Brand New Gold Textured PEI Plate

Bambu Lab X1 Series Troubleshooting
1

I have about 331 print hours on my X1-C and so far it’s been great but my question is around the gold textured PEI plate.

The one that arrived with my machine, without glue allowed me to print about 30 prints with nearly perfect adhesion with PLA and PETG. After that, adhesion became not great and I had to use a glue stick. (I have yet to try sanding with 600 grit but it’s on my to do list)

I bought and recieved today my brand new dual side plate, one gold textured PEI the other smooth and I immediately assumed my experience with the textured side would be the same but upon the first PETG print, about 1/3rd way through, the print lost adhesion :frowning:

Aside from tweaking settings, just curious if this is the typical experience (other posts seem pretty varied in experience from too much adhesion to none at all like myself)

  • Detailed description of the problem: Brand new dual-sides gold textured plate has poor adhesion
  • Printer model used: X1-Carbon
  • Slicer settings used: 0.20mm Standard @BBL X1C / Generic PETG
  • Type of filament used: Overture Transparent PETG (using Generic PETG profile)
  • .3mf file: POOT+SHOOT+TUNNEL (2).3mf (779.4 KB)
2

Did you wash the plate before you used it…??

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3

No I did not, I just grabbed it out of box/packaging and started using right away. do you think that would have improved it?

4

Yes, you always wash a new plate.
Use soap & water & then wipe down with IPA.

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5

Thanks I will give that a try for sure. I typically wash my plate after each print with soap and water but I never use IPA, do you think IPA is necessary after each print?

6

I’ll use IPA maybe every 2 weeks or so, depending on how much I’ve printed.
When I wash the plate I use it to make sure the water is gone, as I usually start a print minutes after washing.

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7

I used to use IPA, but I’ve found warm water with dawn, scrubbing light the yellow sponge/green scotchbrite, then drying on paper towels is all I need.

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8

I have had the same loss of adhesion after washing with a good quality soap on both textured and smooth plates. I now use 3DLac or if not available, Magigoo.

I used to use IPA but contrary to many peoples belief, IPA doe leave a residue as it evaporates. Try cleaning a window or monitor screen with IPA and you will see what I mean. Pretty sure it was Angus from Makers Muse who pointed this out in a youtube video about build plate adhesion.

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9

IPA does leave a residue.
I still use it, but use a cloth that only one side is for cleaning the plate, and the other side I sorta buff the plate again to remove most of that residue. Works for me.

I use glue on the smooth with ABS or PETG-HF. Makes prints alot easier to remove from the plate sometimes. I just put a little glue on the plate and wipe with a slightly damp (sometimes dry when I’m in a hurry) cloth. Spreads it evenly over where I need it.

Best way to test is is with the smooth plate, easier to see anything on the plate.

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