This is not only an essential tool for every owner of a 3D printer, but also the only way to calibrate your 3D printer.

You may used calibration cubes before to calculate your printers steps, but that is completely wrong in so many ways. Steps are steps per millimetre and not steps per slicer settings combined with a filament brand or type.

So let me show you how to calibrate your printer the right way and without breaking your fingers, as this usually a job requiring two people working together. This little thingy is replacing the second person needed and removes any hassle and inaccuracy. :D

Requirements:

3D Printer to calibrate and print this thing
Calipers
Some Filament
Binder clips (like normally used for mounting the print bed, but this time some big ones.)
M5 screws and nuts for 2020 mount (optional)

Assembly:

Once printed mount the triangular shape onto the caliper arm. The calipers needs to be open to fit. Next is to slide the caliper base mount over your calipers. The result should look like the image shown. Make sure everything is nice and tight. You can add some foam to make the caliper mount more sturdy.

How to Use:

Use the binder clips to fixate the assembly onto your build plate. Expand the calipers to a maximum of your choice, use the printers menu controls to move and bump the print head into the front bumper of the calipers. Turn on and reset the calipers. Move the print head at least 50mm towards the axis you are measuring and watch the magic.

Here is a video showing the process in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IbXIMDa3mU.

We use the y axis in this example, but it works the same with all axis.

Assuming you used 50mm, this is the fixed distance (fd=50). The calipers showed e.g. 49,4, then this is the current distance (cd=49.4). To get the currently used steps (ce) you need a terminal like Pronterface or the one in OctoPrint. Issue an "M92" command and it will prompt the current steps/mm for all axis. Some old printers do not dump the current steps using the M92 command without argument. In that case use the M503 command to dump the e-eprom settings. There will be a M92 line somewhere in the top section, which is what we want here.

Make sure you pick the right step/mm value for the axis you just measured. Some printers allow to access and modify the steps via menu, too. In that case no terminal is required. Lets assume the value shown is Y40.2. That is our current step value (ce=40.2)

To calculate the new step/mm value (ne) just use this formula:

ne = ce * fd / cd

40.69 = 40.2 * 50 / 49.4

Now we need to set the new value using the M92 command again like this. Warning: You need to use a dot, so it is "40.69" and not "40,69".

M92 Y40.69

This should result in an OK. You can issue the M92 command once again without arguments and check if the value got stored correctly.

To save the settings to the eeprom use the M500 command. If this results an error, then you printer has no eeprom or it is not enabled by the firmware. This however is no show stopper. Create a line containing the gathered calibration information like "M92 X100.3 Y101.2" and add this line to your slicers start gcode configuration. This way the values will be corrected every time you start a print. Just keep in mind that you cannot use older/other gcode file as the M92 inside my be different or not existing.

Once you used the M500 command, the values should be stored. To confirm you can run a M501, which loads the eeprom settings and M92 or M503 to dump them.

The beauty of this tool and its setup is that you can repeat the steps above to check the movement again without adding any errors due to loose holding or different positioning. On the second run the calipers should now display more or less exactly 50mm.

I added several holes at the base, so you can mount the tool onto a 2020 beam for vertical use and calibrating the z axis steps. You can also mount the tool onto the print head or the printers bridge. The bumper itself also has some holes to mount some kind of side range extender, just in case you need a wider contact area.

Just remember you only need a place where you can mount the tool and where you can bump into something to measure the movement. So in fact it does not matter if this tool is mounted to the build plate like shown in the examples. You can also mount it to the frame using the holes provided in the base. It is even possible to mount mount this tool directly on to your printers print head, if your printers design makes that an option.

The only thing you need to ensure is that the bumper gets hit in a straight line during a x, y or z movement by your printer.

And speaking about the look of my tool: I used all filament ends I had gathered over the last months to prototype and print this project. That´s why the result is so colourful as I swapped filaments up to six times per print. Saving filament to prevent wasting even more filament, one could say. :D

So, please stop printing useless calibration cubes to setup your steps. Do it right, fast and without wasting cubes of filament. If you have a better idea for a more flexible design, then let me know. This is what I came up with and it got improved to suit my needs only.

Happy printing

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