So I’m printing a ton of Hexwall panels for my office. Due to needing to print them as large as possible, and the size of the X1 bed, I can vary the position very little.
Before I even knew it would be a problem, the print pattern was becoming visible on the bed if you viewed it at an angle. And each print is successively becoming more and more difficult to remove.
I have scrubbed the bed twice now with gentle dish soap to remove oils, I have cleaned the bed with 99% IPA multiple tiles.
Yet the pattern is still visible and the print still sticks too well. It’s still coming off, but the priming lines printed at the front and back of the plate stick hard and sometimes need to be scraped off or I use flush cutters to try and get underneath the lines where they stick too well.
Today I printed another using the flip side of the plate, and that came off beautifully.
Clearly my main side is being damaged or changed in some way from the repeated PETG prints.
Is there anything I can do about that to restore the easier releasing? All the cleaning techniques I’ve seen have helped a little, but after a single print it becomes stuck too much again.
Buy a couple or more of new plates. In fact, I’d strongly suggest buying 2 or 3 complete sets of build plates, a couple or so of complete hardened extruders, nozzles in the most used sizes, hotends, ceramic heaters, pulleys and belts, so that you’ll have them at hand when ■■■■ will (and sooner rather than later, definitely it will) hit the fan in the ceiling and you won’t be stuck waiting for BL to deliver, or risk finding they are out of stock right when you need them. At least, that’s what I do, every 3-4 months, i order a couple of that or of those, building up my spare stock. Obviously, I’m not gonna build a large stock, but a decent amount of spares that will allow me to continue without breaks or hassle.
any of these will dissolve PETG and can be used : MEK, toluene, chloroform
chloroform not safe as may dissolve the PEI as well
toulene should be safe for PEI from what i know
not sure for the MEK does it affect the PEI
But any of the above needs to be tried
personally have not tested the above
and to protect the PEI from PETG i use glue stick , then use water and small cloth to spread evenly so not be visible on the model and creates a very thin layer which helps for both detaching and sticking , then heat the bed and by the time i start the print is dry
My experience of having a print stick too well, especially brims, seems more frequent when trying to remove the print as soon as it’s done. While the plate is still hot, PETG brims can stick like iron, where you have to chisel them off, and risk damaging the plate. But, once the plate sits, and cools, the prints more easily pop off without issue. That can make the Brim harder to remove from the print itself. But that’s what deburring tools are for.
I now have a silicone trivet mat that I place the freshly finished print on (with plate attached) and let it cool before trying to remove. And put a second plate on the printer and keep going when I’m doing back to back prints.
I have had AMAZING results using the WhamBam high temp plate for the X1C. No adhesion issues either during or after printing. The flex plate makes it super easy to pop them off.
As mentioned in previous posts PETG sticks pretty good to PEI when the plate is still hot/warm and removal prior to cooling down can leave some PETG residue stuck and in your case with the same pattern being printed that can accumulate.
First thing to try is to print again the same pattern on that build plate side. Use a 5 to 10 degree higher build plate temperature for printing and when the print is finished let the plate cool down, remove the plate but do not remove the part yet and place it in the freezer for a couple of minutes and then removal the part from the build plate. This may help with peeling the previously left of PETG residue form the plate . As a last resort you can use Acetone to clean that side of the build plate but do it while the plate is not heated up and do not soak it for longer periods of time as the Acetone otherwise will degrade the PEI coating