Pro tip for the professionals out there that like to have everything to be perfect. Turn the piece of filament so that way the bow is turning upwards, or I suppose downwards is fine. Then flatten it out and tape the two ends to the table before measuring. That will make your Measurement way more accurate
Yes @SDa.......you bring up an excellent point that I noticed right off. The shortest distance between two points (in this case the most accurate distance or measurement) is a straight line. The video example Jim shows is NOT using a straight line and the filament sample is actually a radius! I worked in Production Automation with CNC’s (3, 4, and 5 axis) making parts for IBM with tolerances of .005mm (.0002 in) using MAFord solid carbide tooling (spade drill, spiral fluted drill @.0057 dia, and end mills @ .093dia) on Delrin 100 and Vespel 500 composite and actually holding half that tolerance. Would never get anywhere with that style of measurement. These videos are informative but when someone shows such a blatant, inaccurate technique I have to say something. Tape on the ends to hold the true length sounds better than what was shown. Perfectionist? Maybe! Professional? Always! CONSISTENCY is the name of the game with CNC production and these printers are basically 3-axis (and the ‘feeder’ for the extruder could be considered a 4th axis) CNC’s using the same Gcode used in Nc’s and CNC’s since the 1950’s. I also have considerable experience programming in Industrial code, Gcode, Mcode, etc. and in about 9 different versions as these languages are often proprietary to a particular machine brand.
Jim, just a tip for this one if you ever re-do this video in the future. Your formulas the way you wrote them up could confuse some. I figured out what you did but here is what might be better. Step 1: 100/Measured Length= n Have the Measure length noted off to the side in a list of your variables. Step 2: Step 1 * Current Estep value. Again have the value for the Current Estep noted in a list on the side instead of in your formula. What one might interpret what you wrote as the following. step 1: 100/(Measured length/87) Step 2: Step 1 X(Current Estep/93). I hope you find this feedback helpful in the future.
@@TheEdgeofTech No problem Jim. I will send you a Google sheets example of what I'm talking about via my business account puppets3Dcreations at Gmail dot com.
Some parts were a little confusing at first until I pulled out my common sense and then this video was extremely helpful! My printer hasn't been acting right for months even after a few other e-step calibration videos. Finally, everything is working PERFECTLY! Thank you!
@@Juz10xD Me too. I thought his formula was different since i was able to calibrate without using that formula. I also thought that's what he meant by hia formula being confusing is about that but turns out it was about the 93 e steps
@@Juz10xD all good. I was just thinking if my formula was different when i was watching his. And i realised he wrote the formula against all math conventions.
Marco. You saved me some frustration. Was about to throw my phone because this was not mentioned in the vid. Thank you. I would say though, after you make adjustments and run a proper 100mm piece, remember to store your settings. I forgot to twice, then remembered seeing that option under control/store settings. Worked great. Thanks again.
This has been a much better guide on how to calculate e-steps. I spent a little bit trying to re-find this video because all of the others just breezed over it. Thanks for being thorough!
Dude.....can't thank you enough. I was virtually done with these Enders. Works like a charm now. The way you explain and walk thorough the steps. You're nothing short of awesome
You're guide completes me. I got my e steps figured out (adjusted to 96 and its dead on 100mm +- 0.2) and my flow rate actually went down to 95%. Thanks for the guide.
Is it any surprise you INCREASED your Esteps and now you have to DECREASE your flow? It's not because you got your Estep number correct. All you did was shift the calculations for the end result around.
To anyone else that might be confused about the flow rate and wall width: The walls of the cube are 2*(nozzle size), so if you have a 0.4mm nozzle you should get a 0.8mm wall after printing!
@@ontariodigger162 there is no need to change anything in Cura, it will always try to print it 0.8mm wide since the 3D model says so (if you use a 0.4mm nozzle and the 0.4mm stl file). Just print it and measure it
Bro. I love your video. My printer is running awesome now. I had NIGHTMARE stringing. I'm new to 3d. 5 days new. Got my Capricorn rolling from last video. Doing my Esteps now. It's rocking and rolling! Thanks!
