Manual Bed Leveling for glass build plate?

Hello all I just got my Snapmaker 2.0 350 set up and I’m having horrible issues getting a good first layer of pla on the Snapmaker bed or my textured/smooth pei plate I think from the warping in the build plate. No matter what settings I try in Cura. I’ve auto leveled to no end but there’s no happy ground I’m too low in spots and filament doesn’t even touch the bed in other areas so I’d like to go with a glass plate. How are you guys leveling with a glass plate? Is there a way to manual mesh the bed with the glass on it? The few tiny prints I could fit on a level spot looked AMAZING! I’d love to have a nice good ol fashion glass bed that never fails me again lol. Any help would be appreciated as I’m not new to 3D printing so much just not familiar with what can be done with my Snapmaker yet tweaking and modding wise yet. I still haven’t even calibrated my extruder steps yet since if the prints stick to a level surface they are beautiful.

It is possible to add a glass bed and get the levelling to function with it, yes. The levelling sensor triggers on metals, like the layer of spring steel sandwiched into the default print bed. Easiest method to level with glass is to put the default print bed on top of the glass—that won’t be perfectly level if you print with them in that configuration, but it will be much closer. Or you can place a metallic object on each point as it’s probed. For a more elaborate and automated solution, ask around and see if anyone has the files for the FiFix handy.

Do double-check how you assembled your bed first, though, as some people have discovered their really poor levelling is due to parts having been installed upside-down or the like. :sweat_smile:

Relevant threads about levelling on glass (be warned that they’re long):

https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/a350-printing-on-glass/5238/
https://forum.snapmaker.com/t/for-all-who-want-level-on-glass/12437

I have a magnetic sticker with the OEM removable build plate, level as normal

Can you elaborate please?

It’s a sticker. You stick it to the glass, now it’s magnetic. Stick the snapmaker build plate to it.

The height sensor detects the metal inside removable build plate. It levels normally now.

So is your setup:
(top is top)
SM Magnetic surface
Glass
EzFlex
SM heater plate
Aluminum Base

If so, how thick is the glass plate you use?

No the sticker that is the magnet goes on the glass otherwise the sm surface isn’t magnetically attracted and held in place. I have other wacky things down below the glass, it’s not important here. I have 3mm, 4 is better if you can find it.

So my plan is this, I have a 500x500mm sheet of magnetic bed tape as mention by someone from an older project I never completed so I’m thinking taping it to the hotbed covering the million screw heads for the bed and putting the glass on top of it. I can get sheets of steel shim stock from work anywhere from .001 to .05” thick. I’d think say a .010 thick strip would get pulled tight to the glass by the magnet sheet. So heater bed, magnetic bed, glass on top then when auto leveling just slide the shim stock to the position where the sensor is.

I wonder if you could just do magnetic sheet on both sides of the glass so it becomes a “flat magnet”.

Sure, but why? The heated bed has magnets in it. If you’re trying to make the glass stick to the bed you would put a piece of flat sheet metal on it, like the spring steel already in the removable bed (albeit that would be uncoated and be a short circuiting risk). You could also use binder clips to hold it down as the glass doesn’t need to be removable which is what I do, I went with an oversized glass plate and I clip on the outside past the removable build sheet.

Good point, I was thinking I’d wanna be able to easily remove the glass portion for bed swaps, but I guess just simple binder clips isn’t too much extra effort (and you really only need to remove the “magnetic glass bed” when switching to CNC if you do the “laser plates glued to a ruined print sheet” trick).

I do it manually, 25 points with the Glass on. And after that, since it is never perfect, someone here gave me this, and it works great.

G1029 D -x.xx. For example I usually have to do G1029 D -0.20 in Luban before printing (each time I level the amount is a bit different.)

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