i3 is complete but how to calibrate ??

this is my first printer and am a little confused how to calibrate it ?
I have finally built an i3 Einstein... looks great & I must admit I'm proud to have reached this far... it really was a massive task to order all the parts etc..
& sort through all the variations available in terms of rods, nozzles, etc...

I have opened a USB ( port 3) & I can move the printer's carriages using Repetier's manual control.. so all axis are functioning

But how do I calibrate the printer... I am scared I might hit GO & I end up damaging something since I can not find any info regarding calibration methods.

Your going to have to print to calibrate. Google reprap calibration guide. The worst that will happen is that it will move to far ect, and cause the belt to skip.

[reprap.org]
[richrap.blogspot.com]

Thanks so much for the reply .....

1.) I leveled the bed using the thin paper method.

2.) I loaded the calibration stl file and hit print.

But .... all my axis are reversed ! I notice the nozzle wants to travel down each layer.

Also " extrude " is retracting the filament

How can I flip these around ... I know I could change the wiring on the motor but is there a software method ? I am using Sanguinolu 1.3 board.

Marlin is on the board when I purchased it. Do I need to update the firmware .. & if so can I access the firmware on the board or can I only change firmware by uploading changes to Marlin ??

You are going to need to learn about the nuts and bolts of how your printer works. I would suggest searching on the topic. There is a wealth of information. Yes, you are going to need to edit the firmware for our build and confirm the wiring of the project. Search calibration and commissioning not only in the wiki but in a general search engine as well. You are going to need to have an understanding of how your printer works to get any benefit from any advice. I suggest slowing down, researching some more and you'll be able to get the answers you need. While some of the info is for other printer variants the fundamentals are the same.

I'm building my i3 right now and Marlin is pretty easy to tweak. Open up the Marlin firmware files with the Arduino app and change the configuration file where needed - its all well commented. Then run verify, and upload. I had to do it for mine as I'd mounted the endstops slightly differently than default - its a 5 minute job, if that (note that prior to this I'd never touched an Arduino or RepRap - if I can do it, anyone can.)

To reverse your motor, just flip the 4 pin connector.

Hi same Problem here with calibration but it worked with that!

Calibration Guide NICE!

Thanks for the reply... I'm still battling away here trying to calibrate my i3.

If its not the filament slipping on the hobb bolt.. its issues with filament not sticking to the bed.. & now its my z-axis home position raising approx. 3mm each time I hit home... so after homing a few times the nozzle ends up 10mm above the bed. Why has it starting doing this ??

Each of the issues you mention seems to have an active thread here. Reading through the posts might help a lot. Most of what you are talking about is troubleshooting rather than calibration. The Z axis issue could be a problem with the limit switch (pretty likely) or an overheated stepper driver (less likely) or slipping connections to the z steppers (much less likely).