The book was a great intro for me. Lots of concepts covered in enough detail to lead me to do more research. I recommend this books to other and II hope there is a v2 soon.
@Rob_Giseburt i got the same impression when i entered reprap on IRC and told them i am the Community Manager of @Makible
It’s about time that we all open up a bit and accept that Beginners in 3d Printing wont just go away. If we open up and maybe stop being bitchy about every little detail someone gets wrong and suggest improvement instead, Beginners will see we’re open and want to help. If we just turn them away by yelling at “how wrong” they are, they will buy Books instead. And believe me, there will be A LOT MORE OF Books out there soon.
There is Money in 3d Printing, so people who don’t have NO freaking clue, will start writing Books about it.
Better have someone like @Brian_Evans or @Josef_Prusa writing books and reviewing/improve them, right?
Going back to the main subject; the difficulty in levelling the bed.
I recall that Gavilan of:
had some software which automated scanning of the bed so that you would have an exact measurement to make an adjustment.
This wasn’t on a 3D Printer, I think it was a CNC machine set up for milling pcb’s.
I just realised that what Gavin did, using software to take measurements of the bed with a programming routine and probe could be adapted for a delta printer (what I call a “spider printer”).
What you would do is attach a probe to the printing head (a microswitch should suffice)
The software would then scan the bed taking measurements at various locations; record the position of the 3 stepper motor driven carriages; from these measurements calculate the starting position required for each carriage to ensure a level print.
This could be a practically automated process resulting in an easy method of levelling the bed for any d I y user.
Really? I just did a quick look, and I can’t find anywhere in the book that suggests leveling the build plate specifically using a spirit level.
I do see a spirit level listed in a long list of useful tools, right after “precision dial indicator” and a line that says “To build the printers frame you will need the ruler to ensure correct spacing and the square and torpedo level to make things level and square.” I could see how that could be misconstrued to mean build plate, but seems like a minor issue in a book that is mostly about designing 3D models, not building 3D printers…
This book is not bad, Rich! I really enjoyed it. There are some pretty useful details, though it does wear its vendor prejudices on its sleeve a bit. Looks like I gotta get you to be a tech reader for me so that my book doesn’t fail the Whosawhatsis test… 
Thanks @Matt_Joyce , @Tony_Buser , and @Matthew_Griffin its appreciated. Sure you might see a bias in there but its only because I had to work with what I had. Thanks to @Whosa_whatsis , @Dave_Durant and others I was able to feature more things in the book than I had access to. Some folks that I contacted for permission to use an image wanted $1000 or more in return. In the end, this book is the first book on the market aimed at personal 3d printing and the only one without a brand bias (such as Makerbot or RepRap) and Im proud of it. Hopefully we can all come together as a community and embrace a diversity of opinion and welcome beginners with enthusiasm.
I used a spirit level my first time 
Level the bench first, of course, then work your way up to the bars, leveling absolutely everything on your way up. It took a while, but it worked!
I just bought it last weekend. I wouldn’t dare criticize someone’s book unless I’ve done it better.
@Brian_Evans That book is really solid work, I don’t mean to focus on the “vendor prejudice” thing – I have recommended your book to many new users including through Adafruit gift guides back in December.
I used a spirit level too. But first I built a small table/plate with adjustable legs so everything was level from the “ground” up. I think the book is the best sort of technical book I’ve read since “Real Word Adobe Illustrator CS4” … Personal 3D printing is really hard to get into. There is so many “moving” parts, aka. Software, websites etc. The reprap wiki is sort of a very disorganized mess (I have yet to find a page index on it) and at the moment best practice change very fast. Eg. stiff threaded rods vs. loose threaded rods. 3 point leveling vs. 4, beginners should go for 3mm filament vs. 1.75mm, this from the top of my head that have changed just the last 6 months …
Also, this 330 page book has about 2 pages on tools and like 30 pages teaching you how to turn me into a little fat devil with meshmixer http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29789 (not much of a stretch, I know) So, it can’t be all bad right?
