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KAMP and Axis Twist Compensation

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Tim edited this page Jun 16, 2026 · 1 revision

Getting a Perfect First Layer (KAMP + Axis Twist Compensation)

This guide fixes the single most common Ender-3 V3 KE complaint: a first layer that looks great in the middle of the bed but is squished on one side and lifting/too-high on the other — usually worse going left-to-right. If you've leveled, re-leveled, meshed, and tweaked Z-offset and it still does this, you're in the right place. We'll fix it properly, and it stays fixed.

You don't need to be a programmer. If you can copy-paste commands into a terminal, you can do this.

Will this actually help me?

Yes, if: your first layer is inconsistent across the bed — one side smooshed, the other side barely sticking — even though the bed is clean and not visibly warped, and bed mesh hasn't solved it.

Probably not the whole story, if: the bed physically rocks/has play (check by gently pushing the corners), or one spot is dramatically high/low. Fix loose hardware first, then come back.

Why this happens (in plain English)

Your printer probes the bed before a print to build a "map" (a bed mesh) and corrects for bumps. The probe sits a couple of centimetres behind the nozzle. Here's the catch: the X-axis (the bar the nozzle rides on) twists by a tiny fraction of a degree as it moves left to right. That twist tilts the probe just enough that the height it measures isn't the height the nozzle will actually print at. The bed mesh faithfully records this wrong number — so no amount of re-meshing fixes it.

Axis Twist Compensation measures that error at a few points and corrects it, so the probe finally tells the truth. KAMP is a complementary upgrade that meshes only the area your print actually covers (faster, more accurate) and lays a tidy purge line right next to the print. Together they give a clean first layer edge to edge.

You can do either one on its own — they're independent. Axis Twist is the one that fixes the left/right problem; KAMP is a quality-of-life bonus.

Before you start

  • ⏱️ Time: about 30–45 minutes, most of it the guided calibration.
  • 🧰 You need: the printer on your network, a computer, and a sheet of paper. No tools, no disassembly.
  • 💻 Skill: if you can paste a few commands into the Klipper console, you can do this.
  • ↩️ Safe to try: every change here is reversible (see Undoing it), and none of it touches your prints until you run the calibration.

⚠️ One important warning — read this

These changes live in the printer's system files. A Creality firmware update will erase them. That's not a disaster — just re-run the OpenKE installer afterwards and the mods come back — but it's why you should bookmark this. After any firmware update, see After a firmware update at the bottom.

What this guide was tested on
Printer Creality Ender-3 V3 KE
Firmware V1.1.0.15
Probe CR-Touch / BLTouch (the standard KE probe)
Interface Mainsail (Fluidd works too)

The installer already set this up

Good news: you don't install KAMP or Axis Twist by hand anymore. The OpenKE installer does it for you.

When you ran the installer it asked "Install OpenKE print-quality mods? (Y/n)" — if you said yes (the default), it already:

  • dropped in the KAMP config (pre-edited for the KE) and auto-included it,
  • copied the Axis Twist Compensation module into Klipper and patched probe.py for you (safely, with a backup), and added the [axis_twist_compensation] section with the correct KE bed bounds.

Didn't see that prompt, or said no? Just re-run the installer and answer Y at the mods prompt. It's idempotent — safe to run again. Then come back here.

The only thing left for you to do is the one-time calibration below (Axis Twist) and the slicer setup (KAMP). Everything that needs a terminal is already done.

You'll run a few commands in the Klipper console — that's the input box in Mainsail/Fluidd (the web page you open in a browser to control the printer). We'll say "in the console" when that's the case.

Part B — Axis Twist Compensation (the left/right first-layer fix)

The module is already installed (see above). This part is the calibration — the bit only you can do, since it measures your gantry.

Calibrate it (the 5-point paper test)

In the Klipper console, start the guided calibration. No heating needed — just make sure the nozzle tip is clean (no plastic blob):

BED_MESH_CLEAR
AXIS_TWIST_COMPENSATION_CALIBRATE SAMPLE_COUNT=5

The printer will probe, then move the nozzle to the first of 5 spots across the bed and show a small "Manual Probe" box. At each spot you do the classic paper test:

  1. The nozzle starts about 5 mm up. Bring it down in steps using the buttons in the box (or TESTZ Z=-1, then smaller).
  2. Slide a sheet of paper under the nozzle and keep lowering in small steps (-0.1, then -0.05, -0.01) until you feel light drag on the paper — the same feel as setting Z-offset. Too far? Back off with +0.01.
  3. Tap ACCEPT. The nozzle lifts and moves to the next spot. Repeat.

🎯 The one trick that matters: use the exact same paper feel at all 5 spots. The tool only cares about the difference between spots, so consistency is everything.

After the 5th spot, it prints the results. Lock them in permanently:

SAVE_CONFIG

Klipper restarts and you're done. Run a print (or a first-layer test) that covers the whole bed — the left/right unevenness should be gone. 🎉

(If the overall height feels slightly off now, just nudge your Z-offset a touch as usual — the twist is fixed, this is only fine-tuning.)

On the OpenKE screen: there's a built-in wizard — Tune → Axis Twist — that walks you through this same 5-point calibration on the printer itself, no console needed.

Part A — KAMP (optional: smarter meshing + auto purge line)

KAMP makes the printer mesh only the footprint of your print (instead of the whole bed every time) and draws a clean purge line right beside it. It's optional but nice. It needs the Exclude Object feature, which the KE already has on by default.

