Hello,
I wanted to print a queen excluder (used to prevent the queen bee from laying eggs in the honey chamber), I coated the plate with glue, and attached is the result.
I hadn’t changed anything in the settings, I probably should have, but what changes would I have to make?
Kind regards
ProApe
Not enough information here, but I can tell you a few things.
1). I can see that your glue is sporadic and not covering the entire print area. The areas that have pealed up are over lighter areas of the build plate suggesting a lack of glue.
2). If this is the entire thickness of the part, you may want to adjust your layer height. It looks like one layer thick.
3). Need to know what type of filament, how old, did you dry it, what print settings are being used (and if you changed any parameters from that print setting).
Hi,
Thank you for your message and your interest in my little problem!!
ad 1: normally one should not have to glue the plate first!
I tried to coat the whole panel with glue, but there were still places that were not coated; I touched up, which resulted in different places having 2 layers, and there were still gaps.
ad 2: no, it’s not the whole thickness, that should be 2mm
ad 3: it is PLA, nearly 3 years old, no I didn’t dry it, and I, as I wrote, I didn’t change any parameters.
Kind regards
ProApe
I’m not a big fan of the cool plate, as I’ve not had a great experience printing PLA with it. I found that if I didn’t use glue then the print would stick so well that I almost couldn’t remove the print without damaging the plate. But then I found that my prints would have adhesion issues with the plate until I started cranking the bed temperature up to around 50c, negating the “cool” aspect of the plate. Purchasing the textured PEI and the high temp/smooth PEI plates simplified all that.
My suggestion is to thoroughly clean your plate with dish soap until water sheets off the plate. Apply your glue as you normally would; I typically apply glue and then spray a bit of rubbing alcohol on there to let me spread it around with a cloth to get a smoother layer finish. Try your print again and if you still see issues, start dialing up the bed temp until you get the adhesion you are looking for.
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It’s very likely an adhesion issue. Like @RandomKhaos said, you should add some heat into the plate, even with the cool plate (if that’s the only one you have). And you can really slow down the first layer if you want to increase the chances of success.
Also, have you considered printing in PETG? PLA may not stand up to the heat too well in the beehive?
You know the next advice is going to be to dry your filament! So, either try a fresh roll or go
ahead and dry this one.
As far as the cool plate not needing glue, in a perfect world maybe. I’ve certainly had my share of successful parts without it on the cool plate. However, fingers are greasy and filament does leave residue. So, the longer you go without cleaning it thoroughly, the more likely you will run into issues exhibiting themselves like your picture above. The full proof plan is: dish washer soap and then Isopropyl alcohol for the plate. Use new filament that is dry. Add glue for good measure. Bigger parts seem to want it regardless of what you ‘should’ be able to get away with.
I only have PLA.
Bambu Studio seems to protest (the text turns red) when I change the temperature that is 35°C (see attachment)
The text turns red for when you make changes away from the default settings, it’s not letting you know there’s a problem. It’s a nice visual cue for letting you know you have changes that are different. You are perfectly okay to make that temperature change to the bed.
OK, I’ll raise it to 50°C
I have increased the temperature to 50°C and the result of another print is not perfect, but at least acceptable.
I have my problems with applying the glue cleanly and evenly with the stick. Apparently you can spread it better with alcohol. Which alcohol should I use?
That looks way better! Glad to see that worked out for you.
In regards to using alcohol … I use isopropyl alcohol as a convenient way to let me wet the glue and spread while also drying fast. I keep a spray bottle around filled with 91%+ alcohol that I mainly use to clean resin prints with.
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I start by crisscrossing the glue across the plate in a grid pattern, not worrying about getting 100% coverage.
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I then spritz the surface with the alcohol, wetting the entire surface. I usually soak it rather well, as the alcohol can dry fast and leave a splotchy surface. If you are too slow, you can always spray it down and try again.
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Once wetted, I take a lint free cloth and wipe the plate in swirls to evenly distribute the glue and the finally wipe it a single direction to apply a smooth finish. Ignore the damaged plate, I’m impatient and don’t always apply glue and/or wait long enough for it to cool before removing parts
I usually move my prints around the build plate if I can to get as much life out of the glue. But if I can’t, I usually just wet it down again with alcohol after a few prints and spread the glue around the plate again, applying more glue if I think it’s necessary. Once it starts looking dirty, I clean the plate with dish soap and hot water, starting the process all over again if I’m not being lazy.
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Thank you for the lot of information?
I have finally succeeded in printing my project.