Improve Your Prints

Improve your prints

Start from what you see on the print. Each row names the most likely fix and where to find it. Nearly everything here is a guided page under Tune → Calibration; the details of each are in Calibration explained.

First check the basics: the slicer calls START_PRINT and END_PRINT (Setting up your slicer), the bed is clean (no fingerprints, no grease), and the nozzle has no plastic blob on it.

First-layer problems

The first layer decides most prints. Watch it go down and compare with the descriptions:

What you see	What it means	The fix
Lines stay round, do not fuse, gaps between them; the print lifts or comes loose	The nozzle is too high	While it prints: Tune → Z Offset (or tap the Z value on the print screen) and lower in 0.01 mm steps. It is saved for the next print. How
Lines flat and see-through, rough or scraped, plastic piling up beside the nozzle	The nozzle is too low	The same, but raise
Too high or too low everywhere, and nudging does not hold from print to print	The Z offset itself is off	Tune → Calibration → 4 Auto Calibration (empty bed, about 7 minutes). Auto Calibration
Good in one area, too thick or too thin in another	The bed is uneven, and the mesh is not keeping up	Check the print used START_PRINT (it measures a fresh mesh for each print). Then 1 Bed Tramming, then 4 Auto Calibration. Bed tramming
One corner always worse than the others	That corner is high or low	1 Bed Tramming - it tells you which corner and by how much
Squished on one side (left or right), lifting on the other, and a new mesh does not help	The X gantry twists slightly	3 Axis Twist, then 4 Auto Calibration. Axis Twist
Poor adhesion everywhere although the height looks right	Bed surface or temperature	Clean the bed, check the slicer's bed temperature for the filament. Warping materials (ABS, ASA): a bed soak - Print setup NebulaOS adds
The Z offset drifts: right today, wrong after a restart	The adjustment was not saved, or something changed at the front-left corner	Look at Tune → Z Offset: it should say saved. After work on the front-left corner: Load Cell Calibration, then 4 Auto Calibration. Load cell
Auto Calibration fails at the load cell or the Z offset	The load cell check does not pass	Tune → Calibration → Load Cell Calibration shows why; Manual mode with a water bottle is the fallback

The Calibration menu also says when something needs redoing: an orange Redo: line under a row means a change since then has made it stale.

After the first layer

What you see	The fix
Faint echoes trailing sharp corners on fast prints (ringing, ghosting)	5 Input Shaper. Input Shaper
Walls uniformly too thick or too thin, everywhere	6 E-Steps. E-Steps
Parts are parallelograms; diagonals differ	7 Skew Correction. Skew Correction
Bed or nozzle temperature swinging around its target	2 Heaters (PID). Heaters (PID)
Loud or warm motors	TMC Autotune (optional). TMC Autotune
Corner bulges, blobs, stringing, wrong flow	Per filament, in the slicer: see Flow, pressure advance and temperature

What NebulaOS adds to every print

The adaptive mesh, purge line, optional bed soak and firmware retraction: Print setup NebulaOS adds.

Next

• Calibration explained - every routine in detail
• Need help? Troubleshooting