Wait, you mean you don’t use a spirit level? The first thing I always do before trying to set nozzle height is to use the “spirit level” app on my phone to check level of the x-axis bars, y-axis bars, and bed, and then I pull out the feeler gauge and check nozzle to bed distance. Didn’t realize I was doing it wrong all this time.
@Tony_Buser + like a million. That was a fun project… my students got a kick out of that days lesson… “ok class, today we are going to turn my tech reviewer into a little monster…” To which a student responded, “Is that what happens to us when we misbehave?”
@Donald_Gaither_Wooki I think the point here is that it cant be all wrong if if works for you.
I feel like I’ve been indirectly accused half a dozen times over night of rage against newbies. This absolutely not the case. What I have a huge problem with is people giving bad information to those newbies and causing them to make obvious mistakes that people who aren’t newbies learned not to make 3 years ago. This is a pro-newbies position, I don’t want newbies getting hurt by bad information. The idea that a spirit level should be among the tools used on an extrusion-based 3d printer is one of these bad ideas, and I have zero tolerance for hurting new users by leading them to make such obvious mistakes.
@Whosa_whatsis … I don’t agree with you, and you yourself don’t agree with yourself. …
You imply that newbies should be encouraged to do things by the best method possible which is obviously a dial test indicator. However you yourself indicate that you do not use a dial test indicator.
The point is there are several ways to achieve results and none of them are wrong they are just different.
It’s up to us to keep everyone informed as to the various methods and then they can choose the method that best suit the way they work, the materials they have available; the situation they are in.
@Whosa_whatsis Seriously let it go. Every time you say newbie it makes me cringe and the way you use the term is disparaging. When you say “I have zero tolerance for hurting new users by leading them to make such obvious mistakes.” what you mean is leading them to make such obvious mistakes as deemed by you in all your infinite god almighty of 3d printerdom ways. Yes I included a spirit level in a list of tools that might be purchased. If people actually believe that is reason enough to not buy the book then they are entitled as you are to your opinion. Now can we move on?
@Tony_Hine_Nifty_Acce If I said that everyone should be using dial indicators, I was mistaken. I have never thought that everyone should be doing it that way. I think that the feeler gauge method is best for most users, and that’s what I would recommend. There are several different methods, but that doesn’t mean they are all equally valid. Some are good, some are bad, and some are less than ideal but entirely workable. I’ve seen what happens when people try to use spirit levels for squaring, and the reason for this post was another recent thread in which a user was printing non-square parts, and I was shocked to find that the reason was that they had tried to use a spirit level instead of properly squaring. I believe that putting a spirit level on the list of tools you might use is damaging to the learning process because it leads people down the wrong path.
I’m not trying to disparage newbies. We all start as newbies, and newbies become experienced users by getting good information from other experienced users. Getting bad information from apparently experienced users has the opposite effect, and when somebody does that to new users, I think that it worth disparaging.
@Whosa_whatsis , I think people took exception to you rubbishing a book they found useful. you did it in a very public and ungracious manner. I remember levelling my bench, bed and bridge with a spirit level, no harm done. Soon after I bought callipers and in fact these days I use a metal ruler. Often, the journey is important. With regards to zero tolerance attitudes, they are often difficult to work with. Never the less, it’s all good debate.
I’ll admit that it was hasty to slag off the book the way I did based on one excerpt from it. The book was brought up in another thread where a user was having problems with their prints that were caused by this one piece of bad advice. When I heard that the bad advice came from a book, I used the page linked above to verify that it was in the book and let my outrage that one of the few books on the subject was misleading new users take over. I was then insulted by the implication that I was slagging off new users when my intention was the opposite, I was upset that they were being given bad advice by someone in a position of authority who should know better. I got a very bad first impression of the book, but several people I trust have said here that it’s not as bad as that first impression suggested, so I’m going to amend my original post.