3D Printer Bed Leveller

thingiverse

Getting a 3D printer bed level is critical for producing decent printed objects. I found that the 4 screws of my FF Creator combined with a sheet of paper couldn't get me near to the accurate position I wanted, so I designed this object. To use, start by leveling the build plate as near as possible using the mechanical raise/lower screws. Then run this print. If you are using Simplify3D then turn on the skirt option, as that helps. With Simplify3D you can also define to stop printing at a given height, and if you set this to the layer height of your bot then it will print just that one layer (which is all you are really interested in). Set your print speed reasonably low. This gives you time to do manual adjustments to your build plate level in real time. Once you've got your build plate level you can experiment with the speed to find what speed is right for your bot and filament to print that first layer. As the first layer goes down, manually micro-adjust the mechanical screws to get the height right in the corners and centre. The ideal situation is that the bot leaves the print on the build plate without dragging it, and without a break. It can take a little time to get this right, but by repeating the process I was able to quickly get my build plate to be completely level across the whole surface. I found this to be quite intuitive - and I was quickly able to see issues relating to height which I could quickly smooth out. This lily pad design is intended for the FF Creator and similar bots which have a 230x150 build plate. It will work for larger plates. Furthermore, in reaching this design I implemented it such that once printed it can be pulled off of the build plate on one easy go. All of the components of the design are connected together, so once you've got your build plate level you can run this design, and then clean the plate without having to fiddle around removing islands of printing. Instructions Created using TinkerCAD.