A Better Way To Calibrate Your 3D Printer. Importance of Dimensionally Accurate 3D Printed Products 

Solid advice. Thanks for taking the time to do this.

Thanks so much for the video! I've been pulling my hair out trying to get repeatable accuracy but those dang cubes always come out so inconsistent and have inconsistent layers themselves. You made me realize we've been calibrating wrong this whole time. You definitely earned a subscriber in me!!!!

makes me feel better that I up-scaled the cube up to 100mm. but I love how your design is because it also helps show holes/bridging even over a short span

Amazing findings, thanks for the calibration design, going to print one now.

This is because of material shrinkage which gets worse with more infill and more walls. So it´s really hard to calibrate to but we can make some approximations. Like 0.5% shrinkage with PETG, you can now simply scale your part by 100.5% in your slicer and voila. This is why your cube will be fine since it´s tiny and a 200mm piece will be off by about 1mm. Also what YOU measure with the cube is the "corner bulge" never measure corners, always round up your calibration pieces since the corners will have acess material. Measure in the middle of the cube, this alone will be more precise by 0.2mm.

Awesome Tip! Never thought about it this way before. Thanks a lot! 😁

I like your calibration sheet too. It's great for tracking and to make sure you keep it on point in a schedule

tolerance must be measured in decimal not in percentage. 20.06 and 100.06 has same tolerance. but if you convert in percentage there will be Major difference between two.

I think you are super right about that, even though i already did not use the cube because of my very same experience.

Excellent video, thanks!

TYVM this is the type of info ppl need :D

Excelent Information! Go ahead with this videos!

Thanks for your advices, are very helpful.

Great video! It’s logical, if you cal small and then print bigger you multiply the margin of error whereas if you cal big and print smaller then you divide the margin !! I print and sell prototypes from the engineer at my job, will be calibrating this way from now on !

thank you for the video, this will solve so many of my probelms.

Solid video man thanks! Have a great day

my calibration cubes don't have elephant foot problems and the layers are way more even. you have something else going on like maybe loose belts or x,y,z rollers loose. your make sure you z rod isn't bent.

great topic, thanks 👍

Thanks for the great tip, and for the drawing.

thank you friend!

Hi, you are absolutely right. Thanks, subscribed

Go on then, have another subscriber! I've had an E3V2 for a few months now. I've installed an SKR Mini E3, BLTouch and have spent a good amount of time learning how to calibrate etc. Currently in the process of building a Prusa i3 mk3s for a more reliable print. It's a never ending learning curve though, videos like this help.

This is amazing! Thank you. I hate using cubes but for some reason I just haven’t stopped using them. Until now. I also really appreciate you mentioning the over extruded corners. So frustrating! I’m going to use your calibration model from now on.

Wow I have to say this made so much difference. Tried twice with the 20mm cubes and I was still getting results that were out, but with your 100mm test print my printer is now bang on. First print (after trying with cubes) was 99.3, 98.5, 99.6, second test after adjustment was 100.01, 100.03, 100.00. The 20mm cubes are just too small, so absolutely any printing variation translates into how accurate you can measure them. Turns out that using the cubes made my printer go from over sized at the stock settings to under sized. At worst its now 0.03% out, which to me is bang on.

Good advice! TY!

I've only been printing for fun and dimensional accuracy hasn't been critical. But if it's as simple as calibrating with something other than the cube then I'm more happy to get better results from my printer! Thanks!

Tus vídeos son inspiradores, gracias.

Agreed! The bigger the dataset, the more accurate the reading. It averages any minor measuring variables over a much longer distance which drops % of error significantly.

Good stuff man

Great tip!!

thanks for sharing!

I love that spreadsheet completely filled! lol

I am going to use this on my CR-10. I always thought the same way about the calibration cube. It is so small that the percentage your printer is off is shown by such a small measurement difference in something so small. Your calibration print looks really good.

Many ways to calibrate a 3d printer to what you are doing. Most would measure distance traveled on the axis and use Flow Rate to control but you are using a method which works for a specific print. Your elephants foot is either banding or you have the nozzle to close at the start of the print, or both. The banding on the cube you showed looked to be banding. Sounds like you care about your product which is a great thing! Good idea, nice design and quality control! Nice!

Grate video

good advice thanks

Ty i will try it.

Very good information, i have some problems with tolerances, i was thinking in this, good work

I subscribed because of this video, thank you for the video

thanks for this, going to use and calibrate my printer tonight , + 1 sub :)

I'm just getting started as a maker and this advice should help a lot. Any screw holes I set in my prints always came out slightly oval, which threw everything out, I'll try this and see if that fixes the issue.

You point out very good discrepancies. No matter the filament, you should get closer tolerances with the same roll and settings.

