I have a couple of potentially stupid questions, but I’ve seen a few threads that have confused me and so I’m just going to ask!
First one is how often should you wash your plate? Some people say after every print, but I’ve also seen people who reference that you should wash it if you lose adhesion, or get fingerprints on it… which makes it sound like you don’t wash it after every print.
This one is potentially even more stupid, but my textured plate that I got with the P1S has texture and markings on both sides, and so I’m assuming the correct way to use the plate is to stick to one side until you start to wear it down then flip it over and use the other side. Is this correct?
Or do people use one side, then flip and use the other, then wash both sides of the plate and start again?
Or is only one side actually useable?
I ask because in none of the posts where people talk about adhesion problems have I seen anyone recommend that they just flip it over and use the other side?
The alcohol vs dish soap debate rages on… but I’ve always had great luck with just dish soap and water. There are several reasons that alcohol isn’t ideal but many people swear by it. If you make sure not to touch the surface you don’t need to wash it after every print. Sometimes I’ll go for a little while before things stop sticking. You’ll know when you need to wash it because you’ll see a corner started to come loose or a small part didn’t stick at all.
You can 100% use both sides of the textured plate… I usually don’t for two reasons. One, I have a lot of printers and I normally can’t remember if I’ve already flipped it once lol. Also no matter how careful I am at NOT touching the top side of the plate, when I’m removing things my fingers always seem to touch the bottom. But if you can overcome those two things both sides are perfect.
The best recommendation I can give you about frequency to wash your plate is to do it when you have adhesion problems. That said, I preemptively wash my plate before any long print as I don’t want to run the risk of it failing.
If you are careful with where you touch the plate, I’ve gone weeks and weeks between washing them.
When I wash the plate I wash both sides but the problem with “flipping the plate over” is the bottom side of the plate is often where you place your hands to flex it to pop parts off. I always print on one side of the plate. If for some reason I have to flip the plate (damage etc) I will wash the new side of plate. To add to this, it generally takes a LONG time to “wear” out a plate. I have smooth plates with 1000’s of hours on one side and they still hold like new.
In my experience, questions are very, very rarely even remotely stupid. Answers are another thing
As to the frequency of plate washing, as with anything in 3D printing, it is very straightforward: It depends
I know that when I see 1st layer curling, purge line non-adhesion and similar, I should have scrubbed my plate one print earlier
So I take that loss, but I am usually around at the start of a print.
In other instances, when I have a difficult print ahead of me, I usually scrub the plate beforehand. If it is a simple print that I have either done before or comes from a tested profile, I just print, being prepared to toss it.
There’s one case where you should always clean the plate though. Printing PETG on a plate previously used for PLA (and vice versa) is more reliable when printed.
You could of course try to use one side for PLA and one for PETG, but, unless you mark the sides, it’ll be difficult to keep track of which side is for what.
Finally, you may want to look at further plate types as you progress. Personally, I like the Smooth PEI (I usually clean it based on the next print: small parts/short print duration: Probably not needed, larger parts/long prints: Yes) and the effect plates (always cleaned before a print).
PS: Slight addendum based on @PrinterMcgee sound advice.
I have found it to be quite important, in particular with the textured plate and in the long run, how it is cleaned. Nowadays, I’ll spray it with Isoprop to act as a pre-wash solvent, while still wet I then use a clean (my story and I’m sticking to it ) and stiff brush with detergent and plenty of warm water to get the dirt out of those deep valleys.
Even when I think the plate was cleanish beforehand, I usually see a marked improvement in my next print.
In one “memorable” case, I had to go as far as to using steel wool. PETG, PLA, dozens of prints without cleaning,… The textured plate has a habit of dealing with a fair bit of contamination… until it rather suddenly doesn’t.
Also ich denke wie oft man seine Druckplatte wäscht entscheidet Jeder für sich. Ich drucke meistens PLA wenn ich Haftungsprobleme habe wische ich mit etwas Küchenrolle und Brennspiritus über die Platte um das Fett das meine Finger hinterlassen haben zu entfern.
Jetzt hatte ich das Problem das ich etwas mit PETG drucken wollte, und es wollte einfach nicht haften auch nachdem ich das Druckbett mit Brennspiritus gereinigt habe. Also bin ich hingegangen und habe die Druckplatte mit Spüli und Warmwasser und eine Schwamm gereinigt. Und siehe das PETG haftet so gut das ich warten musste bid die Druckplatte auf Zimmertemperatur abgekühlt war. Sonst hätte ich mnähe gehabt den Druck heil runterzubekommen.
