z calibration tower 5 mm graduations

thingiverse

A 20-mm cube isn't enough to validate your Z-axis steps factor. The calibration should be done with taller test prints or otherwise an undetectable 2-3% error in the height of a 20-mm cube can translate into a very much obvious 2-3 mm per each 10 cm of height in taller prints! This is a 10-cm tall cylinder that can be printed with a single wall line to calibrate your z-steps. It has graduations every 5 mm that can help you verify your percentage error. Look for example at my test that was printed with the default z-steps in my printer. It was ~1% taller than it should have been. I verified that both on the full length and the distance from the base to the last graduation that should have read 95 mm that was also 1% longer. This allowed me to adjust the z steps, and the resulting test was almost spot on! Link to <a href="https://www.tinkercad.com/things/2d2QjmYWvfw">tinkercad</a> design. Rev. 1 has thicker walls (0.86 mm) so your slicer won't require the "detect thin walls" or "print thin walls" setting being ticked. I still recommend the original version for a faster, less wasteful print; just make sure you select the thin wall setting in the slicer.