Every time you say "run off and print" I'm just picturing a guy sprinting down a hallway with a USB stick in his hand held up high xD

@gagestamper2382

2 ай бұрын

Hey thats me

This is exactly how the $90 Monoprice MP Mini SLA printer levels the bed. It loosens the knob holding the build plate in place, lowers the build plate into the vat, and tightens the knob - automatically! As long as you keep the vat clear of hardened resin, this method will never fail.

Man, there's something about your videos, they're just so inspiring. Probably you just have the charisma needed for this. Thank you!

Anxiety is watching a time lapse clip of Jesse leveling his build plate.. "What are you doing? Hurry up and get the paper down!"😮 😂😂😅😅

So I tried this early in the morning. It works. It works very well. Tip to the hat to you Jan. I just followed the instructions and did this on my Saturn 2. And works well.

Wow, this improved my prints on the original Elegoo mars a ton. Thanks!

I have had the peopoly phenom for 2 years and have never used paper, card stock or film of any kind to level the build plate . I just level on the screen and move on. I rarely ever have to level the build plate this resin printer is a walk in the park to use and I keep it running 24 hours a day 7 days a week. And now I guess you could say I use film because I keep the screen protector on when leveling. Thanks uncle Jessy for all the information you give on these printers. It was because of your review on the phenom is why I bought mine . Happy creating................

Just tried this, worked like a charm.

@UncleJessy

Ай бұрын

Glad it helped!

Ah I like this! Very interesting way to handle the bed leveling and it makes COMPLETE sense! Thanks for sharing! Glad to see Jan in the comments as well!

@UncleJessy

Жыл бұрын

Yeah it’s a pretty dang smart way to do it actually

@3DMusketeers

Жыл бұрын

@@UncleJessy I have always leveled to the FEP, but never during a dummy print. I love the thought process!

Thanks for sharing and to the author of the blog post!

I use the faster "2 sheet resistance 1 sheet glide" method. I set the level to just have slight resistance on 2 sheets but one sheet can glide under the build plate without catching. It is faster and easier than Jans method because it is dead easy to test by running any program to check that the first layer still lets the 1 sheet glide under the build plate. It also avoids squashed prints because it does not cause a pre load. If you squash the build plate when tightening it transfers a load up the z axis and rubber buffer causing screen squash during printing..

@Halabaloosa

Жыл бұрын

FEP or paper sheets?

I have had problem to level my new Saturn 2 so I will try this method out. Thanks for the info

Awesome video, thanks for sharing. I've noticed my Saturn 2 does the extra squish a lot. Definitely going to try this

I love your content you were the one that got me into resin printing you are amazing!!!!

@UncleJessy

Жыл бұрын

Heck yeah! Thanks mate

@lukejuden472

Жыл бұрын

@@UncleJessy ya!!! your awsome man!

Thanks Jessy! I'm still a novice with 3d printing, and your vids have helped tremendously. Leveling is always a thing I forget to do. Gonna give this method a try.

@UncleJessy

Жыл бұрын

Always fun trying out new ways of doing things!

I'm so glad I found this video. I just ordered my son the Saturn 2. And after looking through different prints, I came across the flexible prints. My husband thought we ordered the wrong printer and wouldn't be able to print them. After showing him and my son this. We are all excited to see his creativity come to life.

Very, very interesting! I have to give this a go.

This is brilliant. I've been having issues with lost Z height. In other words, the part is shorter than it's supposed to be. I can't wait to try this method!

This is huge. The only way I could really level my printer so far. Damn near to perfect.

just got my saturn 2 in the mail a month early! very excited

Second to none my friend! Thanks again for this tip. Gonna try on my Saturn 2!

Just did this. Wow a lot faster imo and worked great! Will definitely be using this route. Saved the file on the card lol

Place item outside of the build plate and it will ''print'' darkness and you don't have to worry about the UV going through as well for the level file.

Homing and Z=0 are always misunderstood. Homing will lower the z axis until the optical/proximity switch is reached. Z=0 is where the first layer will begin printing.... HOWEVER, the z axis will always lower all the way to the optical/proximity switch BEFORE a print starts, then it lifts to wherever Z=0 was set. Regardless of leveling preference, it is important to understand this so you don't damage your screen accidentally. Keep up the great videos!