The installer already set up KAMP

The KAMP config (pre-edited for the KE — separate ADAPTIVE_BED_MESH_CALIBRATE command, so it doesn't fight the KE's built-in meshing) is dropped in and auto-included by the installer. You don't clone anything or edit config files. There's just one optional tweak and one required slicer step:

Optional — richer mesh. KAMP works with the stock 5×5 mesh, but a denser mesh is nicer. If you want it, make your [bed_mesh] section in printer.cfg look like this (the two KE-fussy settings are flagged):

[bed_mesh]
speed: 350
horizontal_move_z: 8
mesh_min: 5,10
mesh_max: 215,215
probe_count: 9,9
algorithm: bicubic       # ← required when probe_count is above 6, or Klipper errors out
fade_start: 1
fade_end: 10

Don't add zero_reference_position or relative_reference_index here — they either aren't supported on the KE or conflict with KAMP. If a config you copied has them, remove them.

Required — tell your slicer to use it (OrcaSlicer)

KAMP runs from your slicer's Machine start G-code. In Orca, turn on Label Objects, then set your machine start G-code to run things in this order:

M140 S[bed_temperature_initial_layer_single]   ; start heating bed
M104 S[nozzle_temperature_initial_layer]       ; start heating nozzle (don't wait)
G28                                             ; home
ADAPTIVE_BED_MESH_CALIBRATE                     ; mesh just the print area
M190 S[bed_temperature_initial_layer_single]   ; wait for bed temp
SMART_PARK                                      ; park next to the print to finish heating
M109 S[nozzle_temperature_initial_layer]       ; wait for nozzle temp
LINE_PURGE                                      ; purge a line beside the print

The exact temperature tokens vary by Orca version; what matters is the order: home → mesh → heat → park → purge.

Set it up manually (advanced)

The installer does all of this for you. If you'd rather do it by hand — or want to know exactly what the installer changed — here are the steps.

Axis Twist (manual)

  1. Drop the module into Klipper: 
    wget --no-check-certificate \
  "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Klipper3d/klipper/v0.12.0/klippy/extras/axis_twist_compensation.py" \
  -O /usr/share/klipper/klippy/extras/axis_twist_compensation.py
  2. Connect it to the probe — make the one edit to probe.py shown in If the installer skipped the probe patch above.
  3. Add the config section to printer.cfg (anywhere above the #*# SAVE_CONFIG marker): 
    [axis_twist_compensation]
calibrate_start_x: 20
calibrate_end_x: 200
calibrate_y: 110
  4. Restart Klipper (if it shuts down with a serialqueue error, restart once more — Troubleshooting), then run the calibration above.

KAMP (manual)

  1. Download and copy the config: 
    cd /tmp
git clone https://github.com/kyleisah/Klipper-Adaptive-Meshing-Purging.git kamp-src
cd /usr/data/printer_data/config
cp -r /tmp/kamp-src/Configuration ./KAMP
cp /tmp/kamp-src/Configuration/KAMP_Settings.cfg ./KAMP_Settings.cfg
  2. Edit KAMP/Adaptive_Meshing.cfg so it doesn't override the KE's built-in meshing (this is the part the vendored copy already has done):
    • rename [gcode_macro BED_MESH_CALIBRATE] → [gcode_macro ADAPTIVE_BED_MESH_CALIBRATE]
    • delete the rename_existing: line
    • in the call near the bottom, drop the leading underscore: _BED_MESH_CALIBRATE … → BED_MESH_CALIBRATE …
  3. In KAMP_Settings.cfg, uncomment the includes for Adaptive_Meshing.cfg, Line_Purge.cfg, and Smart_Park.cfg.
  4. Add [include KAMP_Settings.cfg] near the top of printer.cfg, then Restart Klipper (if it shuts down with a serialqueue error, restart once more — Troubleshooting).

Undoing it

Everything reverts cleanly. The easiest path is the installer's uninstall (see Installation), which removes the KAMP/Axis-Twist config and tells you how to restore probe.py. By hand:

Axis Twist Compensation:

cp -a /usr/data/guppyify-backup/probe.py.bak /usr/share/klipper/klippy/extras/probe.py
rm /usr/share/klipper/klippy/extras/axis_twist_compensation.py
rm /usr/data/printer_data/config/GuppyScreen/axis_twist_compensation.cfg

…then delete the saved [axis_twist_compensation] block (if any) from printer.cfg and FIRMWARE_RESTART.

KAMP:

rm -rf /usr/data/printer_data/config/GuppyScreen/KAMP \
       /usr/data/printer_data/config/GuppyScreen/KAMP_Settings.cfg

…then FIRMWARE_RESTART.

If the installer skipped the probe patch ("STOP")

The installer patches probe.py automatically, but it deliberately skips (printing STOP) if your firmware's probe.py is structured differently than expected — better to skip than half-apply. If that happened, do the one edit by hand:

  1. Open /usr/share/klipper/klippy/extras/probe.py.
  2. Find the function def _probe and, just before its return epos[:3] line, paste: 
         axis_twist_compensation = self.printer.lookup_object(
         'axis_twist_compensation', None)
     if axis_twist_compensation is not None:
         epos[2] += axis_twist_compensation.get_z_compensation_value(pos)
  3. Save, then FIRMWARE_RESTART. If Klipper comes back happy, carry on to the calibration above.

After a firmware update

A Creality firmware update wipes the Klipper-side changes (this is true of any Klipper mod). Putting them back takes a couple of minutes:

  1. Re-run the OpenKE installer and answer Y at the print-quality-mods prompt. That re-installs KAMP and re-patches probe.py for you.
  2. Re-calibrate Axis Twist (the 5-point test above) and SAVE_CONFIG — the saved correction is cleared by the update.
  3. Your slicer start G-code lives on your computer, so KAMP's slicer side survives — just double-check it after any OrcaSlicer update.

Bookmark this page and revisit it after every Creality firmware update.

🖨️ OpenKE

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