What is calibration and how do I calibrate my printer?

"Calibration" refers to the distance between the nozzle and the print bed. If the printer is calibrated too close, the nozzle will dig into the print bed and prevent the prints from showing up very well. If the printer is calibrated too far, the printer food will have a hard time sticking to the print bed and will often come out looking stringy or incomplete. Calibration is a very common troubleshooting task that tends to be the solution for the majority of print quality issues.

Although calibration is commonly considered a troubleshooting task, we also consider it to be an important maintenance task that needs to be done every now and then, as the printer requires a very precise calibration in order to work properly and it can definitely fall out of calibration over time. We've also noticed that on occasion, the printer will fall out of calibration ever so slightly while in transit, even though the printers are packaged very tightly for shipping. It's not uncommon to need to calibrate upon arrival, which is why we always suggest trying out a calibration test print before printing your first toy! You can find the calibration test print by clicking this link.

If you would prefer video instructions on how to calibrate your printer, you can click this link. Otherwise, the written step-by-step instructions are as follows.

In order to calibrate your printer, you will need to either tighten or loosen the screw located at the back left corner of the print bed (pictured below). You may need to manually lower your print bed in order to access the screw, which you can learn how to do by checking out this article. 

This is where the calibration screw is located on the printer:

Whether you tighten or loosen the screw depends on how your calibration test print comes out! 

The following test prints are calibrated too far, as they are stringy and have gaps. In this case, you would tighten the screw by turning it clockwise.

The following test prints are calibrated too close, as they are not showing up on the print bed, and you can see where the nozzle was digging into the bed. In this case, you would loosen the screw by turning it counter clockwise.

When adjusting the calibration screw, try turning it in small increments between test prints to make sure the quality is improving. Usually 1/8 to 1/4 rotation increments work well! Continue the calibration process until your test print looks like this: 

If you're having any trouble with calibrating your printer, please send over a photo of your calibration test print to [e-mail] and we'll be happy to advise you on any adjustments that need to be made!