@TonitoVaderCustoms

Жыл бұрын

then is it necessary to do the typical leveling with the paper before trying this method or am I wrong?

@karlh6692

Жыл бұрын

Don't waste your time i have tried explaining that to Jan plenty of times. He still thinks the optical sensor is the z=0 which would be crazy because every program would crash into the screen looking for the optical sensor.

@PerformanceTechEngineering

Жыл бұрын

@@TonitoVaderCustoms Level is level by whatever means you get there. Everyone will have their preference for accuracy and ease, and I am not disputing which is best. I simply want to point out that Z=0 is seperate from leveling. It is just information on how your machine works that may be helpful to know. I stumbled across it on my own and realized my original presumption of Z=0 was incorrect. Once I properly understood it, it help me resolve some issues I had when using very viscous resin. You can easily test the feature yourself for clarification. Level your build plate by whatever method you choose. Then raise the build plate by some visually obvious amount (10mm or more) and set the Z=0 at that point. Finally, WITHOUT A VAT INSTALLED, begin any print file. You will see that the z axis will lower to the sensor (as a sanity check / reference). This is the same spot it goes to when homing to level. Then it will raise to the Z=0 you previously set (10mm or more), and then the LCD will display the first layer and "begin" the print. Seeing it operate first hand will give you the best understanding. Setting Z=0 at your leveled position ensures that printing begins at the machines absolute zero position as defined by the sensor. Also it would be good to check this on your particular printer as I cannot guarantee it true of all brands and models. I do know it is accurate for all Elegoo printer from the original Mars through the Saturn. Hope this clarifies things, happy printing!

@PerformanceTechEngineering

Жыл бұрын

@@karlh6692 There is no need to convince anyone, my point can easily be tested...this is the method I replied to another comment "You can easily test the feature yourself for clarification. Level your build plate by whatever method you choose. Then raise the build plate by some visually obvious amount (10mm or more) and set the Z=0 at that point. Finally, WITHOUT A VAT INSTALLED, begin any print file. You will see that the z axis will lower to the sensor (as a sanity check / reference). This is the same spot it goes to when homing to level. Then it will raise to the Z=0 you previously set (10mm or more), and then the LCD will display the first layer and "begin" the print. Seeing it operate first hand will give you the best understanding. Setting Z=0 at your leveled position ensures that printing begins at the machines absolute zero position as defined by the sensor." All CNC machines need an absolute mechanical zero point to reference their coordinates from. FDM printer and CNC routers must also home all of their axis before beginning to run their g-code. This Z=0 offset is akin to starting an FDM print in the middle of the build plate versus at X=0, Y=0 in the corner of the build plate. However, the difference for the Z offset determines the quality of the first layer/adhesion and the success of the print for both FDM and resin.

@karlh6692

Жыл бұрын

@@PerformanceTechEngineering No need to explain to me I have designed and built my own cnc machines. I understand how the limit switch homing works and how it applies a work co ordinate after sensing the limit switch.

This method seems like it would be dependent on having the correct z=0 position to begin with. To me it would seem like when you hit the home button the chitu firmware sends the build plate carriage down to engage the z-limit switch first, then goes up 0.5mm in order to ensure that the build plate is all the way at the limit. With the dummy print method, the carriage will begin the print wherever the z=0 is currently set, so if dummy operator accidently set their z=0 at 10mm up then the dummy print method will start the print at 10mm up.

@vinceofscandal

Жыл бұрын

Aggreed

this is very impressive... it sounds so ridiculous that most would think of laughing at the thought of this trick... but after seeing the two prints... we may want to see some more testing with this method to see if the first one was just a lucky fluke or not but if this continues to be the case then i'm sure many of us will follow suit of using this method of leveling... definitely a learning curve to relearn on how we think of leveling but this maybe in the right direction

Elephant's foot is not from 'squishing', that's an FDM thing. Resin printing elephant's foot comes from light bleed and over exposure on the 'burn in' layers to ensure adhesion to the build plate.

So you dont hit Z=0 after turning printer back on?

I appreciate you 🥳

I don’t recall where I learned this, but I have been trying out the method of leveling with four strips of paper, one at each corner. This method helps with ensuring that there is consistent pressure and nothing shifted after torquing the set screws.

