Washing your plate is important!

Well we got pretty hard water so limescale builds up everywhere (if id just let the plate dry it would be mostly white) therefore the idea to maybe used distilled water - IPA seems to get rid of all the remaining water pretty well through. Just drying it with a towel does end up with at least some white spots/areas on the plate. (Might be worth some experimentation how limescale does actually effect print quality - yea overthinking it again.) Fatty finger prints are pretty obvious causes for surface defects.

Do I read this right, that the plate is washed so much that the washing creates the need for more washing? :slight_smile:

Dish soap does not wash out before you have something better on it, it also loosens away proteins that are easy to get out.
i donā€™t think i need to say more on this subject, i just came to ask if someone used PBW before, but testing it now myself and works fine so far.
If you want to comment on PBW iā€™m still here to see experiences. :slight_smile:

Thanks for sharing your experience. Reading this thread gives me even more motivation to keep my plates clean so I donā€™t have to wash them :slight_smile:

The title of this thread probably can be ā€˜Keeping your plate clean is important!ā€™

Well, now i feel like i need to say something so people donā€™t stop washing plates.
While less washing might be more, and keeping the plates tidy in general is probably a better option than just washing and wearing it down, especially if scrubbing constantly.
Everything @Olias has been saying is good, i just do not agree on the dish soap washing out, maybe mechanically removing the last layer that is not visible, or like i said, using something more pungent.
Also iā€™m not trying to say Fairy or what ever label of this kind would stack layers on layers when you wash, i was just saying its a mild detergent that is very good removing easy greases, and in my experience it still is not the go to option when you want to A. remove hard to get to grime, or B remove the layer of detergent they seem to leave behind.
I am not a expert on this, and i only have personal experiences on the matter, TBH, i thought this was a well known thing that there is a micro layer left behind that will, for example reduce surface tension to the point glasses and mirrors donā€™t fog up.

What comes to PBW, its a brewery cleaner, suitable for stainless and plastics minus teflon, as far i can tell no one will have teflon build plate, so i thought hey, maybe this would be good, it requires little scrubbing and will remove grease and protein with no mechanical scrubbing, even with low heat.
I can spare a build plate for testing this, and not trying to push anyone away from washing with dish soap.

Contrary to the myths that get repeated around, IPA does work for cleaning a plate, but it must be good IPA. Most are not. Try your IPA on scanner glass or another very clean glass surface that you can light from behind and see for yourself ā€” with most IPA that you can buy you will see white smudges. Thatā€™s not good IPA. Good clean IPA does not leave a residue, and thatā€™s what you want for cleaning plates.

I donā€™t have running water in my workshop where my printers are, so I only use IPA for cleaning plates. All kinds: smooth, textured, satin (for Prusa). And Iā€™ve been doing that for a number of years now, my plates have never seen soap & water. But I did find really good IPA that really is reasonably pure and does not leave a residue, thatā€™s why it works.

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I am not saying people shouldnā€™t wash their plates when they get dirty either. But washing is not the only means to keep it clean. One can form good handling habits that can keep the plate free of finger oil for a long time thus reducing the need for washing to a minimum.

Think of washing the plate as getting the treatment when ill, and good handling habit as having good hygiene and other preventive measures so one doesnā€™t get sick as often.

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@Olias: Absolutely true! This is because IPA (100% isopropyl alcohol) has a much smaller molecule than alcohol and therefore penetrates deeper into the material and then, unlike alcohol, evaporates very quickly. This achieves a much higher cleaning effect than alcohol and does not contain any other ā€œimpureā€ substances that are contained in ordinary alcohol!

I noticed that effect with IPA that according to the declaration should be 99% pure. It leaves white smudges on clean glass. I thought that it dissolved some grease and then smeared it around. Never thought that this IPA could be badā€¦

Letā€™s not lose sight of the objective: to have good bed adhesion. There can be different ways to keep the plate surface in good condition to achieve it. If what one has been doing works, then it works.

I find that a spritz of Dawn Powerwash dish detergent and a sponge with warm (or hot) water does miracles. Any dish detergent would work - I prefer Dawnnbrand. First time I got a good taste of bed adhesion trouble was when I was eating ā€œSwedish Fishā€ candies while waiting for a print to finish. I took the finished print off, man-handled the plate a little with that oily residue on my fingers, replaced the plate, and started another print. That second print was a disaster. Dish detergent and water - thereā€™s no need to make it more complicated than that.

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A mild soap and a classic cheap sponge do the trick for me. Occasionally if the filament left some traces on the plate, instead of using too much elbow grease and avoid contaminating the sponge with filament residues, I use a dishwashing brush like the one in the picture. In my area they come with different softness like toothbrushes. Medium is usually enough. I tried to find a picture without any logo on them. These look cheap but a quality one lasts for a very long time, does not scratch and easy to rinse. It is much safer than those abrasive alternatives like scotch brite or Stainless Steel scrubbers.

The brushes with handles or nail brushes are much harder than these ones and i assume they can sand away the grits of the plate. Idk for sure as i did not tried them on build plates at all, though I saw them scratching non stick pans.

brush

I find it best to always wear a pair of cotton gloves when handling the plate, removing models etc.

This increases the time between washing of the plate considerably IMO.

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Or hold the plate by the edges of the front two corners when taking it out and putting it in. Never touch any other parts of the plate with fingers. Unless the plate is full enough that some model parts sit on these two corners, which is rare (for me any way), there will be no finger oils to cause bad adhesion. Itā€™s not hard to keep the plate clean for a very long time.

I have moved to vinyl / nitrile gloves, they come in handy packages and no need to use same oneā€™s long.
Gloves in general very good to keep plate clean, and prints will also still have shiny finish with no stains on them.

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The absolute best IMHO are nitrile gloves with diamond texture, the kind car mechanics use. Perfect grip, leave no residue on plate and allows me to go veeeeery long time before having to clean plate. Since starting using nitrile gloves I say I have more issues with filament not being dry rather than bed adhesion and having to clean plate :wink:

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