Help with adhesion on PEI with PLA

Bambu Lab X1 Series Bambu Lab X1C
1

Hi everyone,

I have had my X1C for a week and started printing with quite a lot of difficulty using the cool plate.

I ordered the textured PEI plate from Bambu along with various PLA Matte (black, purple and orange from Bambu).

My first print with the Black Matte + PEI was perfect.

(The PEI plate is washed with soap, rinsed, dried and then cleaned with a moderate amount of IPA 95%.)

I switched to purple. I had bad adhesion on some parts of the first layer, especially the last bits of each object, which ruined most of the print.

I use the standard profile and very basic prints (hardware parts bins, very flat first layer). I could NEVER get it to stick properly. Tried increasing the bed temp (from 55 to 60, 62 or 65).

Now I am back to Black Matte + PEI and it won’t stick anymore. Once again, default everything. Calibration lines won’t even stick.

Here are examples.

Bed levelling and flow calibation are on. I have recalibrated the machine.

Now if I add glue to the PEI, it works flawlessly.

What am I doing wrong? I would find it quite annoying to have to use glue on PEI…

Thanks for any help!

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Video visible here:

or here:
https://streamable.com/wezi9l

1 Like
2

Are you using the current firmware? They have a Z offset for the texture bed plate.

Looks to be under extruding so do a cold pull on the nozzle and let’s see what happens. Cold pull

Bed @ 60c is good for texture bed plate and pla.

The texture bed plate is not great for calibrations; it is best to set it up manually using Orca slicer.

Filament settings you can bump the flow ratio up to 0.9875 and test it out.

You should not need to but you can set first layer height 0.24

Keep us updated :v:

3

Thanks a lot I’ll try those and update the thread.
I use the latest firmware.

4

Nothing wrong. My printer also requires glue stick under all circumstances for sufficient 1st later adherence. Spaghetti guaranteed regardless of filament and printing parameters used if no glue. Downside is gotta wash the plate with water after every print.

Costco purple glue sticks and Amazon Basics best prices I could find.

5

I use the high temp plate from bambu for pla and asa and works a dream. The textured sheet worked good for a couple uses and pla barely holds no matter if washed with dawn or used with IPA 99%.

I only use the textured sheet with petg now as that sticks really well. I’m used to of the way you did a it with a prusa mk3. Petg with textured sheet and pla using the pei smooth sheet.

6

Do yourself a favour and get a cheap PEI sheet from Aliexpress. They’re more than likely just powder coated steel but they print great. I’ve bought a few from different sellers and they all seem to have the same goldy/bronze textured coating and quality. The “carbon fibre” textured sheets are especially good.

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7

Is here any reason to believe those plate would work better than the official Bambulab one that I use?

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8

The Bambulab textured PEI plate expressly states no glue required when printing PLA so I would call that normal…

9

I’ve had no problems with the Bambu PEI plate. Both using Bambu’s PLA and Overture PETG.
I just clean the plate with 99.7% IPA. Bought 3 small squirty bottles and filled one up with the IPA. Works a treat.

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10

I print many filaments on the Texture Bambu sheet with no glue and no problems.

I only wash it with hot water and dish soap.

I also do my own calibration and settings with Orca slicer and I don’t use the auto flow calibration.

Tip: I also have a texture plate on my Raise3d printer. When it was new I had to use a scotch brite pad with a light scrub and dish soap to help the first layer bond. It worked great after that.

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11

I let the plate sit in soapy water for an hour, then brushed it and used a scrubbing pad.

Then IPA’d it and it looks like it now has perfect adhesion.

I probably had some kind of residue on the plate that prevented adhesion.

Thanks everyone for your help!

12

That’s weird if I use the glue stick they sent with my printer I cannot get anything to stick. I have to use hairspray and then put the bed in and wait for it dry, it sticks every time that way just a little rough to take off some times.

13

I can’t get PLA to stick to one of these build plates. It sticks just fine to the textured build plate (Same settings and filament).

14

Are you using textured PEI plate as a setting for your aftermarket plate? I haven’t had an issue with my 2 AliExpress PEI plates, they still work perfectly. I usually swap between them and the BBL high temperature plate depending on what I’m printing and the surface texture I’m after.

15

I’ve tried both the Textured PEI plate setting as well as the smooth PEI plate setting. both had the same results. I’m going to look at flow rate calibration and double check as many settings as possible. The Bambu Lab PLA-CF is the filament that seems to have the most issues. Also, I noticed the Amazon listing suggests running a bed temp of 60-65c for PLA. So I’ll try that instead of the default of 55c.

16

I’m having a maybe related issue. Before this recent update I was using one of the textured non-Bambu PEI plates and had good adhesion, no problems whatsoever. Now when it goes to print after doing all checks and calibrations the Z-height is WAY too high, like not even close to the bed. But it prints fine on the Bambu cold plate. It can’t print on this plate now. I’m confused.

17

Dish soap/water/paper towel. Very important that you use a paper towel.

18

With brand new PEI, I always wipe it down with 91% IPA then wash it with dawn dish soap. (I have not had the same results when using different dish soap specifically needs to be dawn in my experience). Then every so often or as needed I just wash with dawn to keep adhesion good.