Very interesting! I would be thinking about changing my paper method...

Manual paper for the win. BTW, I used to level after every print. On this last set of 7 batches I just sent it without errors. Love the Saturn.

You can already compensate for elephant foot in the Chitubox settings (Advanced/Bottom Tolerance Compensation). I don't think elephant foot in resin printing can be fixed by adjusting the homing, it's due to the bottom layers printing 10x longer than the rest. This causes more resin to cure, which only has one way to go, outward. And to be honest, I have yet to experience much elephant foot on the Saturn. Don't know if it may be the Sirayatech Blu Nylon resin I'm using.

@pgabrieli

Жыл бұрын

as you could have read in the comment that the blog's author posted 2 hours before you asked the question, the goal of this method is NOT to eliminate the elephant's foot 🤔

@robguyatt9602

Жыл бұрын

@@pgabrieli It is nonsensical to suggest it affects the appearance of the whole model which is what he concluded as well as the slight reduction of the elephant's foot.

From an outsider's view, who only has FDM, after watching the video it seems the "Dummy Print" method is just using the FEP sheet instead of a sheet of paper as the level. So is the FEP sheet thicker than paper which eliminates the elephant's foot because the plate is not pressing down as hard?

@yaqwsx0cz

Жыл бұрын

Hi, Jan here. Read the post - it explains why it is needed. TLDR: Stupid chitu firmware.

@RoseKindred

Жыл бұрын

@@yaqwsx0cz Informative, thank you. Since I don't have a resin printer it seemed this was just using one leveling medium over the other. But I could extrapolate why to use this method if it is just Chitu causing issues with z height programming.

@KurtisJoseph

Жыл бұрын

Idk about thicker, but I would say higher. The start point of any print is not the same as the level. I assume the start point is higher. The paper helps you to level against the screen with curing residual resin on your glass, and other messy stuff. 😂 I too have used printer paper, parchment and card stock. No difference in performance really.

@UncleJessy

Жыл бұрын

@@yaqwsx0cz ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️

@RM_VFX

Жыл бұрын

I'm curious if you have to relevel though if you change layer height? The starting point for .025 would be different than .05 or .1

the spring on build plate on the mars 3 pro seems like too much tension so i add 2 pieces of paper and i think it worked better, it atleast worked so i think its a win

Heya Uncle Jessy. It's the Flint Read method

Well, I tried this on my Elegoo Jupiter, but it doesn't seem to work. It might be because I have the flexi-plate installed though. After leveling it this way, my printer couldn't get to home when trying to print. The plate just kept trying to lower, would hit the bottom, make a noise, then try again like 3-6 times before I stopped it. Luckily no damage to my FEP or the screen. I'll just stick with the paper method for now.

Isn't the elephant foot mostly caused by the burn in layers curing for longer/more bleed time during the long burn in times?

@pgarciacamou

5 ай бұрын

Agreed. Nothing to do with leveling, just with the extended exposure time of the burn-in layers causing it to bleed. In my opinion, it seems like leveling against the FEP causes it to be way too close to the screen on that first layer, then curing for 20 seconds will bleed a lot into the adjacent resin since it is really thin, worsening the elephant's foot. Even if you were to compensate by removing pixels from the burn-in layers with the slicer (like with Lychee Slicer Pro version) you might still see it since the first layer is way too thin and thus over exposed. An alternative; after leveling against the FEP, you could move the plate up 0.1mm and then set Z=0, this would make the first layer a total of 0.1 to 0.15mm which might reduce the elephant's foot on that first burin-in layer. That, and -0.2mm to -0.4mm from the Lychee Slicer Pro - Compensate feature, and the elephant's foot might not be visible anymore. That said, I would avoid leveling against the FEP, any missing cured resin in the plate or in the Vat can perforate the FEP when applying pressure, and then what? Source: it happened to me.

I'll just use lychee slicer and use the elephants foot compensation setting at -0.1mn. Been working great for the last 9 months!

It makes a lot of sense to level the bed with the vat and FEP in place.

I've always just leveled on an empty vat. Never messed around with pieces of paper, and I've literally never pressed the "Z=0" button. Worked perfectly on my original mars, we'll see if it continues to do so on my new Saturn 2

Like your videos! I'm new to 3d printing. Do I need to level the build plate every time when removing it or only time to time?

