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First Time Setup
Take a printer that has just had NebulaOS installed and get it to a good first print. This is the overview that links the pieces together in the right order.
Set aside about an hour for the calibrations, most of which is waiting rather than working.
- A printer running NebulaOS - see Installing NebulaOS.
- Your Wi-Fi name and password.
- Filament you intend to print with.
- A sheet of paper, and a ruler or caliper. A few calibrations ask for these.
- An empty, clean bed.
Read Safety first if you have not. The relevant part here: several calibrations move the printhead and bed without warning you first. Keep hands and tools clear once you start one.
Your old calibrations do not carry over. Even if the printer was calibrated under its previous firmware, NebulaOS starts fresh, and skipping this leaves you chasing first-layer problems that calibration would have fixed in an hour.
Settings → Connections → Wi-Fi networks. Full steps: Connecting to Wi-Fi.
Do this first, because it makes everything afterwards easier - updates, uploading files, and watching the printer from another room.
Read the printer's address from Settings → Connections, then open it in a browser. Full steps: Opening Mainsail.
All calibrations live under Tune → Calibration, and they are numbered in the order a new printer needs them. Work down from the top.
| # | Menu row | What you need | Roughly how long |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bed Tramming | An empty bed, maybe a printed shim | 5-15 min |
| 2 | Heaters (PID) | An empty, cool printer | Hotend a few minutes, bed longer |
| 3 | Axis Twist | A sheet of paper | About 5 min |
| 4 | Auto Calibration | An empty bed, no tools | About 7 min |
| 5 | Input Shaper | Nothing - uses the built-in accelerometer | About 5 min |
| 6 | E-Steps | A ruler or caliper, and a marker | About 5 min |
| 7 | Skew Correction | A printed test part and a caliper | About 30 min |
Below those, under OTHER, are three you do not need on day one: Load Cell Calibration, TMC Autotune (optional, makes the motors quieter) and Bed Mesh (view or re-measure).
You do not have to do all seven before printing. Numbers 1 to 4 get most printers to a good first layer. Skew Correction in particular is worth leaving until you have a reason.
Detail for each one: Calibration guide for the short version, Calibration walkthrough for the full background.
This is the part people miss, and it is the most useful thing on the screen. Every calibration row tells you where you stand:
- Green, for example "Done 24 Oct - Z offset 1.752 mm, mesh range 0.16 mm" - when it last ran, and its result.
- Grey - not done yet, with a one-line description and how long it takes.
- Orange with a bar on the left, for example "Redo: Axis Twist changed" - something you did since has invalidated it, so run it again.
That last one matters. The calibrations depend on each other, and the printer tracks the dependencies for you. Saving Axis Twist marks Auto Calibration as needing a redo. Adding a shim at the front-left corner during Bed Tramming marks both Load Cell Calibration and Auto Calibration. Running the calibration again clears the flag.
If your printer's NebulaOS does not keep a calibration history, the rows show only the descriptions.
- Upload a G-code file in Mainsail, or put it on a USB stick and use the printer's file browser.
- Load filament - see Filament.
- Start the print - see Printing.
- Watch the first layer. While it prints, Tune → Z Offset or Fine Tune adjusts the nozzle height live. This is normal and expected: the first layer is tuned by watching it, not by calculating it.
Pick something small and simple for the first one. A 20 mm calibration cube tells you more in 20 minutes than a six-hour model tells you in six hours.
The Calibration menu. The rows are numbered in the order to do them.
The status lines in use: what ran, when, and what it measured.
Live Z offset adjustment - the screen you use while watching the first layer.
- The printer is on your network and reachable in a browser.
- Calibration rows 1 to 4 show green status lines with results.
- A first print whose first layer is even and stuck down.
| What happens | What to do |
|---|---|
| A calibration refuses to start | Something else is running, or a dependency is unmet. Read the row's status line. |
| A calibration fails partway | Note the message and see Troubleshooting. Nothing is saved from a failed run. |
| The first layer is squished or lifting | Adjust live with Tune → Z Offset while it prints. |
| One side is good, the other is not | That is the classic Axis Twist symptom - row 3. |
| Parts come out as parallelograms | Skew Correction - row 7. |
Nothing here is irreversible. Settings → Reset can clear the screen's settings or do a clean NebulaOS reset, and the boot slot swap puts your old firmware back. See Resetting and Going back.
- Printing - everyday use
- Screen reference - what every button does
- Updating NebulaOS - staying current