How To Calibrate Your 3D Printers Extruder Esteps (Ender 3)

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In this video I show you what goes into calibrating your 3D printers Extruder Steps or Esteps. This is very important because if your printer is not calibrated you will experience underextrusion or overextrusion. It is not very difficult to calibrate your extruder and I am hear to guide you through it.

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Calipers I use:

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[samschneider]

Thank you so much, I just got a new extruder and this helped me a lot!!

[larryfroot]

At last. Someone has explained "the simple mathematical formula" that is so simple, no-one else is prepared to share it. I mean, why not rely on newbies being telepathic? Thank you so much for this explanation as to how the e-steps are actually calculated. Really appreciated.

[TheSchane]

There is a time and place for detailed, laborious tutorials when you want to learn. But this one was quick, too the point, and clear enough for laymen to understand and follow. Cheers for not over-complicating things. very well done.

[ManOfManyLayers]

I don't calibrate e-steps often enough to remember the gcodes & formula. I've came back to this same video multiple times over the past few years. Extremely helpful, thanks for making this!

[ToyDestroyerYT]

2 years later and still out here saving lives. Thanks for making this vid!

[stefanschmidt]

finally someone making a "for dummies" tutorial with software recommendation! thank you so much!

[JoshStribling]

Thanks for the tutorial!

FYI: These same basic steps can be done using the Ender 3 control panel as well.

Here are the steps for setting up the test:
1.) "Control > Temperature > Preheat PLA conf" -- to change the End temperature from default 185 -> 210
2.) "Control > Motion > Steps/mm" -- to view and modify the steps for each axis. (Default for E does seem to be 93.0)
3.) "Control > Store Settings" -- to SAVE the changes that you made.

Then to test:
1.) "Prepare > Preheat PLA > Preheat PLA End" -- to start warming up the nozzle
2.) "Prepare > Auto Home" -- to home the printer
3.) "Prepare > Move Axis > Move Z > Move 10mm" -- set to 50mm
4.) "Prepare > Move Axis > Move Y > Move 10mm" -- set to 50mm
5.) "Prepare > Move Axis > Move X > Move 10mm" -- set to 50mm
6.) -- Wait on the Info screen for the Nozzle to reach 210 --
7.) "Prepare > Move Axis > Extruder > Move 10mm" -- increment the current value by 100mm
*Note: If you do several tests in a row, the Extruder value does not reset to 0, so just add 100mm to the current value (such as 100 -> 200 for the second test)

At this point you can measure the filament per instructions in the video.

If you need to make adjustments, be sure to use the current E-step value in place of 93.0 for the 9300 / [extruded length] calculation, and then repeat steps 2-3 in the setup.
Then, if your nozzle is still hot and you did not home the print head, run the test again starting at step 7.

Finally, once you have an acceptable measurement, you can either...
A.) Start printing something! (since you hot end is ready to go)
B.) Be sure to cooldown your print head before turning the printer off...

Cooldown:
1.) "Prepare > Cooldown" -- Turn off the heater in your print head
2.) -- Wait on the Info screen for the Nozzle to reach ~30 --
3.) Turn off the printer

[realtoy]

Not sure if I said it before, but this is the BEST video on YouTube for properly adjusting the E-steps for the extruder. Thanks!

[darklemon]

Great help with figuring out what the issue was after I upgraded my Bowden to direct drive, 3d printers are one of those things you never stop learning about and add knowledge to life

[DJProPlusMax]

So useful. Should 100% be in every beginner's tutorial to 3D printing.
Thank you very much.

[mikesbasement]

This is the first video/website I've found that explains a workable way to do this on a unit with a bowden tube. Thank you!

[vernonrandall]

Not sure if you have seen this. I tried your process at least 5 times and the M500 would not store. Until I remembered a YouTube channel were it was mentioned to make sure you have an sd card in your printer I tried this and it seems to work. I don't why but it worked. I will check and see if it continues. Thought you might mention it in your next e step calibration video. Keep up the good work I check back often.

[GoToTheGymPlz]

I still go back to this video💀🫡🫡thank you bro

[darkstaff]

I uaed your video a couple years ago to perform this calibration and it worked perfectly. Once again, I needed it and once again, I am calibrated perfectly. Thank you!

[MarionCravens]

Thank you. I literally needed to do this to my Ender 3 and this video helped tremendously. I did an upgrade on the extruder and changed to a silent mainboard. Its now printing like a champ.

[isaiahbenitez]

I just wanted to say thank you for this video, helps a lot and makes the whole process a lot less scary to try at first.

[RC]

gotta few hundred hours on my ender 3 v2 now . it is my first printer and i feel like it will not be long that i will have to start tweeking the settings and this vid helped me better understand what ill be facing in the near future .. thank you!!!

[WisdomAndWhisk]

Thanks. I literally just got the same MicroSwiss direct drive you have and this is exactly the info I needed. This helps me so much.

[ramtek]

If you've seen (as I have) the other Youtube videos on this topic then you know how good this video really is. Thanks very much and keep up the good (intelligible) work. One suggestion: Forget the Sharpie. Flush cut the filament before & after the 100mm extrusion where it exits the extruder. Much easier to measure. Not sure why you think it's important to actually extrude from the printhead. I wonder how many newbies have calipers. They should be one of the first tools they buy. INVALUABLE!!!

[BlazeInLifee]

omg! this video was amazing! a friend sent it to me and now my ender 3 is printing perfectly fine with no issues and no under extrusion