An Introduction to Bed Leveling in 3D Printing

When it comes to 3D printing, one of the most daunting aspects for all levels, whether absolute beginners or professionals, is print failures. One technology which is particularly notorious for this is FDM 3D printing as so many different aspects of the process can contribute to issues with the final part. Indeed, we have already told you about many of the different common printing failures and how to address them including stringing, elephant foot, over-extension, warping and more. But did you know that often learning more about one aspect of the process can help? Notably, by turning to a sometimes overlooked 3D printing step: bed leveling.

Often associated with FDM 3D printing but also present in vat photopolymerization, bed leveling is a critically important but misunderstood part of the full 3D printing process. In the following guide, we will demystify bed leveling for 3D printing taking a look at not only what it is, but why it is important. Additionally, we will cover the differences between manual and automatic bed leveling for a full introduction to the subject.

Bed leveling is an important step in 3D printing to ensure that prints come out correctly (photo credits: UltiMaker)

What Is Bed Leveling and How Does It Work In 3D Printing?

So of course the first question anyone will ask is what exactly is bed leveling in 3D printing. Contrary to what some may think, bed leveling does not refer to leveling the printer bed with the floor. Rather, bed leveling refers to the calibration of the parallelism relative to and height between the print nozzle or nozzles (for IDEX printers for example) and the entire printing surface. When leveling, it is necessary that this height be the exact same no matter where the nozzle is on the x- or y-axes.