Wanted to know what people are doing to get their parts to stick to their build plates? I only have what came with the printer and that is the engineering plate and cool plate sticker on the other side. When I think I have it figured out, corners of parts will come up and if the print is long enough, it will pop off the bed.
What I have done so far:
PLA (HatchBox)
Generic PLA Bambu Filament Settings; Cool Plate; 35C BED; 210C First Layer; 200C Extruder Temp; Glue
-This worked ok ,but after I got some hours on the cool plate, corners started to lift and warp bottom.
Same as #1 ,but no Glue, clean plate with alcohol, and bed temp to 45C
-Worked well at first ,but once again smaller parts would lift off and fail
Same as #2 ,but increased bed temp to 55C
-Worked on small parts I was having issue with previous ,but just today I printed a part with a base layer of aprox. 2"x3", corner lifted and unstuck.
Same as #3 ,but tried on Engineering plate and Glue
-1st layer did not stick, canceled print.
1st layer doesn’t even stick at all, canceled prints and never got past the 1st layers
Same as #1 ,but no glue and increased bed temp to 90C
Worked really good and havn’t had any issues yet, but only printed a handful of parts. Parts release
very easily and still concerns me a little on long prints.
I’ve researched the other build plate offers like the high temp sheet ,but I am trying to get away from their stickers because I have had issues with some bubbling on the cool plate sheet. The textured PEI sheet is another option ,but I prefer smooth base layer. I sound really picky, haha, but I want to lay out all my options before I purchase half a dozen different types of sheets and never use them.
What I did purchase and waiting to receive is a 12"x12" Gizmo Dorks PEI sheet. I have been using this sheet on my other printers and had never had an issue with parts lifting off. Not sure how well it will hold up being on a flexible build plate overtime though. Another thing about the PEI sheet is PETG sticks almost too good and using a layer of glue helps PETG from fusing to the sheet. Has anyone tried any aftermarket sheets like this?
Ive been using vision miner nanopolymer adhesive and have not had a single failure since. All kinds of materials (even hips) and on cool plate, engineering plate and textured PEI. Ive always been a longtime gluestick user on other pritners and this printer for a while but this adhesive stuff has been a game changer. Still on my first coat of it too.
Same here. Can confirm, vision miner is the best I’ve ever used. I’ve not used it on the textured pei, but I will in a heart beat if I ever need it. On the cool plate… amazing.
I wipe the bed down with an alcohol based solvent. Using a lint free cloth.
I did see your type of problem on a slinger I had. At first everything stuck (hard to remove), later on the printed part stuck OK, and eventually the parts would not stick. Cleaning before every print works for me.
I avoid using a foot in my prints, however I am fairly new in 3d printing.
Ok first thing is you can’t treat the bambu like an Ender in regards to temps. 200c extruder is wayyyyy to low to pla. The filament is moving much faster and therefore has less time to heat up and melt. I have found the best all around temp is 225c for pla on standard speed. Each time you jump up in speed, jump up in temp by 5-10c.
Next take the scraper blade that came with the printer, print the handle for it and scrap the cool plate. Get all the old glue off. Then take a microfiber towel poor 99 percent isopropyl alcohol on it, and wipe down the cool plate. There will be some glue left over that will get super sticky. That’s OK just scrape it with the scraper. Once all the glue is off, then take the glue stick and cover the entire plate in glue hold it up to the light so you can see if you’ve missed any spots. Do not touch the build plate again after this with your fingerprints. Then load up whatever you want to print. Keep the build plate at 35C make sure you have bed leveling and flow calibration enabled. And then print it I have yet to have a print come unstuck following this method.
Now I have had my printer for about a month and I just recently got the bambu high temp PEI smooth build plate. I cannot stress this enough get it. It is way better. No more messing with glue. Everything sticks perfectly. You just wait for the plate to cool down bend it and it pops right off. I absolutely love it and cannot recommend it enough. the only downside to it is PEI loves to suck up fingerprint oils, so do not touch it and clean it with isopropyl alcohol every few Prints.
So I do have the textured plate that I ordered with the smooth one but I have not tried it yet for two reasons, 1 the micro LiDAR can get a little wonky from what I have read due to the textured surface and 2 the smooth hi temp PEI has worked so perfectly I have not had the need to try the textured one.
