How To Calibrate Your Flow Rate [ Ender 3 V2 ] 

Great to hear!

thanks!

np brother! Let me know if you guys have any other video ideas!

Thanks brother! Thats 100% what im trying to do with my channel & videos. I wan't to make it super easy for new people to learn. (sorry for the late reply)

@@509drone2 no probs bro awesome

Right on bro! I'm glad it was helpful.

Right on man, hopefully this guide helped. Join our discord server if you want, a bunch of us who are new to 3d printing there. Linked in the description.

I agree Eric. This video unfortunately put me on the wrong path (no offence to the channel, I appreciate you try to post a helpful vid!). I carried out the steps and ended up with some of my worst prints due to under extrusion. I have since learnt that you should use horizontal expansion, as Eric said, to adjust this. What I am still uncertain about is how to actually calibrate flow rate? Could you point me in the right direction Eric?

I think you can do either or, depending if your machine allows you to adjust flow on the printer. I just adjust mine in the slicing software (cura) and save the profile. Hope that helps!

@@509drone2 thanks for the info! I never thought of having to do this for tpu.

Thanks! Yes, I'm pretty sure you can. Almost all slicer software has the ability to input these values I'm pretty sure. You just gotta find out where the setting is.

You noticed that! Good catch lol. I thought about this long after I was done, and have since changed it to random for when I am running calibrations like this. Good eye :)

Have you tried using an stl for leveling like this one www.thingiverse.com/thing:4711071 ? If not, give it a try! Paper is not a great way to level the bed. Also, have you calibrated your e steps? If not, do that too! between those and this flow rate adjustment, you should be able to get some good results. Another thing I would highly recommend is swapping the stock couplers and bowden tube for some better ones. TH3D has a great upgrade set for that. Almost all of my problems with my V2 came from the poor tube and couplers. That said, when you say your prints are "messing up", how are they messing up exactly? If you state a specific issue, it will make it a lot easier to find a solution. As for an ABL sensor (BLTouch, EZABL, etc.) they are a great addition, and make your life a lot easier by taking bed leveling out of the equation, but they certainly are not needed to get good prints, and getting one won't solve any other issues that are not related to bed leveling.

@@ernestryles Thanks for the reply! I am a beginner and never thought bed leveling would be this hard. To clarify what I meant by “messing up”, I meant that our filament wouldn’t stay on the bed and we would try to level it with paper but it would end up making things worse with more inconsistencies of the bed level. We tried many prints that would test our bed leveling like with the prints the famous 3D printer you tuber like Chep would present. Some tests would run fine but then all of a sudden, the filaments wouldn’t stick at all. We tried adding adhesive, nothing. My brother and I are becoming quite frustrated given that we tried for three days and our first layering were never turning out right. I’m ready to do anything to fix the bed leveling, I’m ready to buy the BLtouch, I just want to print SOMETHING. Also, could you clarify what you mean by “calibrated your e-steps” and “flow rate adjustment”. If you can, can also link me the upgrades that you’ve bought that worked out for you? Thank you.

What Ernestryles said is all great info. Join our discord if you have any questions or want to chat with other people who are new to the hobby. Its linked in the description.

@@509drone2 You already did! I was “Donny” who had that firmware problem with my BLtouch. Your Admins were very helpful! Now I’m able to print without an bed leveling problems. I’ll be sure to come back off any help or advice

You know thats a good question. I'm not 100% sure what the flow rate technically is a combination of. I'll do some research and post back.

Hi, I have the same printer as yours and im also using cura. If your having under extrusion after setting your FR(after estep), bump up the flow rate by small increments until you achieve perfect VISUAL/ESTHETIC layering(use some small test rectangles/cilinders)/. Then redo the hollow cube with 2 & 4 walls and you will find that the desire thickness will not have changed even with the increase FR. Why? Because the path of the nozzle will stay the same regardless of the FR and will simply fill the gaps if you increase it. For exemple, in Cura setback your FR at 50%, you will see in the path of the bead stays the same but now there are gaps in between the walls(in the slicer preview). Which will result in heavy under extrusion. So basically IF you recalibrate your e-steps you absolutely need to recalibrate the flow rate because they do the same thing : regulated how much filament reach the nozzle. Let me explain: when we print something, the gcode from cura ask the printer to extrude X amount of filament in millimeter AND THEN the printer translate it in steps for the extruder motor base on the e-step setting. If for exemple we remove X esteps you need to add back X% flow rate to get back to the same results as before. The e-steps is the mechanical constant and the flow rate is his direct modifier in the slicer. The nice part about the flow rate is that you can adjust the top/bottom/wall independently or not to find the perfect esthetic & AFTER THAT you can use the horizontal expansion settings to fine tune the perfect dimensions if needed. Once the flow rate is set for the filament type, you only need to twick the horizontal expansion for each model individually IF its a pricision demanding part. Also if you want to adjust the first layer elephant's foot, you can do it in the horizontal expansion settings. Half the 3d guru's are telling people to use the FR to adjust dimensions & the other half is saying to adjust it with the horizontal expension... if you want beauty & precision you will need to adjust Both. Hope it makes sense.

I think you are basically calibrating horisontal expantion/squish and not flow rate. Flow rate are probably right if you calibrate the extruder and the filament diameter are consistant.

​@@Carlos-kk4nwany idea why my prints went from good to suddenly under extruding? Ender 3 was working fine for months then began severely under extruding. Good fillinent, no clogs, but a seemingly slower turning extruder stepper at the same settings. Been trying to figure out for days now😮 Gear is clean, not slipping, and motor appears to be pushing less. Ramped up the flow to 150 and now seems fine. Should I order a new stepper?

​@sevenspec if you have plastic extruder then it maybe cracked

If your print isn't sticking to the bed, you more then likely need to adjust your bed level. Try cleaning your bed off with some alcohol, and then adjusting your bed level. I will have a video up soon on how to properly adjust your bed level.

From where you have brought? ( Not related to this viedo )

I have them posted in our discord server, and I also have a video on my channel that shows all my settings.

yet you provide nothing to back up that statement, or help others