Bed Leveling

Also known as: Tramming, Leveling, Auto Bed Leveling, ABL

beginner Maintenance

The process of ensuring the build plate is parallel to the print head's movement.

Bed leveling ensures the build plate is parallel and at the correct distance from the nozzle across its entire surface. It’s critical for good first layer adhesion.

Why It Matters

  • Too close: Nozzle drags, blocks extrusion
  • Too far: Filament doesn’t stick, poor adhesion
  • Uneven: First layer varies across print

Manual Bed Leveling

The traditional “paper test” method:

  1. Home the printer
  2. Disable steppers
  3. Place paper under nozzle
  4. Adjust corner screws until paper has light resistance
  5. Repeat for all corners
  6. Check center
  7. Iterate until consistent

Tips

  • Bed should be at printing temperature
  • Use same paper thickness each time
  • Go around corners twice
  • Check center point too

Auto Bed Leveling (ABL)

Automatic systems probe the bed and compensate:

BLTouch / CR Touch

  • Deploys probe pin to touch bed
  • Very accurate
  • Works on any surface

Inductive/Capacitive Probes

  • Senses metal bed
  • No moving parts
  • Fast
  • Only works with metal beds

Strain Gauge

  • Senses nozzle touching bed
  • No separate probe
  • Direct measurement

Mesh Leveling

  • Probes grid of points
  • Creates compensation mesh
  • Adjusts Z during print

Important Distinction

“Leveling” is actually tramming—making bed parallel to gantry. True leveling (horizontal to gravity) isn’t necessary.