Great video, I will try calibrating my Ender 3v2 with your tower, My prints are a hit or miss at the moment and I'm doing a lot of research lately as to why... I started maybe a month ago and my prints were flawless, and half way through the new PLA spools I ordered (some cheap Chinese make) my hot-end fan died I started having all sorts of problem with skipping layers, heat creeping ghosting and generally really bad looking prints. I did get a replacement fan but my prints were never the same. I tried drying the material in the oven @50 C for a few hours, lubricated and re-aligned the X-axis, cleaned the hot end several times with the needle and cold pulls, got a CR touch for auto bed leveling and upgraded the firmware to Jeyrs. Another thing I played a lot with is slicer settings, copied and tested a bunch of different settings from content creators who use Ender 3 v2 to try and correct those issues. I am now waiting on new material eSUN PLA+ and Overtune PLA spools, an anti backlash spring (which might help with the elephant foot you're having as well) and a couple of 4020 fans to use with Briss Fang cooler, but one thing I haven't tried is to calibrate my e-steps which I didn't think of because of because I didn't change any parts so far besides replacing a fan and the prints were great when I just started. Perfecting 3D printing is a long process but I'm so interested in the process I almost don't mind when my prints go wrong because its another lesson lol

Nice video! Thanks! I’m a kind of calibration fanatic! In my channel I’m always talking about the importance of calibration. An I almost never print the cube. Just for extrusion multiplier. Very good! I’d like to make a live with you in my channel. And dont worry about language barrier… It’S funny to translate during the live!

Printing your XYZ calibration as I type this. Just before this I did the nozzel extrusion check and after 5 extrudes of 100mm I am getting an average of 100.03mm. Crazy. This is on an Ender 3 S1 Pro. Thanks for all your videos. It’s so refreshing watching someone that’s not a professional RU-vidr reviewing printers that were given to them like “it’s a great printer!” Yeah no kidding they payed you to say that. So far I’m following your advice with leveling and extrusion and stuff and the proof in the pudding is in the eating or whatever that saying is. While looking online I see people, including me, are printing holes that are about .4mm undersized. Have you come across this? Have any fix for this? Oh yeah, and I just subscribed. Keep doing what you do. Cheers from Sweden.

Great stuff. Would love to get your guidance on z offset adjustment and belt tensioning too. Maybe u already covered those two things.

From a Metrology fan who just realized you can calibrate your Esteps, you just earned yourself a sub! i was just wondering why on earth did anyone thought of using a 20mm calibration cube for something with a 200mm+ bed XD

This is really good content, I really appreciate you sharing your experience, and it inspires me to do the same if ever get where you are

Nicee information :D

yup, i always scale my cube to 150mm and only print a few mm high to at least get an idea of my x and y. then i print a 150mm tall cube and adjust accordingly. The smaller the cube or part, the more thermal expansion, and tolerance loss

Great content. You earned a new sub. How about a follow-up video on how you use your model to calibrate your printer?

Good video and a way to get better prints. However the real reason for the inaccuracy in the Z is because of the use of lead screws with backlash so the first few layers are compressed (elephants foot). The only way to eliminate this fully is to go belted Z drive.

If you are selling a product, I think getting pressure advance /linear advance and input shaping set would really raise quality, speed and repeatability.

Awesome, because I'm doing the same project, except I'm making a case for the case that you make for the manufacturer's case. Seriously tho, this has saved me from printing more 20mm cubes with varied results.

from 62 subs at time of upload to 2.7k in a yr. way to go.

temp, flow, e-steps, retractions, etc will make the size vary each and every time. it will never be exactly the same each print. You want really better prints. Get Kipper and do the vibration calibration on it and then use SuperSlicer to make it the best possible slice of a print. when i look at your cube i see the corners not sharp. They are bulging out. I also see that the Z layers. some are bigger then others. i don't know. why but i don't use the narrow part of the calipers. I move the part up to the flat part of the calipers. also when you do that type of measurement. the calipers can be skewed just a little but and not entirely square. point A-B. I wouldn't use that cube for 0.0X calibration. Within. 0.5 is decent.

Do we need specific settings for this?

How do you work out the correct data to put into cura

My first print was a calibration cube and have no problems. The Cube it is exactly 20.00x20.00mm. But well, I don't print with a Creality but with a Longer LK5 Pro.

You are exactly correct in using a longer sample, the longer the sample is the more accurate your measurement will be. I’m a long time DIY CNC guy, and we set out steps per inch in the system utility if we set up our machines using a one inch distance to calculate the steps it will not be very accurate as your 20 MM blocks show, we always to longest distance that we can on each axis this yields a much more accurate steps per inch figure, thus making our cuts all that more accurate. To speed measurement and accuracy you could set up a little gage stand consisting of a fixed stop and opposite that a dial indicator, The dimension could be mastered with your calipers, this would make measurement faster an more accurate. This process being an additive process there are more things that effect to final dimension, filament size, pressure, friction and on. Good luck Hager

thanks for this video. it is still unclear how you would calibrate your printer. What are the actual steps you use to dial in your printer

If your measurements vary from print to print, what parameters do you adjust to "tighten" things up and get what you're printing to be more accurate?

