This feels like a “duh” question, but I’m kind of at my wits’ end.
I’m an old-timer as far as 3D printing goes, but still fairly new to Bambu. I’ve had an H2D for about five months and have loved it. About a month ago, though, the factory textured plate I had been using for nearly everything started giving me adhesion problems.
I used some JT17, and things stuck like heck. After a while, though, there was quite a film on the plate. I washed it thoroughly with Dawn and a hot-water soak. That stuff took a while to remove, but eventually there was no visible trace left. I’ve avoided touching the print surface, releveled, run calibrations, etc., but prints still did not stick very well.
I tried a cheap blue Comgrow plate and never looked back. Everything adhered beautifully, but it is not rated for ABS.
Today I dusted off the factory textured plate to print ABS, and it would not adhere at all. Cleaned again, releveled, ran calibrations—no love.
Then I wondered whether it might be the filament. I grabbed another off-brand black plate rated for ABS, and the first print adhered beautifully.
I cannot imagine the factory plate is simply “worn out” after four months. Has anyone had a textured Bambu plate suddenly lose adhesion like this? Any thoughts, ideas, or experiences?
build plates are consumables but that is fast for one to “go bad” usually they just get scraped and print quality gets worse have you tried just washing it with dish soap if that doesn’t work try to use TJ17 to just get this one print to stick.
i find with the textured bed it just a pain to deal with you can sort of fix it with cleaning but it is really technique but for me it was around the same 5 months in it was just never really the same unless i spent like 15 mins cleaning it so i switched on all my printers to cool plate i have never cleaned it and its been like months on months and its been the same as when i got it but i have also used smooth plate super good too but needs glue
but if your looking to fix you old one personally i take some dawn and a bristle brush and just scrub for like 5 mins then rinse and do not add more dawn but continue it scrub and rinse till you seen no bubbles for me that works good but i have also heard that if you take some sand paper you can get a new layer and be almost brand new Bambu Lab Textured PEI Plate Troubleshooting Guide | Bambu Lab Wiki
Try the new Dawn Power Wash in a spray bottle. It is so powerful I have been using it as a grease mover on my Classic and Antique cars as well as many other things in my workshop. I have used it on my X1 carbon textured plate and it become squeaky clean.
Nobody said it yet, and not everyone likes it, but I have a textured PEI build plate I bought with my printer that gradually lost grip for holding things down while printing.
Initially when it started losing grip, raising the build plate temperature would help but when that stopped working - glue.
I use liquid glue on textured PEI and glue stick on the cool and engineering plates. Works great.
It’s an extra step before printing, cleanup is needed after. And parts need a rinse too, but it guarantees prints don’t come loose while also adding an upper limit to how much force is needed to remove a print from the build plate. Some plastics stick too well and parts can be hard to remove but glue fixes that.
Ya know, not much to lose at this point, I did try the “magic eraser” sponge. Not the treated one but generic melamine foam I use for a lot of things. That would be like ultra-fine sandpaper. I’ll see about stepping it up a grit or two after I try just a few other things (brake cleaner, the acetone/water trick and a couple other things people swear by. Purely scientific at this point as I have other plates that are working great. Shame they aren’t Bambu but in fairness, I’ve not tried the other Bambu plates.
Will do. Dawn also makes something stronger than the power wash called “professional power dissolver”. It literally removed the finish on a wood counter with its overspray, but it does cut cooked on fry grease. I’ll give that a run as well. I’ll report back my findings.
As a last resort before binning the (consumable) textured PEI, try giving it a last chance by vigorously cleaning with water, dishwashing liquid and steel wool/scouring pad.
I only use 3 plates: BIQU CryoGrip Glacier, Textured (for TPU) and G10 (for engineering plastics). For the first two, they are cheap enough that I consider them disposable. I’ve only had to throw away a CryoGrip once when I stupidly used an adhesive with ASA and it ripped the coating off.
Have don that several times, even the steel wool. I just got done trying the dawn power wash with a fresh new green scrubby; no love. My brake parts cleaner isn’t here yet, so I bit the bullet on one side and gave it a light once over with 400 grit sandpaper and rewashed it. First run: SUCCESS!! I still have the other side to play with, so any other suggestions are welcome for the good of the hive.
In my opinion: Textured plates are jacks of all trades and masters of none. They’re designed for beginners, which makes sense given that they’re standard equipment. They’re a one-size-fits-all solution that can do everything well, but nothing particularly outstandingly.
The same goes for the issue of wear and tear.
I would strongly recommend getting the specialised printing plates that are appropriate for your intended use. Similarly, these textured plates are designed to offer only average adhesion - and for good reason: to make it easy for beginners to remove their printed parts.
At some point, I put my texturing plates in the drawer and never used them again. They just don’t deliver the performance I need. I’m not saying you have to go out and buy new plates right away, but you should check out the difference it would make and potential improvement to your workflow.
CryoGrip is what I use on all my printers for PCTG/PLA/PETG/ABS/ASA. It is (in my opinion) the best general purpose plate out there. I never even have to clean it.
Textured is a good general purpose plate that I use primary for TPU and PEBA because it’s easier to remove and has great adhesion for those materials.
G10 is what I use for high temperature materials like PC, PC-CF etc and especially for PA and PPA (the nylons)
I actually wanted to post the spreadsheet, but for some reason the formatting didn’t work out, so here are just the links.
I recommend checking out these two websites. I could just tell you to buy a particular plate, but it’s better if you figure out for yourself what suits your workflow. I’m copying some snippets from the website:
First off, this isn’t a personal attack… so please read it with the positive intentions I have as I advise you to thoroughly read the content the original poster provided as they ask their question. In this particular instance, they clearly stated that they had tried both washing the plate as well as using TJ17. Both attempts were unsuccessful. So when you reply, suggesting they try the very same things they had already stated they had done, it comes across like you’re disrespecting them by not bothering to read more than the subject line of the post. I know that’s not your intent, but we do need to read the details so our responses deliver more value to the person asking the question.
Speaking personally, once I started using something like PVA on my build plates I was able to use them indefinitely without issue. I also tried glass plates but that was mostly just for surface finish.
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