This week’s guide is about bed leveling tramming, which is a quick and easy adjustment with a quite significant effect on the reliability of your prints.
English version (as linked below): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED1Gxvw2Rmw&hd=1
German version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzvfg-IOQEs&hd=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ED1Gxvw2Rmw
Ahhhhhhhh! Nails on a chalkboard!
“Leveling” is the wrong word, and I’ve seen way too many horror stories about people trying to use actual leveling tools (like a bubble level) to do the job because people won’t stop using the wrong word to describe it!
What you are doing is tramming the bed (aligning it to be parallel to the machine’s X/Y plane), not leveling (aligning to be perpendicular to gravity). You did use the term “tramming” to refer to the axes. While this usage might be valid, I prefer the term “squaring” for this. Square the axes, then tram the platform.
@Whosa_whatsis , I agree that “leveling” isn’t a great word to describe the process of making the print bed square to the motion axes, but it’s become the de facto standard term in the hobbyist 3D printer community. “Tramming” seems equally awkward to me, because it refers to making a mill spindle perpendicular to a work surface by swinging an indicator mounted in the spindle, not the process of making sure the motion axes are all square to the work surface.
I think it’s useful to use language that a layman can understand, if only for googlability. If someone needs to level their bed, they’ll Google “bed leveling”. Perhaps we could encourage authors to use both terms to familiarise the public with the correct terminology.
Also, Tom, your videos are great! Moar!
True, squaring is the word i should have used. Though bed leveling, as it commonly referred to, does more than just aligning the planes, since it also makes sure that your bed is actually a plane if you’re using four (or more, i use six) adjustment points.
@matthew_bennett It’s useful to use language that a layman will understand, but it’s worse than useless – it’s actually harmful – to give a layman information that they will misunderstand. Leveling is something that many laymen understand, but if they attempt to level it as they understand leveling, they will be doing the wrong thing.
If they google “bed tramming”, they will get information that is right. If they google “bed leveling”, they will get a mix of information that is telling them the correct procedure (which is actually tramming), as well as information posted by other people who misunderstood and used a bubble level. If they leave off “bed” and just search for “leveling”, they will ONLY get the WRONG information.
I’m 100% with @Whosa_whatsis on this point. Tramming a mill is a pretty specific operation that doesn’t exactly apply, but if you tell any machinist that you need to “tram the bed” they’ll know exactly what you mean. What people mean when talk about automatic bed leveling is much better described as automatic tram correction IMHO.
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/level Leveling doesn’t seem like a “wrong” term to me. If it’s what people are used to calling it. Big deal. Most of us just like to print stuff. We don’t care about perfect terminology. Love your guides Tom.
Also… If someone think leveling your bed actually means using a level, they are going to have many more problems than just “leveling” their print bed.
From Free Dictionary.com:
tram 2 (trm)
n.
- An instrument for gauging and adjusting machine parts; a trammel.
- Accurate mechanical adjustment: The device is in tram.
tr.v. trammed, tram·ming, trams
To adjust or align (mechanical parts) with a trammel.
@John_Davis there is a discussion in the Marlin issue tracker (mobile right now, or I’d give the link) where we’re discussing better naming for “auto-leveling”. My suggestion of “platform compensation” is the frontrunner.
That suggestions sounds just fine. It’s hard to do worse than “bed leveling” actually. 
@John_Davis found it, but for anyone else who wants to weigh in, the thread is here: https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin/issues/911
I’m going to stay out of the tramming/levelling debate, but just need to say:
AWESOME SHIRT MAN.
Have any of you guys read the http://buildyourcnc.com how to build a 3D printer book. Its full of awful recommendations like using a bubble level to “level” your bed.
@Joe_Spanier Don’t get @Whosa_whatsis started on spirit levels…
When I want to tram my printer, I take it on the subway.