I’m experiencing a new issue with my P1S. It seems to occur with any filament that I use. I’ve had this happen with PLA, PETG, and ASA. However, it does seem to be worse with the more advanced of the filaments. The issue also appears to happen on the same areas of the bed every time. Visually, it seems as if the nozzle is just getting to close to the print bed in some areas and is just fine everywhere else. What’s even more strange is that the prints come out pretty much flawless everywhere else. At least if the first layer doesn’t mess them up too bad from the start.
I’ve just been using the generic print profiles for each material and haven’t really messed with any settings. I also run the bed leveling before each print. I have also cleaned the bed very well with dish soap and water. Has anyone else experienced this? I’m at a loss here…
The last detail I mentioned was that I have cleaned it thoroughly with dish soap and water. I also typically do a wipe down with IPA after every few prints.
I have the Same issue with my A1. Bought a new buildplate on Ali , the black PEI and everything ist fine.
Maybe the original one does not like ISO? I don’t know why…
Whether you washed the plate or not, the evidence in your photos shows that you have some form of contaminant on your plate. There is no questioning this.
One possibility is if you may unintentionally contaminated the plate with some kind of lubricant, such as PTFE lube that comes with the printer. What makes that so good is that it sticks very well to anything hard. Just a small amount on your fingertips can easily transfer to the plate without you knowing it. It also does NOT come off with simple soap and water. Ask me how I know?
Dawn Dishwashing detergent
You can try this: Dawn dishwashing detergent(color doesn’t matter) can work by applying it directly to the contaminant and using very, very hot water continuously running over the contaminated spot. You may need to perform this operation several times. https://dawn-dish.com/ The number one thing to avoid is anything that says “gentle on the hands” that usually indicates they have skin softener in the product which is exactly the opposite of what we want.
Risky but effective
Another ‘risky’ option is to try a very small amount of acetone on the end of a cotton swab. If the contaminant is PTFE this is the most common solvent.
Test this first on a corner of your plate. I have not tested it on my gold PEI plates but did so on the black PEI plates. Note that acetone will attack the PEI coating but not completely dissolve it at low concentrations. In my case, I got just a small drop of the following lubricant, which produced symptoms precisely like yours. It took repeated attempts to clean it off and at one point I even put it in the oven at 200F which is not recommended for long periods as it can soften the texture of the PEI but in my case, it was a last ditch effort. That did bake off a lot of the contaminant but my final step was to sparingly use Acetone with a cotton swab.
NOTE: I noticed that the texture of my PEI plate suffered when too much acetone was applied but it still works albeit that section doesn’t provide as pretty a surface anymore. So proceed at you’re own risk.
95% IPA or Denatured Alcohol
Another less effective way of dissolving lubricant is to use 95% IPA. If you’re using drug store IPA, it is only at 75% concentration. Another substitute is denatured alcohol, which is ethanol with the water molecules removed, but it can be more readily found in the paint section of your local hardware store, whereas I’ve only been able to get 95% IPA from Amazon. Either one might work.
Crazy possible solution
There is another item that has worked for me in such cases where I had some kind of chemical contamination but note that I only tested it on a smooth plate. I accidentally contaminated my plate but I also was using Kapton tape for another reason. I had resigned myself to the fact that I was never able to get the plate clean again. But oddly enough, the adhesive of the Kapton tape pulled off the contaminant. Why Kapton? Because the tape is intended to survive up to 700F and is made for high temps so I guess whatever adhesive they use bonds to everything including lube.
Regular dish soap which doesn’t contain cream additives should be the best way to clean it, but due to the texture, some oils or contaminants might not be completely cleaned.
We recommend using a brush, to reach inside the small grooves of the texture
Thanks for all of the detailed information. I’ll try your cleaning tips for the bed. I ordered another print bed to test in the meantime while I attempt to salvage this one.
After reading all of your suggestions, it dawned on me that a few months ago I had used acetone to clean some stubbornly stuck parts from the bed. I’m now thinking that’s where I went wrong in the first place. In that same instance, I had to use a scraper to remove some of the stuck material. And it took some of the texturing off with it. Evidence of that is what you are seeing in the photos.