So far I have printed PLA, PETG, and ABS on it and everything was perfect. On the plate it says glue stick can help but I have no used it and never will as PLA sticks crazy good to it. So good it won’t come unstuck until you let the plate cool down then it just pops right off with a slight bend of the plate.
At first I printed these little feet things that you put on the top glass the keeps it cracked open to let heat out but I have since taken them off as there is no need. I print with the top on and door closed and the inside temp never goes above 38C.
I can not stress this enough, get the smooth hi temp plate. Worth every cent.
The PLA I am using, Hatchbox, performs better at lower temperatures and specifications recommend 180C-210C ext. temp. My thoughts is 210C for first layer for slightly better adhesion and 200C for the rest of the layers greatly reduced stringing after running stringing calibration prints.
I understand that underneath the cool plate sticker is just a regular engineering plate surface? If so, I never had luck with PLA sticking to the engineering surface ,but that is only my experience and happy to hear you have success with it.
I have considered the High Temp Plate and I only hesitate because I’ve had some bubbles appear underneath my cool plate sticker which I remedy by flipping upside down (facing heated bed) heat bed to 100C for 5 mins, and cooling down. Have you had many hours on the High Temp Plate and do you see any bubbling?
Great discussions on everyone’s build plate preparations.
That is very odd about the bubbles. I never had any bubble on mine and no bubbles on the pei hi temp plate. Maybe yours got messed up when it was installed at bambu. Maybe try removing it and putting the spare one on.
So on most filament it will say on there the recommended printing specs usually around 190c-215c and like 40mm a second- 60mm a second printing speed. That second part is the key, you’re not printing at 40mm a second, you’re printing around 250mm a second depending on the speed setting. So ignore the recommended temps on the filament. As we speak I am printing a wall holder for my filaments using polymaker pla pro and I am at 250mm a second speed and my temp is 232c. And it’s perfect.
Here’s how I get rid of them with no issues on my original decal still
First off I had printed off the applicator from the internal memory previously so that was a plus
Secondly I take the plate off and lay it on a flat table, then I use the applicator tool and try to push the bubbles out (sometimes it takes a couple of tries to find the correct direction to squeegee them out)
There has been a couple of times that the bubbles just did not want to push out, in that case I lifted the decal off the plate just past where the bubbles were then carefully placed the decal back down and used the applicator tool I printed to firmly secure it to the build plate
Surprisingly enough the glue is good enough that I’m still as I mentioned on the original decal
Where I found it was creating the air pockets was from me washing the plate with hot water and dish soap, no big deal though as it seems fine even after lifting the decal off the plate more thsn once (that’s some sticky glue)
When I ordered my spare parts I ordered a few of the decals plus I still have the 2 spares that came with my X1C so when the original does finally wear out I’ll just replace it but so far so good
I must admit that I’ve been using my textured plate a lot more recently though but when I want a smooth finish on the bottom my OG plate is ready to go
What you can do as well is a) punch small holes into the bubbles, enabling the air to get out and b) put the plate onto the heat bed, with the “bubble side” downwards, towards the heatbed and let it stay at arnd 100 Degr C for 10 Mins or so. Or let it just sit on the magnetic sheet over night.
The adhesive is probably degrading from the introduction of moisture and a rapid temperature change. The adhesive expands when it is warmed with hot water which probably allows some bits of moisture to get between the plate and the sticker, then it quickly cools in the ambient air and traps some of that moisture between the two.
Warming the bed and cleaning the sticker with 99% isopropyl alcohol might be better if the bubbles get annoying or get worse. The alcohol will evaporate almost immediately so it won’t add moisture and will also not leave any residue behind (assuming the alcohol is a high enough concentration).
I have the powder-coated PEI plate and love it. It’s all I used on my Prusa printers, no glue needed. For small footprint, you will need a brim, but most of what I print is larger and hasn’t had a problem yet. Bed and nozzle temps need to be higher to work better at speed. My cool/engineering plate sits to the side. Used it for the first few test prints but that was it.
The texture does negate some of the LIDAR testing, but when things stick so well, it’s not much of an issue. I still let it go through the test most of the time, and everything works great, as long as the temps are correct.
Received the Gizmo Dork PEI sheet and went for the thinner .55mm vs. the 1mm on my other printers. Hoping the thinner material will still keep its flexibility and extruder tip to still contact the nozzle cleaning area of the plate before bed leveling. Printing now and see how it does on the Bambu!
Still waiting on my bottle of Vision Miner adhesive and excited to give that a try as well.
