Simply bed calibration

[Maxheadroom1]

Hi guys.

The is a simple question here. Eveyone has to solved that problem one day or another.

The FT-5 has a bed which is suspended by rods. You can turn each rod from left to right or right to left. Either way, the bed goes one side up or down, which affect the bed calibration.

I would like to have a simple trick as to how to calibrate the bed so that it is perfectly leveled. With a TAZ 5, the rods is no problem because they are control by the printer so that it cannot be the reason why the bed would be not even.

But with the FT-5, the rods are controled manually.
There must be tons of trick to start with. Can we buy a item that will do the task?

Thank you.

[PaulS]

problem comes in with stock dual z motor. at power on\off, they move to nearest pole in motor, that may not be same on both sides so viola bed crooked. common fix has been single z motor and linked drive so 2 sides cant get out of sync. which i thought r2 had stock but mine is modded r1 also 20 to 40 t pulleys to get torque advantage and accuracy boost. once you solve that problem bed leveling wont be quite the inconsistency pain in the butt and you can look to add bl touch or something.. cliff notes version so check forum for pics etc, hope that helps

[mungbean]

Depends on your version of FT5. The R2 should have no problems. Guessing by the way you word that you can turn the rods individually I am guessing you have the original version, as to do this with the R2 you need to loosen one of the fixed toothed pulleys on the Z threaded rod and you can adjust them individually. Then after adjustment tighten the pulley and make sure the Z belt is tight. Now they are linked by the belt. If you have an original version and are having problems the single Z stepper mod may be advisable or some form of auto mesh bed leveling.

[Ron]

If you have an original version and are having problems the single Z stepper mod may be advisable or some form of auto mesh bed leveling.

I wholeheartedly second the single motor mod, and I also have the 40 tooth pulleys on the lead screws.
I linked my motors together using a 1350mm belt setup during the initial build just for that reason.
I have never had motor-induced out of level bed problems as a result of that and cannot imagine why anyone would put up with such a situation.
The dual Z stops that others have used, while clever, are merely band-aids and not problem solutions IMHO.

[Maxheadroom1]

in fact, i have one motor that controls the left rod and one motor that control the right rod.

[csorrows]

The dual Z stops that others have used, while clever, are merely band-aids and not problem solutions IMHO.

That solution works wonderfully on my R1 with parts I had on hand. It ALWAYS works just like tying them together.

There is more than 1 way to skin a cat...

[Ron]

There is more than 1 way to skin a cat...

Absolutely yes. I could not agree more.
You could also have used a pantograph or any of several other methods too.
However I maintain that they are all band-aids that cover it over and don't really address the underlying problem at its source.
Driving the two lead screws from a single motor, by whatever method you wish to use, does address the underlying problem and fix it.

Similarly, the Y axis really needs to be driven from a single motor, or the two need to be sync'd together, although it is much less of an issue than on the Z axis.
I recently had an odd thing happen with my printer that underscores this (for me at least).
The left Y motor's pulley came off in the middle of a 10+ hour print.
The wimpy little set screws loosened to the point that the pulley walked itself completely off the motor shaft.
So somewhere around hour eight or so the Y carriage became driven by the right motor only.
Guess what- the print continued on without incident.
In fact if anything the print quality was a little better, and it was definitely quieter.
That just reinforces my resolve to convert it to an H drive or CoreXY.
That way the two motors will not be fighting one another at their pole positions or need to be mechanically synchronized in any manner.
Or I could just convert to a single motor using a jack shaft as others have done.
Regardless, there is a single Y motor conversion (or equivalent) in my printer's future for sure.

There are indeed many ways to skin a cat and one size does not fit all..........