klipper/docs/Bed_Mesh.md

Bed Mesh

The Bed Mesh module may be used to compensate for bed surface irregularities to achieve a better first layer across the entire bed. It should be noted that software based correction will not achieve perfect results, it can only approximate the shape of the bed. Bed Mesh also cannot compensate for mechanical and electrical issues. If an axis is skewed or a probe is not accurate then the bed_mesh module will not receive accurate results from the probing process.

Prior to Mesh Calibration you will need to be sure that your Probe's Z-Offset is calibrated. If using an endstop for Z homing it will need to be calibrated as well. See Probe Calibrate and Z_ENDSTOP_CALIBRATE in Manual Level for more information.

Basic Configuration

Rectangular Beds

This example assumes a printer with a 250 mm x 220 mm rectangular bed and a probe with an x-offset of 24 mm and y-offset of 5 mm.

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 35, 6
mesh_max: 240, 198
probe_count: 5, 3

• speed: 120
  Default Value: 50
  The speed in which the tool moves between points.

• horizontal_move_z: 5
  Default Value: 5
  The Z coordinate the probe rises to prior to traveling between points.

• mesh_min: 35, 6
  Required
  The first probed coordinate, nearest to the origin. This coordinate is relative to the probe's location.

• mesh_max: 240, 198
  Required
  The probed coordinate farthest farthest from the origin. This is not necessarily the last point probed, as the probing process occurs in a zig-zag fashion. As with mesh_min, this coordinate is relative to the probe's location.

• probe_count: 5, 3
  Default Value: 3, 3
  The number of points to probe on each axis, specified as X, Y integer values. In this example 5 points will be probed along the X axis, with 3 points along the Y axis, for a total of 15 probed points. Note that if you wanted a square grid, for example 3x3, this could be specified as a single integer value that is used for both axes, ie probe_count: 3. Note that a mesh requires a minimum probe_count of 3 along each axis.

The illustration below demonstrates how the mesh_min, mesh_max, and probe_count options are used to generate probe points. The arrows indicate the direction of the probing procedure, beginning at mesh_min. For reference, when the probe is at mesh_min the nozzle will be at (11, 1), and when the probe is at mesh_max, the nozzle will be at (206, 193).

Round beds

This example assumes a printer equipped with a round bed radius of 100mm. We will use the same probe offsets as the rectangular example, 24 mm on X and 5 mm on Y.

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_radius: 75
mesh_origin: 0, 0
round_probe_count: 5

• mesh_radius: 75
  Required
  The radius of the probed mesh in mm, relative to the mesh_origin. Note that the probe's offsets limit the size of the mesh radius. In this example, a radius larger than 76 would move the tool beyond the range of the printer.

• mesh_origin: 0, 0
  Default Value: 0, 0
  The center point of the mesh. This coordinate is relative to the probe's location. While the default is 0, 0, it may be useful to adjust the origin in an effort to probe a larger portion of the bed. See the illustration below.

• round_probe_count: 5
  Default Value: 5
  This is an integer value that defines the maximum number of probed points along the X and Y axes. By "maximum", we mean the number of points probed along the mesh origin. This value must be an odd number, as it is required that the center of the mesh is probed.

The illustration below shows how the probed points are generated. As you can see, setting the mesh_origin to (-10, 0) allows us to specify a larger mesh radius of 85.

Advanced Configuration

Below the more advanced configuration options are explained in detail. Each example will build upon the basic rectangular bed configuration shown above. Each of the advanced options apply to round beds in the same manner.

Mesh Interpolation

While its possible to sample the probed matrix directly using simple bi-linear interpolation to determine the Z-Values between probed points, it is often useful to interpolate extra points using more advanced interpolation algorithms to increase mesh density. These algorithms add curvature to the mesh, attempting to simulate the material properties of the bed. Bed Mesh offers lagrange and bicubic interpolation to accomplish this.

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 35, 6
mesh_max: 240, 198
probe_count: 5, 3
mesh_pps: 2, 3
algorithm: bicubic
bicubic_tension: 0.2

• mesh_pps: 2, 3
  Default Value: 2, 2
  The mesh_pps option is shorthand for Mesh Points Per Segment. This option specifies how many points to interpolate for each segment along the X and Y axes. Consider a 'segment' to be the space between each probed point. Like probe_count, mesh_pps is specified as an X, Y integer pair, and also may be specified a single integer that is applied to both axes. In this example there are 4 segments along the X axis and 2 segments along the Y axis. This evaluates to 8 interpolated points along X, 6 interpolated points along Y, which results in a 13x9 mesh. Note that if mesh_pps is set to 0 then mesh interpolation is disabled and the probed matrix will be sampled directly.

