Dialled In

Four short lessons on how a printer turns a spool into a part, and what the word "calibration" actually buys you. Every later number in the course is downstream of these ideas — but if you already have them, each lesson carries a link straight to Phase 1.

L1 The machine in four parts Motion, hotend, extruder, bed — and why a bedslinger and a CoreXY fail in different ways. Ends with you writing down what your three machines actually are. Ready L2 Filament is a material, not a supply Glass transition, melt zone, and moisture. Why a wet spool doesn't just print badly — it invalidates every measurement you're about to take. Ready L3 What the slicer actually decides The extrusion equation — flow = height × width × speed — and reading it straight off your own G-code. The one bit of arithmetic the whole course rests on. Ready L4 The calibration mindset One variable, in dependency order, written down. Why the order is fixed and what breaks when you jump ahead. You'll start your tuning log here. Ready

Every filament calibration measures filament plus machine. If the machine is loose, warm-drifting or out of square, you will spend an evening carefully measuring your printer's faults and writing them into a filament profile. These four lessons close that door. Do them once per printer — and again after any hardware change.

L5 Selftest and the health check Run your printer's own hardware check and read the result properly. Separate MK3S, MK4S and Core One paths, plus what each test actually proves. Ready L6 Belt tension and squareness MK3S belt-status numbers, MK4S tensioner screws, Core One belt frequencies in Hz. The measurement that has to be right before Input Shaper means anything. Ready L7 First layer and Z-offset PINDA versus loadcell — two genuinely different procedures. Getting a first layer you can judge, and knowing which knob moved it. Ready L8 Thermal and motion trust PID tuning, thermal model calibration, Input Shaper, and the MK3S-only linearity correction. The last things to fix before the machine stops being a variable. Ready

Now the machine is a constant and the filament is the variable. First import the starter presets so every number has somewhere to live — then seven measurements, always in this order, because each one assumes the ones before it are fixed. Re-run an early step and every later number is void. One legitimate exception, in L16.

L9 Import the starter profiles Download the eSun bundle — twenty-four presets: filament and print, two materials × three printers × two nozzles — import it, and know exactly how much to trust it: every value inherited, none measured. Yet. Ready L10 The temperature tower Find the lowest temperature that still bonds layers. Custom G-code per band, and the snap test that tells you the truth. Ready L11 Extrusion multiplier Single-wall box, twelve caliper readings, one formula. Plus the M221 trap that makes people correct the same error twice. Ready L12 Pressure / Linear Advance The single biggest quality win — and the one place where MK3S and MK4S numbers must never touch. Tuned at production speed or not at all. Ready L13 Retraction Rule out the other three causes of stringing first. Then spike towers, filament overrides, and why more is not a free win on direct drive. Ready L14 Cooling Not one fan speed — two time thresholds, an interpolation and a speed brake. Fan bands per material, and what an enclosure changes. Ready L15 Max volumetric speed Your real speed limit. Find where the wall goes matte, take 85 % of it, and read the flow-rate preview to see it working. Ready L16 Speeds and accelerations Only now. External perimeters low, travel high, dynamic overhang speed on — then sign Phase 2 off. Ready

Measurements that live in a notebook are lost. These lessons turn them into named, machine-scoped, backed-up PrusaSlicer profiles — and a log that keeps a three-printer fleet honest. Each of Phase 2's seven numbers now has somewhere to live, a test that says whether it worked, and a record that says whether you measured it or inherited it.

L17 Profile structure and naming One profile per printer family, compatible-printer conditions that make a mis-selection impossible, and never overwriting a system profile. Ready L18 The validation set Three prints and five acceptance criteria — each failure naming the step to go back to. Sign-off, with a scope. Ready L19 The tuning log Per spool, per printer, per date — and every value marked measured or inherited. The habit that makes the other eighteen lessons compound. Ready

Every target number in the course on one page: belt-status ranges, belt frequencies, the calibration order, the acceptance criteria. Grows as each phase lands.