How often do you wash the glue or adhesive off the heatbed after a print? Can you leave the glue on for a few prints before washing it off?
I barely use glue since I mostly print on the supertack plate, but when I do, I wash it off after the print or put another layer if I’m going to do another print. For applying the glue, I love using this print which saves you a lot of glue
https://www.printables.com/model/179391-glue-stick-moist-application-sponge-holder-g-smash
I suppose it depends on the glue, probably filament, maybe plate also.
From my bit of experience with [Creality] glue stick on BL Engineering plate, old glue can be printed over (and even “reused” that way), but it may leave a “permanent” mark on the bottom of the print. I mean it doesn’t wash or scrub off like fresh glue would… sanding or torching the surface may do it.
You can see the effect here, the honeycomb pattern. This is PETG HF, the previous print on that glue was PC (and had a honeycomb surface).
Like it changed the texture of the plate.
Cheers,
-Max
I just want to point something out, now that I’ve seen your old thread about adhesion issues:
One of the main purposes of adhesive is to make it easier to remove certain materials without damaging the print plate. Even though the word is “glue,” its primary purpose isn’t to make the filament stick better, but to make it easier to remove.
Your setup, in particular, shouldn’t actually require any additional adhesive at all. Well, I’m not going to answer the question of how often, but I’ll ask this: Does it even make sense to use adhesive in your setup? Especially since you have a Cryogrip Biqu Glacier.
By the way, using too much glue can actually have the opposite effect and cause your prints to fail.
By the way, glue isn’t a solution to the problem you posted about in the other thread - just thought I’d mention it.
I’ve recently started using Black Magic adhesive and it is much better than glue stick. Still trying to see how many prints I can get with the same application.
Very aggressive hold, but when the plate cools the part almost falls off.
My use of glue depends. If I’m doing multiple prints in a row while prototyping I may re-use the glue on the plate and just “let the glue ride” but @MaxThreeD’s point about textures from one print being transferred to the next is real.
But if the printer has sat for a day, then I wash the glue off and re-apply as older glue doesn’t seem to hold grip for me.
But if I’m starting an important print, I go ahead and clean and put down fresh glue even if the last application was fine and might be able to be re-used. It’s easy enough to wash and re-apply and is much easier and faster than reprinting.
My textured PEI plates take liquid glue now to keep grip on the prints I do. That’s just gotten me in the habit of using glue all the time. And hard to beat a near-perfect record of not losing prints to build plate adhesion issues since I started using glue seriously.
Don’t know how necessary/required it is on smooth PEI or the cool plate still but I’m in the habit.