Had zits / blobs in my exstrution. Tried many thing but since my spool was running low finally got time to go trough these steps. My prints are awesome to perfect in my consideration. Thx man! This was a great help and for now own. flowcube, small test and only need to adjust the flowrate. Thanks for the great explanation! It helped.
I changed my extruder to a dual gear one, and YOU amazing man helped me tune perfectly! Everything was well explained, sooo....THANK YOUUUU!! I love your channel, and I hope your arm healed very nicely!!
@@TheEdgeofTech It's slightly fruystrating that with cura you have to use a plugin to get flow into the per meterial settings despite people asking for it for years at this point.
Spot-on explaination :) I did some flowrate calibration for the filament spools that are most commonly used when I'm printing things, mostly PLA and PETG. Once filament have been dried, across brands, well, there are subtle differences. From brand to brand, PLA yielded values between 0.95 and 0.98... PETG being either 0.99 or 1 (using PrusaSlicer). Subtle, yet not to be overlooked. Minor changes can produce a world of difference.
Luke changed the original file. The first file was one wall, 0.4. Now it is two wall, 0.8. That makes this video a little bit misleading and diffucult to understand if you are new to 3d printing and if mathematics arent your strong side. Thanks for the videos you are making ! It really helps a noob like med =)
Finally I found a tutorial on how to calibrate those two values (esteps and flow rate), thanx a lot! Apart from the creatively written small math formula (I figured it out as you explained what you meant in the video) everything was very well explained. Thanks again!
Took me a minute to find. He copied it from the guide he links to under the description. Bettter late than never but hopefully you figured it out already
Great video, but I have one comment. When I see you write the Measured Length then a line with the number underneath, I read that as the measured length divided by #. Maybe just the math nerd in me. You did a great job of talking through it when I went back and actually listened to what you said instead of just reading what you wrote.
@@TheEdgeofTech love the video! I agree with this comment and would add that you could simply edit out the part where your E steps and mm length happened to be the same number :)
Thank you so much for this you explained it extremely well without going off at a tangent like quite a few others which just confused the issue. This is the second vide of yours that has helped so I have subscribed. Keep up the good work and a big thank you from London UK
Great video..For a guy thats new to this 3d prints, only had my first 3d printer for 1 week now and thought my prints was good, but this estep and flow calibration made my prints way better!!
My Original E Step was 98.94, My New EStep is 135.534, Approx 136. I type M92 E136 in Octotprint Terminal to modify the current EStep value. Then M500 to write new ESstep value to EEPROM. Then M503 to read saved value. Then I extruded another 100mm and it was spot on,Thank you!
Great video. Only issue I seen is that the filament should be measured when strait. In video it shows being measured when at arc which will result in a shorter then actual measurement
You have a good point. Luckily an arch that wide will likely not impact the measurement enough to be a huge problem. The length difference with that arch and a straight piece is likely somewhere under 0.01 range.
Thank you so much for this video. I saw a lot of people talking about Esteps and flow but I couldn't find a good explanation. This however is a very good video!
thanks bud after banging my head against the wall I couldn't figure out why my ender 3 was printing weak under extruded Prints and then I came across your video and figured out that my printer had the wrong e-steps setting in and it was only extruding about half of what it should have been extruding after I put the new values in everything was good
Good video. The math formulas are expressed incorrectly: 100 / (Current measured length) * 93 = (New e-Step) Also you don't actually need to snip off the filament. Just trim the ends and measure with the caliper's upper jaws (used for inside measurements) against the extruder to the tip of the filament.
Thank you. Mine was sooooooo far off it is unreal. I had 99 as my base line and only 43.72 filament came out. After the math it was 339.40. I thought it was wrong until I measured 100 exactly on the nose. Thank you soo much. I have wasted at least a roll and half thinking tried to change all kinds of stuff in CURA. Ugraded and now prints are coming out like new again. SUB and Liked from me.