• algorithm: lagrange
  Default Value: lagrange
  The algorithm used to interpolate the mesh. May be lagrange or bicubic. Lagrange interpolation is capped at 6 probed points as oscillation tends to occur with a larger number of samples. Bicubic interpolation requires a minimum of 4 probed points along each axis, if less than 4 points are specified then lagrange sampling is forced. If mesh_pps is set to 0 then this value is ignored as no mesh interpolation is done.

• bicubic_tension: 0.2
  Default Value: 0.2
  If the algorithm option is set to bicubic it is possible to specify the tension value. The higher the tension the more slope is interpolated. Be careful when adjusting this, as higher values also create more overshoot, which will result in interpolated values higher or lower than your probed points.

The illustration below shows how the options above are used to generate an interpolated mesh.

Move Splitting

Bed Mesh works by intercepting gcode move commands and applying a transform to their Z coordinate. Long moves must be split into smaller moves to correctly follow the shape of the bed. The options below control the splitting behavior.

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 35, 6
mesh_max: 240, 198
probe_count: 5, 3
move_check_distance: 5
split_delta_z: .025

• move_check_distance: 5
  Default Value: 5
  The minimum distance to check for the desired change in Z before performing a split. In this example, a move longer than 5mm will be traversed by the algorithm. Each 5mm a mesh Z lookup will occur, comparing it with the Z value of the previous move. If the delta meets the threshold set by split_delta_z, the move will be split and traversal will continue. This process repeats until the end of the move is reached, where a final adjustment will be applied. Moves shorter than the move_check_distance have the correct Z adjustment applied directly to the move without traversal or splitting.

• split_delta_z: .025
  Default Value: .025
  As mentioned above, this is the minimum deviation required to trigger a move split. In this example, any Z value with a deviation +/- .025mm will trigger a split.

Generally the default values for these options are sufficient, in fact the default value of 5mm for the move_check_distance may be overkill. However an advanced user may wish to experiment with these options in an effort to squeeze out the optimal first layer.

Mesh Fade

When "fade" is enabled Z adjustment is phased out over a distance defined by the configuration. This is accomplished by applying small adjustments to the layer height, either increasing or decreasing depending on the shape of the bed. When fade has completed, Z adjustment is no longer applied, allowing the top of the print to be flat rather than mirror the shape of the bed. Fade also may have some undesirable traits, if you fade too quickly it can result in visible artifacts on the print. Also, if your bed is significantly warped, fade can shrink or stretch the Z height of the print. As such, fade is disabled by default.

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 35, 6
mesh_max: 240, 198
probe_count: 5, 3
fade_start: 1
fade_end: 10
fade_target: 0

• fade_start: 1
  Default Value: 1
  The Z height in which to start phasing out adjustment. It is a good idea to get a few layers down before starting the fade process.

• fade_end: 10
  Default Value: 0
  The Z height in which fade should complete. If this value is lower than fade_start then fade is disabled. This value may be adjusted depending on how warped the print surface is. A significantly warped surface should fade out over a longer distance. A near flat surface may be able to reduce this value to phase out more quickly. 10mm is a sane value to begin with if using the default value of 1 for fade_start.

• fade_target: 0
  Default Value: The average Z value of the mesh
  The fade_target can be thought of as an additional Z offset applied to the entire bed after fade completes. Generally speaking we would like this value to be 0, however there are circumstances where it should not be. For example, lets assume your homing position on the bed is an outlier, its .2 mm lower than the average probed height of the bed. If the fade_target is 0, fade will shrink the print by an average of .2 mm across the bed. By setting the fade_target to .2, the homed area will expand by .2 mm, however, the rest of the bed will be accurately sized. Generally its a good idea to leave fade_target out of the configuration so the average height of the mesh is used, however it may be desirable to manually adjust the fade target if one wants to print on a specific portion of the bed.

Configuring the zero reference position

Many probes are susceptible to "drift", ie: inaccuracies in probing introduced by heat or interference. This can make calculating the probe's z-offset challenging, particularly at different bed temperatures. As such, some printers use an endstop for homing the Z axis and a probe for calibrating the mesh. In this configuration it is possible offset the mesh so that the (X, Y) reference position applies zero adjustment. The reference postion should be the location on the bed where a Z_ENDSTOP_CALIBRATE paper test is performed. The bed_mesh module provides the zero_reference_position option for specifying this coordinate:

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 35, 6
mesh_max: 240, 198
zero_reference_position: 125, 110
probe_count: 5, 3

• zero_reference_position:
  Default Value: None (disabled)
  The zero_reference_position expects an (X, Y) coordinate matching that of the reference position described above. If the coordinate lies within the mesh then the mesh will be offset so the reference position applies zero adjustment. If the coordinate lies outside of the mesh then the coordinate will be probed after calibration, with the resulting z-value used as the z-offset. Note that this coordinate must NOT be in a location specified as a faulty_region if a probe is necessary.

