So this is a bit complicated to explain, but it started with the hotend scraping against the plate and things not sticking to the bed properly. So I bought a new plate. No change. I noticed that the nozzle was a bit loose and had give to it, so after some research I found that might be the issue so I took the three screws out and tightened the back.
Yay the scraping sound stopped! But now I’m having more adhesion issues with the first layer. I’ve had prints basically just fall over halfway through because it wasn’t really sticking to the base.
Since then I’ve tried cleaning the plates with a lens wipe & later with dawn and scrub daddy type thing. I’ve also done a manual bed leveling (twice to make sure I was doing it right), but I’m still having issues with bed adhesion.
EDIT: Anything with a raft seems to print fine, but other things not so much.
EDIT: I’ve also done some bed cleaning prints. The last two printed pretty well, but usually when I’ve done them they stay stuck to the bed until you peel them off. These last two all came off on their own except in the middle. So it was puffy looking outside the center.
Enh, I’ve seen them improve prints. They’re also good for testing your bed for problems. If it comes out clean you’re probably good. If there’s issues you’ll have… well… issues with the sheet. I’m still newb enough that I haven’t yet put together what the issues are exactly, but even if it doesn’t help get debris off your plate, it’s a good diagnostic tool I think.
I bought a random generic one, but when the problems happened with the other plate I went back to the Bambu textured pei.
I bought new plates thinking that maybe I had caused too much damage to mine by pulling parts off before they were fully cooled. No matter how hard I tried to clean them I could still see a ghost image from where I had done several print jobs of the same item over and over again.
There’s no need to worry about that; it’s normal. All of my plates constantly have ‘ghost images’. As long as you don’t tear off the layer of the plate itself, everything is fine and it’s just normal shadows from printing.
What’s much more important is making sure the plate is free of grease. Use a good soap that doesn’t contain oils, additives or perfume. Use the same soap that you use for washing dishes.
Otherwise, as has already been recommended: check whether the plate is getting warm at all.
Just a personal note: I’m not a fan of the textured plate from Bambu either. It’s fine for prints with large areas, but I would always use a bambu smooth plate for complicated prints.
My advice: Check whether the plate is getting warm! Stay away from these ‘printing plate cleaning prints’! Any cheap dish soap will be more effective.
Yep, as Retrosharky said, the only thing that comes to mind is to check that the bed temperature is correct, maybe some sensor isn’t working properly?
The textured PEI should work around 55°C when printing PLA.
As I said, I’m not a big fan of Bambu’s textured PEI. After a few weeks, it starts losing adhesion, and even after washing it well, it never goes back to being like new.
I still use it occasionally when I need to make two prints in a row and don’t want to remove the first one too quickly, but I wash it before every use and raise the bed temperature to 60°C.
As for cleaning yes, warm water and dish soap is the recommended method for that plate. I’ll add this: get a sponge and a couple of microfiber cloths (for drying) and use them only for that purpose.
It’s probably obvious, but don’t use sponges or cloths you use for other things. And don’t touch the print surface too much, finger grease is enemy number one.
If all this still isn’t enough, my advice for when you eventually buy another plate is to get the Frostbyte by Biqu (only for PLA and PETG). You can get it for about €20 on AliExpress, and it’s one of the best upgrades I’ve ever made for my printer. It work at 35-40°C for PLA, basically as a cool plate (decent saving of energy).
A very bad idea to recommend this - even professionals have problems with it. Rather than using adhesive to make the filament stick better to the plate, professionals usually use it to make it easier to remove again! Not all adhesives are the same! It is often used as a separating layer, not to improve adhesion.
Simply applying adhesive without first obtaining information is a very poor suggestion, especially since your comment does not provide any details about what type of adhesive you are referring to.
This can permanently damage your plate because it erodes into the material.
So multiple people have mentioned adjusting bed temperature. But I usually just use whatever temp things are set at. The only way I know how to change that is to wait for a print to start and then adjust it manually from the printer.
Well… that’s what I was reading. That if you pull a print off too early you might take the top layer of your plate off or something. Enh, there’s a lot of bad advice out there so I’m not too surprised lol.
If you’re using Bambustudio, you can select the three dots next to whatever filament you selected and you can find the setting to change the temperature for your build plate under “Print temperature”. (I would show a picture but im a new user and it doesn’t let me post a picture lol)
I usually adjust mine to 60-65°C if I notice I’m having adhesion issues, and also make sure your filament is dry of course
Water based glue as sold in the store ? its easy to clean it helps with removal (soap and water) there are plenty of threads on the forum, maybe one day i will add a little tip on how and the best time to use , otherwise obviously you can stick to your hairspray
I believe its an old school method , ive never used it either , as for residue from water based glues, i dont appear to have those issues either but im sure it could be removed with a little warm water . residue on the plate just means youve tried to hard and usually on a hot plate
There is no such thing. I have a bed test print model available, it has nothing to do with cleaning, it is about identifying issues.
Regular, wiping with a lint free cloth, not touching the plate other than the edges or front grab section are your friends.
When you get issues follow cleaning advice for the specific build plate.
Only use glue, hairspray or other chemicals if you cannot print without it.
Contrary to the belief of some, it is environmental issues that make this a requirement. I have never once used it and suffered no adhesive issues, nor required it to have a model release from a build plate.
However, how much of any is required is based on factors related to where you live not that you own a 3D printer.
Yeah, I’ve been coming to that conclusion. It definitely has diagnostic value, but not so much on the cleaning.
Glue and hairspray i’m avoiding. Glue helped, but there always seemed to be residue. Felt like solving problems by creating new ones.