I cannot fathom why everyone seems to get so hung up on complicated methods to level a resin printer plate. I always just leave the vat and film in place, loosen the screws, home it, then tighten the screws - This has never once failed to work perfect for me. Now more difficult to get right is leveling my top-down resin printer....

@InitiallyJB

Жыл бұрын

What kind of top down resin printer do you have

@tommydouglas3911

Жыл бұрын

@@InitiallyJB Hitry Rocket 1 Pro

@InitiallyJB

Жыл бұрын

@@tommydouglas3911 yea I seen the process and setup. It scares me to think of how much I’d I have to invest in it only in material

@InitiallyJB

Жыл бұрын

@@tommydouglas3911 hey bro can you do a video of your process it seems so simple but I tried it and it didn’t work but I did try it the way elegoo does it on there page and it work successfully

@Gryz34

2 ай бұрын

I finally got my flexplate and did the home without the vat... And after a few prints going wrong i just re did the calibatration and raised it a little bit. And so far my prints are doing well without elephant foot.

I just level with the vat in place with however much resin is in there from my last print. It works, and it's easy.

I leveled mine by letting the loosened platform rest all the way to the FEP plate and then tighten. No paper/business card shenanigans. In fact all that paper business caused more problems for me. This was on a cheap halot one resin printer, so I guess take it with a grain of salt.

Interesting content as usual. Totally different question. Did you get resin in your left eye? Your left eye lashes seems Grey and I don't see that in any of your older videos... Just age showing all the sudden?

imma try it I'll let you know

for me and my mars 3 - 3 pages of the manual gives me the best results... and its not a nitemare to remove from the plate. 1 sheet was just too close.

Fantástico.

Wait.. we should be able to use any print file correct? Since we're just cancelling the job at that first layer. What's so specific about that ring file?

@UncleJessy

Жыл бұрын

Correct, was just making a simple file I could slice

I think im missing a part of how the second method works, from my understanding when the arm moves up for that first layer the plate is still loose so it is still 0 away from the FEP. Is this method taking into consideration the positioning of the arm? Also how does the printer read when this is set up? Ive tried using the manual lift to raise the arm by .01mm before to try and deal with compression but when i tried to print 0 was still in the same place because without a bed home first i cant set the 0 position..... pressing the home button or starting a print just makes the arm try to push the screen further down into the screen

Not sure what the purpose the dummy print is versus just lowering the build plate manually on an empty vat and then tightening (and then setting z=0), which is what the old "Flint Read" approach is. Never heard of anyone actually filling the vat with resin during the leveling process.

@yaqwsx0cz

Жыл бұрын

Read the blog post - it discusses the reasons why. TLDR: There seems to be a dummy constant in the firmware that moves the build plate below the zero print for the initial layers.

@HardCoil

Жыл бұрын

@@yaqwsx0cz Thanks for clearing that up. It sounded to me like the light magically pushed the build plate or something :D If we had something like manual Z-offset like on an FDM printer all this could be avoided.

Two quick questions: 1. Is the vat empty/no resin in the vat? (I appears that way). 2. At what point do you set the Z-Axis, if you do at all?

@James-gr2ds

Жыл бұрын

I have the exact same questions!

@starlordolvr7955

Жыл бұрын

The vat is empty, everything is cleaned. He doesn't have to use any "Set Z-Axis" buttons after tightening down the build plate because he's adjusting the build plate to be perfectly level at the currently stored Z-Axis setting. As opposed to manually adjusting the build plate position and THEN setting the "Zero Axis" to match the new build plate position.

I am looking into getting a very large resin printer - what one is your favorite ? Right now I have an anycubic photon mono x - I like it - it’s easy to use - but I need a larger printer -

wow! that's so incredible! print a file 2 level the resin printer!! I don't know if I'm smart enough to do this! I think I'm already confused!! ''Club foot''!! with music!!rip!! good luck! Jessy!

Can clearly see less elephants foot, but can you test the dummy leveling process with NerTronic's Bulge Buster app? As it lets you fade in/remove some pixels from the outer edge of the first few layers. had decent results with Bugle Buster, but still not perfect. So i'm thinking the combo might do the trick

Hey Jessy, are you still leveling your build plate this way with the dummy file? Any new thoughts on this?