Fazit: bei Haftungsproblemen nutze ich in erster Linie Brennspiritus, wenn das nicht hilft nehme ich Spüli warmwasser und einen Schwamm.
MfG der Garfield
So I think how often you wash your printing plate is up to you. I usually print PLA when I have adhesion problems I wipe the plate with some kitchen roll and methylated spirits to remove the grease my fingers have left behind.
Now I had the problem that I wanted to print something with PETG and it just wouldn’t stick even after I cleaned the print bed with methylated spirits. So I went and cleaned the plate with dish soap and hot water and a sponge. And lo and behold the PETG stuck so well that I had to wait until the printing plate had cooled down to room temperature. Otherwise I would have had trouble getting the print down.
Conclusion: if I have adhesion problems, I primarily use methylated spirits, if that doesn’t help I use washing-up liquid, warm water and a sponge.
I wouldn’t personally recommend using denatured alcohol because of the safety and health hazards, but it is a good cleaner. Is isopropyl alcohol not commonly available in your country or do you specifically find denatured alcohol better?
I’ve worked with both my 3D printers and at work in commercial manufacturing over the years. Manufacturing policy was about the same procedure that I follow.
I use soap and water (scrub well) every 10-15 prints (preemptive) and about after doing that 3-5 times I use 99% Isopropyl Alcohol and scrub it well. 99% Iso is a cleaning solution (note on the bottle (“technical use”) and it works as a cleaning solvent in manufacturing to “clean and degrease”. I do not use lower percentages of alcohol as it won’t work as a solvent.
I would add - whatever way you clean your build plate, consider using cotton gloves whenever you touch the build plate. It will save you a lot of cleaning.
No isopropyl alcohol in shops anywhere in Europe. It is always on online order. Americans have it easy with rubbing alcohol (IPA) available everywhere.
Bambulab literally have a wiki that says to avoid IPA and clean with detergent.
“The reason why we recommend detergent for cleaning the textured plate is due to its textured surface. Alcohol might just spread the oils on the print surface instead of removing it.”
Can’t post links apparently. Google pei-plate-clean-guide
nun vor meinen P1S hatte ich eine Flashforge Adventurer 3. Dort hatte ich irgendwann mit Haftungsproblemen zu kämpfen. Habe viel im Internet recherchiert und bin auf Isopropanol gestoßen. Da ich in einen Baumarkt arbeite hatte ich zuvor aber schon Brenspiritus gekauft. Nach meinen Recherchen bin ich dann in eine Apotheke gefahren und hatte mir Isopropanol geholt. Habe dann meine Druckplatte damit gereinigt, das Bett neu gelevelt. Aber ich hatte dennoch keine gute Haftung bekommen. Durch Zufall fiel mir dann der Brennspiritus ins Auge. Ich habe mir dann gedacht “Probierst es mal mit dem”. Und was soll ich sagen meine Probleme mit der Haftung waren nicht mehr da.
MfG der Garfield
hI mugglesmuggle,
well before my P1S I had a Flashforge Adventurer 3 and at some point I had problems with adhesion. I did a lot of research on the internet and came across isopropanol. As I work in a DIY store, I had already bought methylated spirits beforehand. After my research, I went to a pharmacy and bought some isopropyl alcohol. I then cleaned my printing plate with it and leveled the bed again. But I still didn’t get good adhesion. Then, by chance, I came across methylated spirits. I then thought to myself “try it with this”. And what can I say, my problems with adhesion were no longer there.
I used methylated spirits before to clean up gunks inside arcrylic reservoir of my custom PC water cooler and it cracked the arcrylic reservoir. I didn’t notice any other bad effect to other plastics.
The mythylated spirits I used was used to disolve glue inside the laminated glass in order to cut laminated glass.
Ich benutze den Brennspiritus ja nur um die Druckplatte zu reinigen. Er kommt ja nicht in Kontakt mit den Plastikteilen des Druckers. Zum reinigen der Drukplatte entnehme ich sie immer und reinige sie außerhalb des Druckers.
Gruss der Garfield
I only use methylated spirits to clean the printing plate. It does not come into contact with the plastic parts of the printer. To clean the printing plate, I always remove it and clean it outside the printer.
Chunks of glue stick dissolved in a small spray bottle of this 91% IPA works well to provide a smooth surface without glue lines - the viscosity is such that the liquid can level out before evaporating, leaving a thin layer of glue behind.
