Calibration

Cartographer Calibration

Last Updated: March 2, 2025

Initial Calibration

Calibration can be done HOT or COLD.

Touch Specific

If you want to use cartographer for auto z offset, you will need to follow any extra TOUCH specific instructions.

First, make sure you're in TOUCH mode

PROBE_SWITCH MODE=touch

Then make sure you save

SAVE_CONFIG

Home the machine in X and Y:

G28 X Y

Position the nozzle in the center of the bed. You will need to adjust the coordinates for your machine.

G0 X125 Y125

At this point, you might note that your Endstop Z is TRIGGERED, this is normal, and will be resolved once you run the next command.

Start the calibration process:

CARTOGRAPHER_CALIBRATE METHOD=manual

You can either use the web interface to adjust the nozzle height from the bed, or TESTZ Z=-0.01 to lower it. Use a piece of paper or a feeler gauge to measure the offset. Once finished remove the paper/gauge and accept the position.

ACCEPT

Save the results to your config file.

SAVE_CONFIG

Home your printer. 

G28

You can test the accuracy of the scanner coil.

PROBE_ACCURACY

This will not TOUCH the bed. It will use the scanner to measure the accuracy of the probe coil.

You can also measure the backlash of your Z axis

CARTOGRAPHER_ESTIMATE_BACKLASH

To make use of the backlash estimation that is given. You will get results spit out starting with 

Median distance moving up

In this line will be a measurement called "delta" Take note of the value. Locate the configuration section marked:

backlash_comp: 2.01

Update this section with your new estimated backlash compensation. It is a good idea to do this compensation test at all 4x corners of your build plate and then again at middle of build plate. If you are on a printer with belted Z and the values in each corner deviate heavily compared to other corners results, this would indicate a loose belt on that corner.

If you are using a printer which supports either Z_TILT or QUAD_GANTRY_LEVEL you will need to ensure that your probe is positioned above the bed when performing this, open up your printer.cfg and find the appropriate section, for example your QUAD_GANTRY_LEVEL section may look like this:

[quad_gantry_level]
gantry_corners:
   -60,-10
   410,420
#  Probe points
points:
   50,25   # Point 1
   50,275  # Point 2
   300,275 # Point 3
   300,25  # Point 4
#--------------------------------------------------------------------

speed: 100
horizontal_move_z: 10
retries: 5
retry_tolerance: 0.0075
max_adjust: 10

You should in your console navigate to each point to ensure that your probe is not hanging off the edge, you can do this using a G0 command such as G0 X50 Y25 for point 1, or G0 X50 Y275 for point 2.

If at all points, Cartographer is safely over the bed, you should be good to go for running a QUAD_GANTRY_LEVEL or Z_TILT .

You can now run a Bed Mesh Calibration (I would advise doing either a Z_TILT or QUAD_GANTRY_LEVEL before.

BED_MESH_CALIBRATE

If you are NOT using TOUCH you should now continue with this guide.

Setting up Touch

Perform a homing.

G28

If using a printer that requires Quad Gantry Level or Z Tilt Adjust, perform that.

QUAD_GANTRY_LEVEL

or

Z_TILT_ADJUST

Once that is finished, do another home or G28 Z

G28 Z

Initiate a threshold scan. This will determine your threshold for cartographer. The threshold will determine how much force is required to touch your bed consistently.

Start by doing the generic scan

Visit here for an explanation of CARTOGRAPHER_THRESHOLD_SCAN

Prior to doing the threshold scan, please ensure that the following is true.

  • Your nozzle is clean

  • Your bed is clean, there are no dents or bubbles in the location you're probing.

  • Your probe is between 2.6 and 3mm above the nozzle.

  • Your kinematics are rigid. 

CARTOGRAPHER_THRESHOLD_SCAN

This should start a touch process that will move the toolhead into a starting position and then lower until it touches the bed, repeating itself. Its okay if at first it doesnt touch the bed at all, this is completely normal. It will eventually start touching.

CARTOGRAPHER_THRESHOLD_SCAN SPEED=2 is also available if the initial scan fails.

If however you get a final Optimal result and it didnt touch the bed, start the process again OR adjust the parameters as follows where MIN= the found threshold value of the false positive.

CARTOGRAPHER_THRESHOLD_SCAN MIN=500

Once it finds an optimal threshold and you've seen the nozzle touching the bed. It will stop this process.

You can stop here but for most people, fine tuning can be beneficial. Re-run this command with the MIN value set slightly higher (+250) than the previous Optimal result and let it run again.

Now do a touch calibration with the new threshold.

CARTOGRAPHER_CALIBRATE

If everything went correctly the touch test should pass and you can now finish by saving these variables to your config.

SAVE_CONFIG
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