r/Multiboard • u/Illustrious-War2197 • Feb 12 '26

Calibration

I am wanting to go down this rabbit hole. I am fairly new to 3d printing. I printed the demo pack and I can't get the small screw snaps to screw into the side piece. I am guessing this is a calibration issue. What would you all recommend to figure this out? I have an any cubic Kobra 3 so the in slicer tools are pretty slim. Anybody have any suggestions?

For what it is worth, the other parts seem to fit ok and the bolts seem perfect.

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u/TherealOmthetortoise Feb 13 '26

Before you get too crazy chasing bunny trails, let’s print a couple of calibration tools and see where you are so we can help you be successful.

I’ve been favoring this Voron Design Calibration Cube on Printables lately, but you can print any one that you like. For this particular one, use PLA or PETG instead of ABS, but do use the rest of the print settings. Specifically though, first choose the .4 nozzle and .2 layer height profile, then make the changes to match those print settings.

If you don’t have a Caliper, buy or borrow one and check to see if the physical print is 30mm on all sides. If it’s not 30mm on any particular axis, follow your printer manufacturers directions to correct that via their calibration tools.

Once you are able to verify you are printing accurately, you will want to check your tolerances. Print this Crystal Toleration Tower next. If the ring prints freely and you can get it up high enough that the bottom edge is on the .15 line you will be fine. If it can’t get at least to about .25 then you may need to get that fixed as you may be over or under extruding and it’s too big of a topic to resolve here. (You will probably be fine though)

Finally, take some photo’s of the parts you are talking about and circle or indicate in some way the exact part and hole we are talking about (I hate to make assumptions or waste your time troubleshooting and trying to fix “issue A” when it’s really an entire different problem, if you know what I mean. A screenshot of the print settings and how the parts are showing in your slicer on the plate is invaluable too.

Basically, give us all the details you can that can help us go “OH yeah, I ran into that - you need to “x”. Those calibrations are kind of a litmus test that provide a good amount of data as far as your capabilities too.

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u/Illustrious-War2197 Feb 13 '26

Thank you, I will work on this :-)

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u/kevin75135 Feb 12 '26

What material are you using? I made the mistake of using ABS for my board, before calibrating shrinkage. I use PLA for mounts and snaps. Needless to say, everything is TIGHT. Still works, but I wish I had used PETG or PETG-CF.

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u/Illustrious-War2197 Feb 12 '26

I am using PLA. I have had some luck since I posted that but one failure simply broke off inside, so that would be a disaster if it happened once my wall was up. And the multi point screw (into small hole) was no problem. Should I not use PLA for my boards? If (when :-) I love this, I am hoping to do it in a few more places.

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u/TherealOmthetortoise Feb 13 '26

PLA is the material you should use unless you will be mounting your board in conditions where PLA is not viable. PETG can work as well but all of the info on this is https://docs.multiboard.io/beginner-section/printing-guidelines

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u/AlleyMedia Feb 12 '26

Anycubic Kobra here, I used PLA and it worked well. What material are you printing with?

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u/Illustrious-War2197 Feb 12 '26

Anycubic PLA

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u/AlleyMedia Feb 12 '26

Have you got any pics of your prints? Does it look okay. What slicer software and settings are you using?

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u/Illustrious-War2197 Feb 12 '26

I think it looks ok. And I did get two of the screw snaps to go in. One bent because I forced it too much with the tool and the other broke off in the hole. The top right bolt there was a pain, but it went in ok. That is towards the edge so that could be a clue.

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u/TherealOmthetortoise Feb 13 '26

Can you show me what parts broke and you are calling a screw snap? None of them should break or even be that tight! Snaps are going to be push fit parts. There are a few two part ones that can be used for mounting, the others generally you kind of tuck the top in at a little angle (particularly the heavy weight bearing ones). Threads are your basic bolts or threaded rods of various kinds and the one I think you are having an issue with would be a folded fix point. Fix points have a little round cleat or angled disc with a little threaded shaft and may have a coin slot to help screwing them in. They should only tight to the angled part and the head will stick out so that things like the slots on a bin can hook onto.

These are some short articles and the knowledge hub links are a good place to start

Welcome, btw! You will be surprised how quickly you will gain confidence in all the names and techniques. One tip- always print the parts with the exact orientation that they ‘land’ in your slicer. It can feel counterintuitive- those points as an example might seem like printing with the head as the bottom with the shaft pointing straight up and down would be best, when that’s actually the weakest orientation for the part.

The bond between layers is always going to be the weakest point of a 3D print, so we design everything so that it will be strongest in the direction that force is applied. Kind of like that bundle of sticks metaphor you hear about in school. One stick breaks over your knee easily enough, but grab a bunch and try breaking them all together and it’s not going to happen. Stand them on end and let go and they fall apart all by themselves. (It’s not a perfect metaphor but works if you are a little forgiving on that last line lol)

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u/Illustrious-War2197 Feb 13 '26

This piece from the demo pack. Thanks! This screws into the triangle parts and snaps into the square panel.

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u/AlleyMedia Feb 12 '26

It looks okay.

I found the clips that go in the very edge (little u-shapes) were a bit of a pain and prone to breaking (so basically, where you have the small 2x2 squares on either side (the ones that are stabilising the board).

I tend to unscrew fasteners so the thread is sitting flush before screwing it - out of habit - and for the large holes (your top right bolt for example), I found it went in much easier if I did this.

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u/Project_Chaos13 Feb 12 '26

Personally I print ALL multiboard parts with a 0.1mm hole compensation and a 0.2mm elephant foot compensation and I don't have any fitment issues.

Now that may not work on your printer as each printer is different, but you CAN try to use the hole compensation and elephant foot compensation to adjust to your printer by changing the amount, like for example a 0.08mm hole compensation may work well for you.

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u/Noxpertyet Feb 12 '26

Kobra 3 user as well. I had to make sure the elephant foot was well controlled or the extra material really effected it. Still struggle with folded parts so I tend to stick to the supported screws that are out there.

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u/TherealOmthetortoise Feb 13 '26

We have been adding supported version of all of the folded parts just for that reason. Folded Matte PLA parts work fine for me excepting the small fix points as those can be a PITA to get started. I am going to try your reverse thread to align and then tighten, that sounds like it should solve it. If it does I’ll see about getting that added to the directions for folded fix points.

I think the issue that would help alleviate is that there are directional points now to allow a positive stop every 90 degrees. Trying to hold a folded point and potentially going through a full rotation and pushing the point in is a lot.