Thank you for this video. I always print the bases for my minis flat on the bed and am always annoyed about the elephants foot. I will definetly try this method and see how my next bases come out.

@xlavleenx

2 ай бұрын

How did they come out?

@Sarados1980

2 ай бұрын

@@xlavleenx works fine, almost no elephants foot. But I'm not sure if this is because of the new leveling methode or because of the new "Bottom tolerance compensation" in chitubox which I also use. :D Neitherless is so much easier to level your plate this way, no extra step.

Simple question here ! I have an elegoo mars pro 2, I already did the bed leveling calibration by the menu on the printer. Is it ok to do the "dummy print" version right after or should I undo in any form the bed leveling calibration on the machin first ? And if so how to do so ? thanks a lot !!

Do you leave the layer height at 0.01 afterwards or can you change it back afterwards? Sorry totally new to printing.

Watch u every other day I have a ? I havevthe elegoo mar3 been printing with strictly default as its been great .I was wondering where i could find one of your videos showing how to up detail a bit .Does resin make a difference Thank you for your time Also enjoyed your flsun S1 review

Gonna give this a try, I’ve leveled using paper and index cards in the past. I have an odd issue I haven’t been able to find help for where my fep is getting damaged every time I print, it sticks and puts dimples in the fep. I’ve tried nearly half a dozen different methods to installing the fep, including using a tuning app, and gave up after burning through several brand new sheets and wasting resin to boot. It probably is still to do with the tightness of the fep but I need to try something new or a may just give up on the machine altogether. It’s killing my fun in the hobby to keep having this issue.

@CuttinInIdaho

Жыл бұрын

what printer do you have?

Bottom of tank leveling is the best, just make sure to slowly lower the arm down gradually.

0.8mm paper that mag looks like flex plate is gods nectar to have and i print flat on it no problems since flex plate added

Hey Jesse just curious if you were still planning on posting your review of the the photon m3 max

im thinking about getting one... cant really decide between the mars 3 pro or the photon m3... also would a used device is recomennded? u can actually get them pretty cheap used too...

I actually just printed some things for a client that are basically like popsicle sticks so I printed them flat and sure enough I saw a little elephant's foot. I don't normal print flat but this client might want some more so maybe I should do this.

What are the settings that you use for the Saturn to make snails and “flexi” stuff because mine tends to stick together?

..and my Saturn2 forces me to home the build plate before setting z=0 so as far as my first attempt with no digging.. this won't work (that I can tell) on the saturn 2.. but I've missed more than one thing in my life so..

I just level directly on the FEP and have never had an issue

Absolutely, just got my Saturn 2 setup and printing, and I will for sure be trying this method of leveling soon! With just the small handful of prints of done so far, I have indeed noticed some elephant's foot, so I would love to resolve that. I have with other printers used the "bottom tolerance" correction in chitubox, but that feels like cheating...

I am just thinking, when you do the new method, you risk in putting pressure on that cercle directly on the screen, as that screen does not need much force to damage it

@zzorz1023

4 ай бұрын

There's no resin in the vat (he says to make sure there's not even resin residue left behind), thus nothing is actually printed so only the flat build plate is being pressed down onto the screen

Holy smoke! 3:02 my elephant Footbfan print made and Uncle Jessie video as it was used in the article! Day made! 😂

I am definitely going to try this. I have a problem with the paper method often zeroing too low. Then when I put the vat back on and start the print, it bottoms out and makes a grinding sound. I’m afraid it’s going to damage my screen. So far, I’ve been trying to finesse just how loose the paper is so it won’t grind but it is imperfect.

@AdamMclardy

Жыл бұрын

Level on the FEP

@haggismacphreedom8270

Жыл бұрын

Use a thicker grade of paper.

Can't wait to try the "dummy method" - I've had a lot of trouble leveling since adding the WamBam flex plate (not their fault - it just changes the "formula").

@AdamMclardy

Жыл бұрын

Have you added a spacer to your z stop?

i think elephant foot is why elegoo says go up 0.01mm after tightening screws

Would you have to dummy print every single time. Or can you do it and relevel every 5-10 prints?

