<ol>
<li><p>Usually you install the sensor once and keep it unchanged for years. Nozzle, though, is an element people, depending on printer usage, replace semi-frequently and the Z offset will change with different nozzles, different tightness, etc.</p>
</li>
<li><p>XY probe offset has very little importance - your bed level changes very little over distances of order of 1 cm, so 1 cm of error in XY probe offset is negligible. Meanwhile, even 0.05 mm Z offset difference impacts first-layer adhesion significantly.</p>
</li>
</ol>
<p>On a separate note, you don't need to rebuild the firmware to change the probe offset. You just need an interface (USB cable) and terminal (Pronterface) that allows you to communicate with the printer using G-code. First issue <a href="https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M501.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M501</code></a> to load the configuration from EEPROM, then <a href="https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M851.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M851</code></a> with the right X, Y values to set the XY offset, then <a href="https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M500.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><code>M500</code></a> to save the changes to the config to EEPROM. No firmware update is needed.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-09-08T21:55:35.263Z
2023-09-09T03:38:45.677Z
2023-09-09T03:38:45.677Z
SF.
<p>I should mention that this is my experience with Marlin. I can adjust the Z offset all I want in the UI, but not the X/Y offset. If you reinstall the probe, I've heard you may need to adjust the Z offset (makes sense, you might not mount in the exact same way). I assume X/Y offsets get affected as well, so it doesn't make much sense to me that you'd have to rebuild the firmware to adjust those values. Maybe they're less sensitive to change? Anyways, not sure what makes them special enough to exclude from the UI.</p>
<p>My printer seems to work okay using a prebuilt firmware, though it could just as easily be pointlessly leveling 50 mm off of the nozzle for all I know.</p>

<z-probe><automatic-bed-leveling>
Why is the Z probe offset easily adjustable in the printer UI, but not the X/Y probe offset?
Octanum
# Why is the Z probe offset easily adjustable in the printer UI, but not the X/Y probe offset?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-09-05)

I should mention that this is my experience with Marlin. I can adjust the Z offset all I want in the UI, but not the X/Y offset. If you reinstall the probe, I've heard you may need to adjust the Z offset (makes sense, you might not mount in the exact same way). I assume X/Y offsets get affected as well, so it doesn't make much sense to me that you'd have to rebuild the firmware to adjust those values. Maybe they're less sensitive to change? Anyways, not sure what makes them special enough to exclude from the UI.

My printer seems to work okay using a prebuilt firmware, though it could just as easily be pointlessly leveling 50 mm off of the nozzle for all I know.

**Tags:** z-probe, automatic-bed-leveling


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-09-08. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

1. Usually you install the sensor once and keep it unchanged for years. Nozzle, though, is an element people, depending on printer usage, replace semi-frequently and the Z offset will change with different nozzles, different tightness, etc.
2. XY probe offset has very little importance - your bed level changes very little over distances of order of 1 cm, so 1 cm of error in XY probe offset is negligible. Meanwhile, even 0.05 mm Z offset difference impacts first-layer adhesion significantly.

On a separate note, you don't need to rebuild the firmware to change the probe offset. You just need an interface (USB cable) and terminal (Pronterface) that allows you to communicate with the printer using G-code. First issue [`M501`](https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M501.html) to load the configuration from EEPROM, then [`M851`](https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M851.html) with the right X, Y values to set the XY offset, then [`M500`](https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M500.html) to save the changes to the config to EEPROM. No firmware update is needed.


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