Getting your Z-probe offset right is really important. It tells your printer what the physical difference is between your probe and the print nozzle.
Get it wrong, and you’ll either start printing in midair (bad) or hit the print bed with the nozzle (very bad),
Setting your Z-Probe Offset is easily done in OctoPrint or similar with a few Marlin commands and a piece of paper. If, like me, you’re forever modifying your printer, having a straightforward reference guide for this process will come in handy…
- Reset your Z-Probe Offset with
M851 Z0
- Save this to the EEPROM using
M500
- Set EEPROM values as your Active Parameters using
M501
- Confirm the value of the Z-Probe Offset using
M503
- Use
G28
to auto-home. This will move up slightly after the Z-Probe is triggered - Use
G1 F60 Z0
to move back toZ0
- Unlock the soft Z limit to enable movement below
Z0
usingM211 S0
- Heat the nozzle to the temperature you’ll usually print at using
M109 S<temp>
, for exampleM109 S190
, as the measurements may be different due to the metal expanding - Put a piece of paper underneath the nozzle, and move Z down until the paper can only just be moved
- Check the Z position on the printer screen, and subtract another 0.1 from this value to account for the thickness of the paper. This will be your new Z-Probe Offset value
- Set the nozzle temperature back to 0 with
M104 S0
- Set your new Z-Probe Offset using
M851 Z<newValue>
, for exampleM851 Z-2.2
- Re-enable the soft movement limits using
M211 S1
- Save the new Z-Probe Offset to your EEPROM using
M500
- Set EEPROM values as your Active Parameters using
M501
- Confirm the value of the Z-Probe Offset using
M503
- Use
G28
to auto-home again - Use
G1 F60 Z0
to move to the new Z0, which should place the nozzle should be fractionally above the build plate
6 responses to “How to set your 3D Printer Z-Probe Offset”
[…] temperature, placing a sheet of paper on the bed and sending G0 Z0. It should kinda just grab it. If you need to adjust it, check these instructions. If your extruder is stock, well…. for the FIRST TIME EVER… and that is to say I have […]
This is the best how-to on the matter I’ve found. Easy to follow, excellent layout highlighting the commands. Thanks for the time you invest to make this. Thanks to you, I got my printer setup fairly easily with the BLTouch.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Thank you so much for this info has helped me out tremendously
Thank you so much . For the first time ever my offset is set correctly
Randomly found this guide after going crazy trying to figure out my z-offset issues. This is the most straightforward and easy-to-follow tutorial I’ve found and I didn’t have to watch a 15-minute youtube video to figure it out.
THANK YOU