Unanswered Adjusting Z Endstop for Leveling?

So, my R1's auto-leveling doesn't seem to be quite hitting the mark. Specifically, the Y gap seems to grow when moving from the front to the back of the bed. So, this is a 2-part question. First, is there anything I need to disable in MatterControl if I want to try my hand at manual leveling, rather than using auto-leveling? And second, if I want to follow the leveling instructions found in this video -- -- how do I go about adjusting the Z endstop as he suggests? Sorry if these are novice questions, but I am (after all) a novice....

 

So, I'm too anxious/impatient, and decided to get started on the process of leveling the bed prior to receiving any responses to my initial questions. But, I do still need some help. Here is an update of where I am at.

It took three rounds of measuring with paper and two sets of adjustments to get the bed level, but I finally have it pretty darn close. I used 5 points of reference on the bed (the center and each corner) and approached leveling by homing the Z-axis on each of the points in MatterControl and then raising it in small increments until it reached the point at which the resistance had been reduced just enough for me to push the paper away from me without it starting to arch up off of the bed from being held to firmly in place by the print head. My logic was that the smaller the amount lift required to reach this point, the larger the initial gap was. To make adjustments after each round of measurements, I used the really low-tech approach of placing "paper shims" (squares of paper small enough to fit inside the magnet wells under the bed) beneath the corners that had larger gaps. Since a sheet of paper is about 50 microns thick, I placed one shim for every 0.05mm needed to bring each of the corners as close to level with the others as possible in these increments. I think that makes sense, right?

The following are the measurements for how much I had to lift my Z-axis at each of the 5 points during my three rounds of leveling.

POSITION --- LIFT REQUIRED

ROUND 1:
Center --- 0.44mm
Front-Left --- 0.44mm
Back-Right --- 0.36mm
Front-Right --- 0.34mm
Back-Left --- 0.36mm

Added two paper shims under Back-Right, Front-Right, and Back-Left​

ROUND 2:
Center --- 0.48mm
Front-Left --- 0.46mm
Back-Right --- 0.54mm
Front-Right --- 0.54mm
Back-Left --- 0.48mm

Added two paper shims under Front-Left and one under the Back-Left​

ROUND 3:
Center --- 0.54mm
Front-Left --- 0.54mm
Back-Right --- 0.54mm
Front-Right --- 0.52mm
Back-Left --- 0.52mm
​

So after 3 rounds of measurements, I got all 5 points within 0.02mm of each other. Now, I am left with two new questions. First, is my paper shim solution a workable one that will suffice for keeping my bed level? And second, if the shims will do the trick, what adjustments must I now make in MatterControl to get my extruder to the correct height for laying down a nice first layer?

 

Thanks Mark,

MatterControl has a Z-Offset setting built right into the GUI, which I believe eliminates the need for a M565 command, right? (There isn't one currently listed in the "Custom G-Code" of MC at least...). As for settings that I should start with, in an effort to overcome print issues I was having (prior to realizing it was a bed-leveling issue) I made adjustments to the first layer height and Z-Offset this past week. I don't recall exactly what they were set to prior to tweaking them (should have written that down). Based on the Z lift measurements in my last post, can you recommend initial settings that I should use for bottom layer height and Z-Offset as I get started with calibrating things?

 

Just my preference.. I use the M565 code for the Z offset. I found that MC didn't seem consistent with the Z offset setting. Since I occasionally use different slicers, I got used to sticking the M565 code in for consistency and zeroing the offsets in the app settings. I'm no expert on gcode but after I started inserting the code directly, I found it to work out better.

 

Good to know. Thanks for the pointer. So, to take this approach with MC, I would leave the Z offset in the GUI set to 0 and then just add the M565 code to the custom G-Code, correct? Where in the G-Code should I add that? I have downloaded Repetier and am trying to get it configured, so I'll be transitioning over to that in the foreseeable future. But for the time being, I'd like to try out the M565 approach with MC. Thanks.

 

Correct, there is a spot for custom start-up GCode. I should have been more clear with my question. What I actually meant was, where in the sequence of the GCode should the M565 line be placed? Does the order matter?