Great video. Like the calibration print and how it avoids the over extrusion corners. Which 3d printer do you consider more repeatable than the Ender 3 and that we can afford? A thought for you. Why not have your calibration print in some smaller sizes like 20mm, 40mm so we can get the calib close then use your 100mm. Your print shows 3hrs in my Cura setup. Thanks

The woman who yelled "hey" towards the end just about gave me a heart attack laying in bed watching this at 11:30 at night with everyone else sleeping in the house hahaha

💕👍

hi. i just started 3d printing but my prints rarely fit lol how do i use your 100mm thing to calibrate??

Z is heavily reliant on temp. Without an enclosure and a way to regulate it, the temperature of your room is going to change the z axis slightly.

I noticed that the 20 mm test cubes were off by around 0.05 mm and that the 100 mm test shape was also off by approx 0.05 mm which means the printer is consistent in it's actual dimensional deviation. Creating test shapes that roughly match the largest dimension of a print is a great solution. It should produce more accurate calibration with less effort. Thanks.

This is exactly what I found on my Ender 5 pro.

I watched the video, searched the comments, and looked on thingiverse. But I could not find a mention of the print settings you use for the calibration test? Like how many walls, top/bottom layers, % infill, flow %...etc. So I was wondering, what are your typical slicer settings when testing your calibration part?

How do you calculate the steps pet mm then for X Y and Z with his designe? I don’t understand

I’ve had pretty decent luck with accuracy. Usually within 0.02mm depending on the filament I used anyway.

this is why got more from a calibration x and faster the needed changes

but how do you use that tool to calibrate?

im still getting realy bad elephan foot on the bottom. any advice?

Thanks for your video! I tried your calibration file. But with the updates steps I find that screw holes are now printed elongated. X and Y are no longer equal as in the factory Settings of my Ender 3 pro. Is there more to it?

Thanks for the calibration print, it really helped calibrate my Ender 5 pro which wasn't possible with the cube. My question is what is the purpose of the holes in the part? Do you think it's necessary? because it only slows down the printing speed.

I was printing xyz cubes on my ender 5 pro and noticed I have a problem with the z-axis of the cube being “smushed down”. Do you know what it could be?

You sir were ahead of your time

How are you imputing your findings into calibrating the extruder. Flow ?

for sure you have got the nozzle too close to the bed - if you look at your 20-20-20 mm cubes you can see it clearly!

It would be nice to make a video on how to calibrate. You will help many new Ender 3 V2 users.

hi it's realy intreasting what you propose i will try it but in the mean time i have this probleme the outer dimension of my 3d printes parts are accurat but the inner dimension like if there is a hall or square in the middle of the part the dimension of that hall or sqaure are smaller by 0.4 mm in X and Y axis do you have maybe an asnwer for that thank's

Out of curiosity, do you have a video of your calibration process?

How could I adjust it in the Orcaslicer for X1C Bambu Lab? I have 99,80mm on X, 99,87mm on Y and 99,84mm on Z.

My Z axis is spot on. but my X/Y axis are off 0.15mm. The external perimeter is 0.15mm too large and internal features is 0.15mm too small...any ideas?

So how do we use your 100mm print to calibrate?

Whats the barrier to entry in doing injection molding? I'd love to know more info about it if I can use my printers to make the molds to then to injections for car parts etc.

Can you elaborate on which things you changed on the printer during the calibration? Just extrusion multiplier?

Came across this looking for help with my calibration cube but...do you have an STL for your PSA card holder? I can only find the regular stands. Thank you!

So what are the ways you adjust the printer then, do you update slicer settings, or do you adjust number of steps per mm, or do you adjust printer's mechanics somehow ... ?

If you’re using a digital caliper, whats its accuracy? The cheaper the caliper, the worse its accuracy.

when you sit and think about you quite correct, hot plastic will not do what you want all the time, thanks

Did you publish the stl

How do you account for material shrinkage into the Calibration print? If I measure this using PETG should I scale the print this up by 0.8% to account for material shrinkage?

I think upgraded extruders would improve the repeatability of your ender 3.

Where do you calibrate? Just in scaling? Or do you really dial in the steps/mm first and then just the shrinkrate by scaling?

Hey thx for the information. Im still new to this but does this applies to TPU filament? Thx!

Maybe you can make a video how you calibrate a printer with adjustments

may i ask what should be changed when the calibration is not what we expected? modify design and troubleshoot what's wrong with printer?