The deprecated relative_reference_index

Existing configurations using the relative_reference_index option must be updated to use the zero_reference_position. The response to the BED_MESH_OUTPUT PGP=1 gcode command will include the (X, Y) coordinate associated with the index; this position may be used as the value for the zero_reference_position. The output will look similar to the following:

// bed_mesh: generated points
// Index | Tool Adjusted | Probe
// 0 | (1.0, 1.0) | (24.0, 6.0)
// 1 | (36.7, 1.0) | (59.7, 6.0)
// 2 | (72.3, 1.0) | (95.3, 6.0)
// 3 | (108.0, 1.0) | (131.0, 6.0)
... (additional generated points)
// bed_mesh: relative_reference_index 24 is (131.5, 108.0)

Note: The above output is also printed in klippy.log during initialization.

Using the example above we see that the relative_reference_index is printed along with its coordinate. Thus the zero_reference_position is 131.5, 108.

Faulty Regions

It is possible for some areas of a bed to report inaccurate results when probing due to a "fault" at specific locations. The best example of this are beds with series of integrated magnets used to retain removable steel sheets. The magnetic field at and around these magnets may cause an inductive probe to trigger at a distance higher or lower than it would otherwise, resulting in a mesh that does not accurately represent the surface at these locations. Note: This should not be confused with probe location bias, which produces inaccurate results across the entire bed.

The faulty_region options may be configured to compensate for this affect. If a generated point lies within a faulty region bed mesh will attempt to probe up to 4 points at the boundaries of this region. These probed values will be averaged and inserted in the mesh as the Z value at the generated (X, Y) coordinate.

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 35, 6
mesh_max: 240, 198
probe_count: 5, 3
faulty_region_1_min: 130.0, 0.0
faulty_region_1_max: 145.0, 40.0
faulty_region_2_min: 225.0, 0.0
faulty_region_2_max: 250.0, 25.0
faulty_region_3_min: 165.0, 95.0
faulty_region_3_max: 205.0, 110.0
faulty_region_4_min: 30.0, 170.0
faulty_region_4_max: 45.0, 210.0

• faulty_region_{1...99}_min
faulty_region_{1..99}_max
  Default Value: None (disabled)
  Faulty Regions are defined in a way similar to that of mesh itself, where minimum and maximum (X, Y) coordinates must be specified for each region. A faulty region may extend outside of a mesh, however the alternate points generated will always be within the mesh boundary. No two regions may overlap.

The image below illustrates how replacement points are generated when a generated point lies within a faulty region. The regions shown match those in the sample config above. The replacement points and their coordinates are identified in green.

Adaptive Meshes

Adaptive bed meshing is a way to speed up the bed mesh generation by only probing the area of the bed used by the objects being printed. When used, the method will automatically adjust the mesh parameters based on the area occupied by the defined print objects.

The adapted mesh area will be computed from the area defined by the boundaries of all the defined print objects so it covers every object, including any margins defined in the configuration. After the area is computed, the number of probe points will be scaled down based on the ratio of the default mesh area and the adapted mesh area. To illustrate this consider the following example:

For a 150mmx150mm bed with mesh_min set to 25,25 and mesh_max set to 125,125, the default mesh area is a 100mmx100mm square. An adapted mesh area of 50,50 means a ratio of 0.5x0.5 between the adapted area and default mesh area.

If the bed_mesh configuration specified probe_count as 7x7, the adapted bed mesh will use 4x4 probe points (7 * 0.5 rounded up).

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 35, 6
mesh_max: 240, 198
probe_count: 5, 3
adaptive_margin: 5

• adaptive_margin
  Default Value: 0
  Margin (in mm) to add around the area of the bed used by the defined objects. The diagram below shows the adapted bed mesh area with an adaptive_margin of 5mm. The adapted mesh area (area in green) is computed as the used bed area (area in blue) plus the defined margin.

  

By nature, adaptive bed meshes use the objects defined by the Gcode file being printed. Therefore, it is expected that each Gcode file will generate a mesh that probes a different area of the print bed. Therefore, adapted bed meshes should not be re-used. The expectation is that a new mesh will be generated for each print if adaptive meshing is used.

It is also important to consider that adaptive bed meshing is best used on machines that can normally probe the entire bed and achieve a maximum variance less than or equal to 1 layer height. Machines with mechanical issues that a full bed mesh normally compensates for may have undesirable results when attempting print moves outside of the probed area. If a full bed mesh has a variance greater than 1 layer height, caution must be taken when using adaptive bed meshes and attempting print moves outside of the meshed area.

Bed Mesh Gcodes

Calibration

BED_MESH_CALIBRATE PROFILE=<name> METHOD=[manual | automatic] [<probe_parameter>=<value>] [<mesh_parameter>=<value>] [ADAPTIVE=[0|1] [ADAPTIVE_MARGIN=<value>]
Default Profile: default
Default Method: automatic if a probe is detected, otherwise manual
Default Adaptive: 0
Default Adaptive Margin: 0

Initiates the probing procedure for Bed Mesh Calibration.