Oh wow, when I get my next video out I need to link to this for Estep calculations (I'm doing a beginner lingo 3D printer one). I've watched 3 other videos and read about 4 other websites that had descriptions, and none of them did it as clearly as you did. I appreciate that you showed the equation twice....otherwise you're right, the first time would've been cofusin (I thought heck 100 sounds obvious...it's 100 mm, why wouldnt you set it to 100?). Great video, I'll check out your other work and get subscribed. I know how tough making and editing can be, so to watch you do it with a bum arm was even more impressive :D
It may be obvious to experienced printers, but I'm a beginner and I don't know what these tweaks improve. I'm having some problems and I'm sure your tweaks won't make them any worse, but I don't know if they'll help with the problems I'm having. What problems are taken care of by doing the two adjustments? Thank you.
My esteps were at 93, that seems to be the default for Ender 3. I extruded 97mm. I put in my new esteps which was 95.8 and extruded again. I got 100mm exactly, right on the dot. You don't want to go over 100. That results in over extrusion.
is 93 the default for all Creality products? I know you say that in the video but I have also read conflicting numbers of 93-95 when it comes to the Ender-5 (which is the model I have) Also, The latest version of CURA doesn't allow you to copy and paste from an outside source (Luke's guide). So that being the case does the wording, spacing, grammar have to be exact? Thanks for making this video
Good question. I'm not sure about the other machines. If you use my other video it tells you how to get it off the Printer using Octoprint or Pronterface! Also, yes it needs to be exact for the code part, but the descriptions don't matter.
Thanks so much for this video. At first I was like why would you want to do the free air method for e steps? But after you explained things at the end it makes perfect sense. Been having problems with over extrusion on my Ender 3 Pro and I'm sure this will fix it.
Great video, very helpful thank you! I’m new to 3D printing and your videos have helped me from assembly to successful prints! Question what is the blue thing around your fan?
Hey, I will double check the description, but the help guide should be linked there. If possible I would do this right on the printer or by hooking the printer up to the computer if possible. I have videos on both ways and that's a way better solution.
quick question here, at 7:18 you state that after you have calibrated your esteps you did the extruding test again and it was spot on. How did you tell the printer about this new esteps? I understand that when I edit the gcode in cura all files slices with this code will have the new step in place, but how will the printer now when it's only extruding filament?
If you have a newer Ender 3, you can do it right in the control panel of the printer. I have a video to show you how. Also, you could do it using Octoprint or Pronterface, and I have a video to show that as well. In this case we used the starting gcode to do it, but that is an old way and the other ways are easier now.
Oh that free air method is naughty! Better than trying to piss around with a sharpie pen trying to mark a curly piece of filament with my shitty cheap amazon callipers *Had to add, fantastic video. Great clarity, Thankyou sir!! Your to the point clear instructions have saved me from many hours of frustration trying to trial and error this Thankyou
Quick question. My nozzle is 0.8 and it says my wall thickness is 2.4 but the top and bottom walls are 1.55 . when i made my measurements the average was 1.57 But if i use 2.4 as the wall thickness then my flow rate is a crazy 156 and my prints are a glob in seconds. I assume that I should be using the top/bottom thickness of 1.55, because then the flow rate is 98 and the prints look fine. thanks again for the great video!
awesome video has already helped a ton with most of my filaments. I have a new filament (tough PLA) im finding the various between the side vary high (did the .8mm cube) these were my measurements: 0.77, 0.87, 0.77, 0.84, 0.82, 0.82, 0.79, 0.88. in all my other filaments my variation wasn't more then .05m but this canadian makers tough pla is .10mm off. If anyone knows why that would be awesome!
Bit late to reply, most likely reason is because of the extra additives in the filament causing small/minor blockages and then surges in the nozzle. I've been tinkering with CF-PLA and CF-PETG and it's a turd to print cos the fibres are randomly aligned in the filament, so collide with each other when it's melted and compressed in the nozzle....even with a 0.6mm nozzle Im still getting under and over extrusion issues Best solution it seems is lower the nozzle pressure, so everything can compress and align before causing a flow restriction/surge
This was highly informative and easy as pie to follow along with. I like the idea of having esteps one and done, then just tweak software vs hardware to attempt dial ins.
