On my ender 3 I have to turn the knobs on the bottom for leveling.
I just picked up a Bambu Lab P1S and it doesn’t.
Fundamentally, what is different that allows the P1S and other printers to get away without it?
Back in my day you had to level the bed by hand! We had to put a piece of paper between the print nozzle and the bed until the gaps were perfect. If the bed was warped, there was nothing you could do!
Printing on glass, using tape or hairspray to help with adhesion… I’d print a skirt with a couple lines so I could level the bed a bit before the actual print started.
Man hardware has come a long way.
I’m still using an almost 10 year old printer. I do this any time I have to make adjustments. And it’s with a fucking allen wrench. Such a pain in the ass.
Monoprice mini v2
The Bambu will have some sort of auto bed leveling. The simplest method is a limit switch connected to a small plunger style probe mounted next to the nozzle.
Whatever the specific method, the idea is something that lets the printer sample multiple points on the bed and use the Z axis dynamically to adjust for the small irregularities. If you don’t have that, even half a millimeter can ruin print quality, so the leveling screws are there to handle it manually from the bed side.
I had the ender 3 S1 with a cr touch though, why the need for both in that case?
I’m pretty sure the original version of that printer didn’t come stock with the CR Touch. So rather than redesign and manufacturer all new boards they just kept the same one.
Also, I have a BLTouch on my printer (same thing different name), and while it’s pretty good, it isn’t perfect, and I do have to manually adjust the bed a tiny bit here and there. My guess is, cheaper printers like the ender and my neptune that are designed with adjustable beds in mind are prone to the bed being thrown off balance, whereas nicer printers like your new bambu are more robust in that the bed is supported well enough to not get thrown off.
also, the springs tend to go out of level, and it’s usually best practice with springs to level it manually and get it close enough first, then use the ABL to correct for the horrendous dip in creality printer beds.
I don’t know the Bambu model, but I do have an ender 3 and a prusa mk4. The ender 3 out of the box doesn’t have an auto leveler, it is “dumb” and it assumes the level of the bed is correct (if you leveled it right it should be).
Other printers like the mk4 and I’m assuming the Bambu have auto levelers that sample the level of the plate over several points, and then remembers the height of these points. Because it remembers the heights, it can adjust for a bed that isn’t manually leveled, so there’s no need for knobs.
You can get this functionality for the ender with a bltouch. But you’ll have to enable it in the firmware and do some configuration and wiring. It’s not too hard.
I replaced the springs on my Ender 3 Pro with Bed Stiffeners when I added a CR Touch. There is no need to level the bed anymore
