I have been printing successful for quite some time, but a few weeks ago, my PLA prints started to warp. My printer is located in my garage where the ambient temperature is around 16 degrees C.
I am using Bambu Basic PLA with the default settings and I am preheating the chamber to about 22 degrees before I start to print. I just cleaned the build plate and I applied original Bambu glue.
I have added some pictures to show the problem. In this particular case I slowed the printer down to 100mm/s
In previous attempts I increased the temperature of both the heated bed and the nozzle to 45 and 230 degrees respectively. The higher temperatures fixed the issue in some cases, but it is annoying because I tend to forget to change it when slicing.
In āquite some timeā - weeks\months? have you tried a new bed plate?
Is it cold plate? how old\how many printrs? - new sticker maybe needed?
If cold - hows the glue going?
Aftermarket plate?
It started about 4 weeks ago. It is still the original cold plate. I bought the printer about a year ago I think. I print about one print a day on average. I havenāt tried a new plate yet.
Could the plate simply have worn out? I wouldnāt know how to recognize a worn plate.
The āstickerā on the surface is disposable\consumable. Eventually, one assumes the āsurfaceā wears out - but i have no idea how to determine that. Assuming you have already tried cleaning it properly in washing detergent to get all oils and grease off, rinsinig it in hot water, etc etcā¦ thats 365+ printsā¦
You would have got a new sticker with youre printer (i did). I immediatly went to Bambuās Textured PEI and Hot\Smooth PEI plates ass I hated dealing with glue etc - I am only about 2 months, wiht prolly 100 prints on the cold plate before I switched.
As a bed plate test - If you print a full bed test print ā¦ its a few layers thick across the whole bed, you might find areas peeling off. if thats in the general area ytou normally print in (centre?) then likely maybe the bed sticker has had its day.
I use a similar set-up and have observed similar issues. In fact, it is <10Ā°C where my printer sits.
Using the liquid glue rather than the glue stick helped somewhat as did of course keeping the chamber warm by having the lid and door closed. WIth low environmental temps, thereās little chance of nozzle clogs with PLA in my case.
A further improvement came from using the textured PEI plate due to the higher bed temp (and hence also slightly higher chamber temps) as well as good adhesion without glue.
I have 884 hours on my printer and while Iāve used the textured plate more often than the cool plate, I didnāt feel like the sticker was losing itās grip. I did drive the nozzle into it by forgetting to put the screws in after a nozzle change which necessitated a sticker change.
Replacing the sticker is pretty easy and is made much easier by using the tool that should be included with the built in files on the printer.
One thing Iāve found that guarantees a corner or edge to lift is the aux fan. Itās so reliable that Iāve added a strip of painters tape across the top of the outlet to direct the air down and under the build plate for maybe the first 20 layers or so. This has pretty much eliminated any lift on that side. Of course, your picture shows it lifting on the other side. Maybe you run with the door open or thereās a draft on that side if you have no enclosure?
I too have had a problem or two caused by the aux fan. Iām usually letting it run at default settings but for massive pieces I suspect itās better kept very low, like 10-20% or so. I figure not turning it off completely should help keeping the chamber fairly cool (with PLA) by moving cold air from under the bed up - just very gentle.
Then again I have no idea how many problems the aux fan saved me from when it IS running at default settings. BTW I noticed they put the presliced benchy with the bow pointing away from the aux fan. Turning it around should help with the 50Ā° bow overhang (the presliced benchy turns off āslow down for coolingā). Maybe they simply sliced that model before any aux fan?
I print my first layer at half speed with a build plate temp of 70C on the cool plate. At layer 2 I drop it to 65C, normal speeds. Doing this, I no longer need any gluestick, and it stopped ~80% of the warping issues Iād get, the same type as in your picture. For long parts with a strong moment, Iāll sometimes add a brim, which solves the rest of it.
I also try to angle parts so that there isnāt a flat face getting the brunt of the aux cooling. This seems to help print quality in general.
I donāt know why Bambu chooses such low plate temp defaults for so many of their options. I assume so that chamber heating over a long print is less of an issue, as the chamber fan itself is undersized (IMO). But you can skip a lot of problems by just running a hot first layer for good adhesion. Donāt worry about a part popping off due to cooling if you drop the plate temp after the first layer, either; as long as you stay above the softening temp, youāre fine.
[Edit] Your sticker looks practically new; I can tell youāve taken good care of it. Wash it with dish detergent and water, and Iām willing to bet itāll run as good as new.
