Printbed not flat
Hi,
Just finished my build but i notice my print bed is not flat but concave, if i put a straight edge on it, the center is about 1mm lower than the edges and you can see light between the bed and the straight edge. If i measure the printbed before i mount it to the frame it is the same.
I attached a picture, it's not the best as it looks like the gap is only in the middle, but it starts around 3-4 cm from the edges. it is the same if i meassure x direction and y direction.
Is this ok or should it be completely flat?
Re: Printbed not flat
1mm is quite a lot.
Contact PR support via live chat and talk about replacement.
Re: Printbed not flat
💡 some points to mention, when your printbed is not flat:
there may be four reasons why the printbed isn't flat:
#1 the printbed has been manufactured that way and is faulty
#2 when assembled, there are additional forces that skew the printbed
#3 the printbed has been damaged (maybe because a spool of filament has fallen on it) by brute force
#4 the y-carriage isn't flat.
➡ checking if #1 is the case is quite easy: dismount the printbed from the y-carriage and place it at a plain surface. now you can check if the printbed is dead straight, or whether there are dips or bumps.
➡ most likley is #2:
🙄 when you assemble the printbed to the y-carriage, there should be no tension from the screws applied to the bolts of the printbed in x/y direction.
sometimes the holes at the y-carriage are not 100.00% accurate and furthermore they are often a little bit tight (maybe due to the black coating stuff of the y-carriage). btw.: there are no threads inside the holes at the y-carriage, and there shouldn't be any !
so if the holes and the bolts at the printbed are not 100% aligned, and the position of the screws is fixed by coating and/or to small holes, then you carry tension to the printbed when tightening the screws.
as a result you get a skewed printbed, with "hills and valleys".
➡ #3 should be visible and caused by an accident/event that happened. 😮
➡ #4 the planarity of the y-carriage could be checked the same way as #1: dismount the y-carriage, pace it on a plain surface and check it's planarity with some calibers.
😯 so if you consider these points and still got a skewed printbed, you should know what to do against it (#1 -> contact support for replacement, #3 -> buy a new mk42 heatbed, #2 fix the problems with the holes, the screws and the bolts, #4 get a plain y-carriage).
dem inscheniör is' nix zu schwör...
Re: Printbed not flat
Thank you for the replies,
I've contacted live support and got a recommendation to try to put some shims\washer in the middle to see if it helps. I'll repport back as soon as i have tried this.
Re: Printbed not flat
Thank you for the replies,
I've contacted live support and got a recommendation to try to put some shims\washer in the middle to see if it helps. I'll repport back as soon as i have tried this.
You will most likely have to use longer screws for belt holder.
Re: Printbed not flat
So took the heatbed of and put some chims under it about 0.25mm thick. The bed is more level now. But stil higher around the edges. I will try to adjust some more tomorrow, right now i'm printing the treefrog. Putting the print bed on a flat table showed about the same as when mounted, the center mounting bolts was a little higher than the others. Also there is some small variations measuring the y-carriage. Here is some pictures of the bed after the adjustment.
Re: Printbed not flat
Here are some more and two test prints i made, how do they look?
Re: Printbed not flat
Last picture;)
Re: Printbed not flat
➡ a slight "imperfection" of the printbeds planarity is acceptable. the meshbed leveling will compensate it.
dem inscheniör is' nix zu schwör...