Please someone answer me, I have an Elegoo Saturn S and I bought the magnetic plates for the printing plate, some say that no additional spacers are needed for the printer and others say yes. Any direct experience with this printer? I would avoid putting them but I would not want to break through the display during the z axis calibration.

Hey UJ, I own a Mars 3 Pro, and when you pause the print the bed retracts to a set position. I was wondering if turning it off right after the pause button is pressed would yield the desired result as shown in your video with a # pro as it does with the 3? Thanks in advance.

@johnhinkey5336

Жыл бұрын

I tried this technique on my Mars 3 Pro and it made no difference on the elephant foot, BUT it caused further error on the height of my model built directly on the build plate. My 10mm high print (just a 25mm cylinder x 10mm high) was 9.34mm high instead. I got a 9.78mm cylinder height using the standard bed leveling technique using a 0.14mm piece of paper. I too just turned off the printer, turned it on, raised up the build plate, put the resin in and printed. Something is not quite right with this technique.

How often are all you leveling ur resin printers? Every vat change out? Every print? Maybe I've been extremely lucky with my Saturn S.

Yes I’m changing over.

sooooooo the start of two prints on my Elegoo Saturn just sounded like the plate wanted to crush through the top of the LCD, making a cracking noise... I swear I followed the instructions! 😭

Has anyone tried this on the Jupiter?

jessy do you think this method would work on my anycubic mono x?

Hi, I've got the FlashForge 9.25 6K. I'm getting an error code when the print starts. The z axis can't seem to pull the print off the fep film. Could this be caused by incorrect leveling or incorrect resin settings ( using default settings for that resin) or a faulty motor. Your advice would be really appreciated.

Is it just me thinking that when printing the first layer the build plate should NOT be at zero, but at one layer hight? So when using this method it should (theoretically, untested yet) work if you switch of when the machine starts the SECOND layer?

had a bad leveling after leveling it using the vat method. on large resin prints the bed adhesion is more critical than on a small resin print and I can say that the paper method produce significantly stronger bed adhesion. you might be getting better quality prints but you are sacrificing higher probability of failure doing it this way.

I use a POWER BALL Lottery Ticket.

Should the black plastic looking tape around the LCD screen on the new Mars 4 ultra be bent in as the LCD screen is pushed down on the back side.

@jonkendrick89

9 ай бұрын

Nope. This is squish from the plate crash

so you record your videos with the resin exposed and no respirator? is that safe?

Not a tip for leveling but removing stuff with out a flex plate, put IPA in spray bottle, spray it on your scraper, when the IPA gets in between the bed and resin, the resin item pops off the plate.

Hey, im quite new so Im trying to firgure out, is it normal for it after its leveled and you press the home button for it to try to go too far? Or is something wrong with mine?

I've never understood the paper method being called the easiest. Just level it with the vat in place. The FEP sheet is the width of a piece of paper.

Im a bit confused. ( a little late to the party I know) but if it started printing, wouldnt the spring be decompressed by the height of the first layer as it already started exposing? Or that little bit of compression isnt a deal breaker?

@pgarciacamou

5 ай бұрын

Agreed. Plus any cured resin from previous prints could cause the FEP to be punctured or perforated. I personally do not level against the FEP. If I would do it, I would certainly add some buffer to Z=0, like 0.1mm for that first layer.

so just to confirm, the 'dummy' print can literally be anything, just needing to trigger the printer to put the z axis in first slice position?

hm so we don't have to set Z to 0 right? Cause when i try this on my saturn 2, i can't set z=0 with this method, it asks me to use Home first

3:07 Unless you're using flexible resin. Haha

How’s that Elegoo filter? Does it reduce the smell alot?

@OmeJoyo

Жыл бұрын

Yes, it's incredible, you should however always make sure to still wear protective gear (gloves, glasses and mouthmaks/respirator). Because after several usages nearly every part will be contaminated by resin and over time the smallest amounts will eventually cause health issues. This will however take months/years to develop. I love his content, but unfortunately a lot of contaminated surface are touched without protection.

@luisbustamante5479

Жыл бұрын

it works for me, yes.

what is your layer time for saturn s

Does it work for anycubic printers?