I am brand new to 3D printing, and I did not know until today to use IPA or soap and water to clean my Cool Plate or any plate. So have been using Clorox wipes for several weeks to clean the glue off the plate. Last night my prints no longer stuck to my plate even with lots of glue.
Can I just clean it with soap and water, and that will restore the plates adhesion or is it basically destroyed and I just need to get a new one. Thanks for your advice and input.
Welcome to 3D printing! It can be frustrating every now and then, but it’s well worth the learning curve.
I haven’t heard of using Chlorox wipes on build plates, but if you’re using the ones with quaternary ammonium compounds as the active ingredient, then those definitely leave a residue. It should come off with soap and warm water, though, so I think you’ll be fine.
Be mindful also to cap your glue every time. We found that slightly dry glue sticks also lead to prints not sticking. Odd, but apparently true.
Ok great thanks for the info.
Just use warm water and dish detergent, preferably in a sink so you can rinse thoroughly.
A grease dissolving detergent like Dawn works well, avoid soaps which can have fats.
A short soak and a small nylon brush or old toothbrush can help with stubborn deposits, especially on textured plates.
Handle by the edges, don’t touch the surface. Fingerprints and skin oils prevent adhesion.
I dry with a clean cloth towel. Some people prefer paper towels to keep residue from soaps and softeners from contaminating the plate. Our clothes washing detergent has never caused a problem, maybe because it is unscented and we do not use fabric softeners (which often contain wax).
Thank you so much for the information.
As the others have pointed out, you should only really clean the plate with hot water and dish soap. I can usually tell it’s clean enough when the water starts to sheet off the plate.
I had issues with my cool plate and adhesion until I bumped plate temperatures up to 55c after reading others comments. May have been because I wasn’t using Bambu Labs branded filament, but I didn’t haven’t had issues since then. No matter what temperature, you should continue to use glue, as PLA can stick quite hard with no release agent.
I was wondering that, I saw that the plate temperature is recommended between 35-45, but you are saying 55 is fine?
I’m not sure about how it will effect the longevity of the plate, but it worked fine for me. I have quite a few different brands of PLA, and I found that 55 seemed to be the max temp that would print without any issues so I just stuck with that. I quit using it since it required glue to print PLA and now I only use the engineering side. After I purchased the textured PEI and the high temp plates, I no longer have a need for it.
Oh ok, thanks. There has defiantly been a learning curve, so I appreciate your input.
I’m using Isopropyl alcohol 98% for several month now, it works perfect, filament sticks well, even without glue, and very simple to use, never a problem.
Do not use this on the PEI Plate
One other trick I had read was wait for a few minutes to let things stabilize a bit , then before the plate completely cools, remove parts, and then clean immediately with warm water / soap… if you let it cool, it can make it harder to get all the residue off.
Once i got the Textured PEI plate, I don’t think I will ever go back to the cool plate / engineering plate. Even with PETG that gold one works every time.