates tend to be slightly warped.
I target my levelling at the area of the bed I use the most, namely the inner area around the centre of the bed.
I don't bother with the edges as I rarely print anything that large.

Davinci 1.0 with repetier firmware & E3D V6 Lite
Anycubic Photon DLP printer, Einscan-S 3D scanner
Simplify3d, 123D Design, Meshmixer
http://www.thingiverse.com/scobo/designs