Thanks for the great videos! When slicing Lukes .8 cube test which profile should I use? Super .12, Dynamic .16 Standard .2 Then set the Shell wall thickness to.8 which gives 2 walls. (Ender 5 plus with .4 mm nozzle) Only adjusting the temps for PLA + (210 nozzle 65 bed)
I would have to go look but I think he put that on his thingiverse page. It should say what settings to use when printing it. I'm watching a movie currently so I can't do it, but let me know if you can't find it.
What did I miss. I dig all your vids. How did you calculate 100mm to pass through the extruder only? I looked back but Im confused. I did order the new one on your link just now.
When you said you don't have to change it unless you change the extruder or the gear. If you change the gear but with the same amount of teeth are you still good to go or does that change anything. I ordered new gears and noticed they have 26 teeth and I think my ender pro came with a 41 tooth gear. I didn't count the original gear but that's what is on order.
I don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I go into my cura settings, set the wall thickness to 1 line .4 thickness and slice. The problem is it’s still prints 3 line wall thickness at about .9 when I measure it. How can I print a single line test cube?
Hi, thanks for this. I was following it right up to the point where you said “we just need to copy this line of code....” Where did you find that code? Up until that point you had been dealing with hardware and then you leapt in to software! I am running a standard Ender 3 with just a few add-ons, including the hot end fix.
@@Reno0513it is a PDF that can be downloaded here c3d.media/3d-printer-help-guide-creality-others/?fbclid=IwAR0o-4zvp_vSePyZQA4IgVUaenU-9b7-Jcez2p6egjE_CLgTtqt2PLtfw94 I also recommend that u watch this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--dT-vbvFQCs.html
So....$10 question When you measured the extruded length...did you take into account for the curve (Understanding that you're doing this one-handed - but that was enough curve to add a mm or two to the measurements... (Just wondering if that was "for display" and you did it properly off-camera) A variant of the free-air version is to measure the filament going INTO the extruder. (I have to do this as I have a direct-drive extruder) I mark off 120mm, extrude 100, measure the difference between the mark and what came out, and calculate extruded length from that. (so if I have 25mm left to the mark, I only extruded 95mm)
Hi! that is one of the biggest comments I get on this video lol I did measure it straight with the help of my wife at the time. for video sake I could not straighten it and I should have taped it to the table. But yes you always measure a straight and in my experience it's easier to do it that way. Then just run a test cube can you get your flu rate with the filament you're using and you're done. Thanks for watching!
Okay loving this :) . I have calibrated my ender 3 pro perfectly so a big thank you for that . The little guy has been chugging away for months now. my only question is. I have a cr10 s5 and have done the hot end mod and calibrated the extruder (free air method) 96.5 and i get 100mm. When it comes to flow I got a calculation of 114 as it was printing walls at 0.70. what is 114 deemed as too high?. is this okay :/ just seems excessive compared to my ender. but then again this thing is huge . Thanks heaps again your a legend.
I’ve just noticed that on Cura 4.6.1 when I make these measurements and enter 0.4 wall thickness with 1 wall Cura prints the same size cube and doesn’t actually extrude the corrected flow rate. Example, flow set at 100% cube comes out at 4.7 thickness, flow set at 60% I get same 4.7 thickness.. so it seems right now that Cura is broken! Same with 2 walls 0.8 thickness.
Another question... your measurement shows the filament as CURVED in the vid at 7:27 which makes the new length > than the 100.64 shown so the real measurement seems like it should be LONGER than stated. No? Am I missing something? Like maybe the NEW e-steps number should have been 106 or lower instead of 107? What am I missing? You’re the expert(s)... other than that, REALLY CLEAR explanation... but I’m Math Boy... 🤓😎🤪🤣👅
When I did my calculations I had my wife hold it straight off camera. I should have shown that. But When I filmed I couldn't show it straight because of the broken arm. The calculations should be correct and I have updated them in the description too.
ok, so here are some questions about all this.... where did you get the E100 value from to put into cura, you were saying 107, then you switched to a line of code(???) where did you get the code from??? then you entered it into cura, wouldn't you enter it into the Ender 3 setting and click on save settings?? this kinda makes for more confusion than answers.
