PLA + glue + heated bed = duh on me!

[LesHall 95]

I feel so "stoopid"! I read somewhere during my initial familiarization with my brand spankin' new Ultimaker 2+ (yay) that with a heated bed, PLA does not require glue to get good adhesion while printing and good release when done. I tried this for a while and all was good, then for some goofy-dumb reason I thought "well, I'll just add some glue", thinking it would hold even better.

That's where I went wrong, because I was printing Loubie's Aria Dragon (with wider proportions, just my preference) and the early stage of the print lost adhesion to the bed and just got some stringy deposits on it. Not knowing how to diagnose the problem, i exacerbated it by adding EVEN MORE GLUE (extra duh on top) which produced the same problem EVEN EARLIER in the printing on the second try.

It was only when I felt the bed and realized that the glue was cooked dry by the heat of the bed that I realized my dilemma. So I cleaned the bed and did not apply glue and so far, knock on wood, the print is flawless! So lessons learned eh?

Les

Make history!

[avogra 68]

Don't be so harsh to yourself, I think it makes absolutely sense to use glue with PLA in many cases! At latest when you want to try some other materials, you will be happy to have the experience how to improve the bed adhesion.

You wrote, that the glue was dried by the heated bed? that is exactly what you want, it has to be dry before you start the print.

[LesHall 95]

Oh maybe that was the problem, it wasn't dry yet.

[DidierKlein 705]

I usually print with glue or some 3dlac spray even with PLA.

With the gluestick the trick is to put some of it roughly and then to take a slightly wet cloth to apply it as good as possible on the whole bed. You don't need to put a lot for it to work!