The mesh will be saved into a profile specified by the PROFILE parameter, or default if unspecified. If METHOD=manual is selected then manual probing will occur. When switching between automatic and manual probing the generated mesh points will automatically be adjusted.

It is possible to specify mesh parameters to modify the probed area. The following parameters are available:

• Rectangular beds (cartesian):
  • MESH_MIN
  • MESH_MAX
  • PROBE_COUNT
• Round beds (delta):
  • MESH_RADIUS
  • MESH_ORIGIN
  • ROUND_PROBE_COUNT
• All beds:
  • ALGORITHM
  • ADAPTIVE
  • ADAPTIVE_MARGIN

See the configuration documentation above for details on how each parameter applies to the mesh.

Profiles

BED_MESH_PROFILE SAVE=<name> LOAD=<name> REMOVE=<name>

After a BED_MESH_CALIBRATE has been performed, it is possible to save the current mesh state into a named profile. This makes it possible to load a mesh without re-probing the bed. After a profile has been saved using BED_MESH_PROFILE SAVE=<name> the SAVE_CONFIG gcode may be executed to write the profile to printer.cfg.

Profiles can be loaded by executing BED_MESH_PROFILE LOAD=<name>.

It should be noted that each time a BED_MESH_CALIBRATE occurs, the current state is automatically saved to the default profile. The default profile can be removed as follows:

BED_MESH_PROFILE REMOVE=default

Any other saved profile can be removed in the same fashion, replacing default with the named profile you wish to remove.

Loading the default profile

Previous versions of bed_mesh always loaded the profile named default on startup if it was present. This behavior has been removed in favor of allowing the user to determine when a profile is loaded. If a user wishes to load the default profile it is recommended to add BED_MESH_PROFILE LOAD=default to either their START_PRINT macro or their slicer's "Start G-Code" configuration, whichever is applicable.

Alternatively the old behavior of loading a profile at startup can be restored with a [delayed_gcode]:

[delayed_gcode bed_mesh_init]
initial_duration: .01
gcode:
  BED_MESH_PROFILE LOAD=default

Output

BED_MESH_OUTPUT PGP=[0 | 1]

Outputs the current mesh state to the terminal. Note that the mesh itself is output

The PGP parameter is shorthand for "Print Generated Points". If PGP=1 is set, the generated probed points will be output to the terminal:

// bed_mesh: generated points
// Index | Tool Adjusted | Probe
// 0 | (11.0, 1.0) | (35.0, 6.0)
// 1 | (62.2, 1.0) | (86.2, 6.0)
// 2 | (113.5, 1.0) | (137.5, 6.0)
// 3 | (164.8, 1.0) | (188.8, 6.0)
// 4 | (216.0, 1.0) | (240.0, 6.0)
// 5 | (216.0, 97.0) | (240.0, 102.0)
// 6 | (164.8, 97.0) | (188.8, 102.0)
// 7 | (113.5, 97.0) | (137.5, 102.0)
// 8 | (62.2, 97.0) | (86.2, 102.0)
// 9 | (11.0, 97.0) | (35.0, 102.0)
// 10 | (11.0, 193.0) | (35.0, 198.0)
// 11 | (62.2, 193.0) | (86.2, 198.0)
// 12 | (113.5, 193.0) | (137.5, 198.0)
// 13 | (164.8, 193.0) | (188.8, 198.0)
// 14 | (216.0, 193.0) | (240.0, 198.0)

The "Tool Adjusted" points refer to the nozzle location for each point, and the "Probe" points refer to the probe location. Note that when manually probing the "Probe" points will refer to both the tool and nozzle locations.

Clear Mesh State

BED_MESH_CLEAR

This gcode may be used to clear the internal mesh state.

Apply X/Y offsets

BED_MESH_OFFSET [X=<value>] [Y=<value>] [ZFADE=<value>]

This is useful for printers with multiple independent extruders, as an offset is necessary to produce correct Z adjustment after a tool change. Offsets should be specified relative to the primary extruder. That is, a positive X offset should be specified if the secondary extruder is mounted to the right of the primary extruder, a positive Y offset should be specified if the secondary extruder is mounted "behind" the primary extruder, and a positive ZFADE offset should be specified if the secondary extruder's nozzle is above the primary extruder's.

Note that a ZFADE offset does NOT directly apply additional adjustment. It is intended to compensate for a gcode offset when mesh fade is enabled. For example, if a secondary extruder is higher than the primary and needs a negative gcode offset, ie: SET_GCODE_OFFSET Z=-.2, it can be accounted for in bed_mesh with BED_MESH_OFFSET ZFADE=.2.