I think I missed a part around 5:50. So my estep was 98.36 you show dividing 100 by my estep which is 98.32 in this case which gets me 1.0204. then you just reverse the math which of course gives me back 100. I'm confused where you used the 1.0204 result? When you change the gcode you put in E100 from E0. Do we not touch any setting in the ender 3?
In the Video the measured lengths have a bit of a curve to them, to me that means the measurement is low, is this something I should be concerned with?
When I filmed the video I had a broken arm. I had my wife help with the measurements that I used to dial in. But for filming, I couldn't straighten them out myself. Always make sure it's straight so you get the most accurate measurement!
So how do you verify the E-steps for the Z-Axis stepper motor (or either the X and Y for that matter)? Do you still set like 100 mm and have the Z-axis raise be 100 and do that same calculation? How do I know the presets are correct? Currently, our extruder seems to drag across the infill after a certain height.
Thanks for the great videos Jim - got my Ender 3 Pro setup nicely :) Quick question - on the flow rate, once measured does this apply to any spools of that filament (e.g. PLA) or does it only apply to that brand/manufacturer, or even to that individual colour? Thanks :)
It apply to your current extruder. If you change your extruder or if it is really used, you will have to change your esteps. For specific filament, flow rate will change but not esteps
The flow rate probably should be done with every filament you try. Then write the findings on the spool. It's super easy if it's the first thing you print with each new spool, and just keep the cube on your memory card.
I'm sorry kinda new to this so if I changed my E-steps in my printer why add the code in Cura doesn't it use the step values in the printer already unless you add code to change it? BTW thanks!!
Appreciated this video very much. I used PLA filament to calibrate the eStep and flow very successfully. Question: Just for fun I tried it with TPU and got a measurement of 18mm shorter than PLA. Should that value be that different, and if so, should I be calibrating eSteps based on the material I'm using each time?
Where do you input the esteps in Prusa? Where did you get the estep command you copied and pasted? what would be the value in Prusa for your flow rate of 105?
If your printer is new enough, I would do it on the control panel of the printer. Or, connect to the computer and do it that way. I have videos on both ways. That's much easier then modifying the gcode.
Not sure if I am repeating others, but the math is simpler: the printer did N steps (NS) and advanced L (in mm) so: NS*93=L, you want NS*Estep=100, so Estep = 100/L*93
around 3:20 you go into the prepare menu to let the extruder extrude 100mm filament. However, I don't have these menus. It seems you have an updated firmware or a more advanced menu setting. Any idea what it is and how I could change my Ender 3 so my menu is like that?
Erwin Mulder - he had upgraded his firmware to the TH3D EZABL (Easy Auto Bed Level) version. There are several videos out there on how to do this. I like Teaching Tech's video series for the Ender 3 - very informative.
Is this a better method then feeding it through the hot end.? or are they both just as accurate.? I have tried to do the measure 120 and send it through the hot end but it feels to fiddley for me. :/ . This way looks easier :)
It's person preference, but this is the way Luke teaches and the way I do it. If you do it then way, you only need to do it 1 time and the print the cube for each of your filaments. Unless you change something at the extruder. If you di it through the hotend you have to do that for each fillament.
@@TheEdgeofTech thank you for the response nah I only wanna do it once. i have just changed to the red aluminium extruder, hence the need to redo e steps. so I am definitely doing this way. :) gee whizz you learn something new everyday 3d printing :) . I love it :) Thanks a zillion
Hmm I'm bit confused i thought your new e step number was 107 yet when you put the g code in youve put 100. Is the 100 in gcode the length you want to extrude or meant to be your new estep number (107) sorry if its dumb question. New to all this
#2020 Huge thanks bro ! Always learning something new ! Been designing and printing micro drone and i recently changed my nozzle and bought some new CarbonX and had trouble your video did help me ! Thanks again
I just upgraded to a Dual Gear Extruder. My e steps calibration came out to 144.824 to give perfect 100mm extrusion. I saved this to the eSteps in the EEprom. Do I still add the code M92 E145; to the start code for my printer in Cura? In your video you show your calculated value for eSteps qs 107 but you cadd M92 E100 to the start code. Is this an oops?