My prints are not sticking to the glass anymore

[celso-santos 11]

Hi guys

I've printed so far hundreds of objects in PLA, and have never had problems with them sitcking to the glass. Since I upgraded to Cura 2.7, and after some time without using my machine, I cannot make parts to stick to the surface. I always used 60º C temperature and printed my PLA with nozzle at 210ºC.

Previously, when I wanted to make prints stick very hard to the glass I used hairspray with great success. Now even this solution does not work. I already cleaned very well the glass, changed material and the problem persists. Any clues?

regards

Celso

[fbrc8-erin 274]

Have you tried turning down the first layer speed? I don't think it changed in 2.7, but if you're having adhesion problems on the first layer it's one of the things I'd look at.

[fergazz 60]

Good to hear from someone of my city! Where in Rio do you live?

I wrote a huge text that desapear when I hit "Post reply" :angry:

I forgot to copy and save before hit it, this bug happened with me a lot during the last year, it's just frustrating sometimes/all the time.

I will try to reply as fast as possible cause it's 4:30AM

double check bed leveling

Temperature looks ok but when I need better adhesion I heat first layer +5°C and then drop to normal temp (using Simplify3D) but I'm quite sure that you can set it manually at the gcode using Cura.

@Neotko shows recently how to make a custom skirt/brim ears in Cura or Simplify3D in that topic... I'm not a big fun of brim but this one looks interesting.

You can also increase first layer width on S3D, don't know if Cura has it cause I still using an old and stable version, 2.5X. I will definitly try the new Cura soon cause I feel that sometime I will came back to it... or to slic3r but this is for another post.

Make sure that your enviroment is dry cause our city is to wet, don't know if is that the case but even my PLAs get worse after 2 summers. I'm monitoring the humidity along the last year and I note that in summer it goes until 85% and at winter around 50%. Make sure to use silica gel and sealed bags to store it, I bought 500g to prevent to get worse and to preserve my new ones.

Edited September 29, 2017 by Guest
3rd attemp and the post is posted!

[geert_2 557]

Moisture might indeed prevent sticking. I had that too in the beginning when the weather was warm and wet.

Also, some cleaning aids (window cleaners or some alcohols) do contain soap or oils that prevent sticking. So, I would recommend to clean the glass with pure warm tap water only. You could use isopropylalcohol first (this should remove oils without leaving traces), but then clean again with warm water only.

For printing PLA, I always wipe the glass with a tissue moistened with salt water: gently wipe and keep wiping until it dries. This should leave an almost invisible mist of salt stuck to the glass plate: it looks just a little bit dirty. For PLA this greatly improves bonding. (This does not work for ABS, and thus probably also not for PC, nylon).

Apart from that, there could of course be other issues: nozzle temp too low, bed temp too low or too high, distance nozzle to bed calibration too high or too low, material flow too low,...

Store all filament in a sealed box with disseccant. I use bags with color indicator, designed to dry car interiors (so they have a high capacity).

[celso-santos 11]

Hi guys

Thanks for the answers. I ran out of isopropylalcohol and was using a hidrated version. Maybe this is a problem. Humidity is truly an issue, specially because I live in Ipanema, close to the beach. What is driving me crazy is that those conditions were there since I bought the machine, so it is amazing when all of a sudden things start to go south.

I am always worried about humidity, and tried a new filament that was sealed. The result improved a little but I still had poor adhesion.

The salt option is absolutely new for me. I will try it.

Thank you all for the answers

Celso

[geert_2 557]

You can find the full manual on the "salt method" here, with a lot of photos of the results and limitations:

https://www.uantwerpen.be/nl/personeel/geert-keteleer/manuals

I should update it, but meanwhile it is still useful.

[leliep 28]

I had the same kind of problem after I didn‘t use my UM3 for several days (disconnected from mains power). The prints did not attach to the glass plate any more.

It turned out that the leveling had gone somehow. After manually initiating the automatic leveling process everything was fine again.

[RogerBW 0]

A similar thing's happened to me in the last few days. No change to software or to printer, but suddenly nothing's sticking any more. Cleaned the plate, re-levelled (four or five times), tried glue stick and hair spray even though I rarely needed them before… the first layer looks fine, but by the time I get a few cm up the print breaks free from the surface. Help!

[RogerBW 0]

OK, here it gets interesting. Here's the start of a brim for three circular pieces.

Bear in mind that's immediately after bed levelling! Hairspray on the glass, but it makes no difference - that seems very obviously like too much gap between bed and nozzle.

Is it plausible that the buildplate is somehow slipping down after it's levelled?

[celso-santos 11]

Roger, that was exactly what happened to me. I also was printing parts in the form of circle and got the same result displayed in your picture.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I use a degreasing soap to clean. I was having the same issue and it was needing a real thorough cleaning. Even though I could squeak my fingers across the glass when cleaning, I still had to use the degreaser and really hot water.

Even then, I wipe with isopropyl alcohol (99% is best) on the buildplate and then apply my stick-um stuff to the glass while heating it up.

Another thing: It seems the UM series of buildplate glass is made so that one side is more able to hold things than the other side. I forget if it is sticker side up or down.

Edited October 7, 2017 by Guest

[Clancey 0]

With my small amount of experience I've found a quick and light spray over with 'Loreal Elnet Satin' (other hairsprays are available) works wonders and has banished all the bed problems I was suffering. And if you let the bed cool completely after printing the objects simply fall off. I'm currently on print run 25 after applying and I haven't had to clean and re-apply yet. (Currently using PLA, I can't speak for other materials yet.)

When it does need re-applying a simple quick top up spray does the job, for a full makeover I use Isopropanol to thoroughly clean the glass and re-apply.

[Clancey 0]

But having just seen the picture it looks like a problem I had on day one which was the material not feeding correctly, I would have thought that was a more likely culprit than the glass suddenly not sticking. Your material isn't being layed then lifting, there isn't enough of it so it's getting dragged off the plate.

That's what it looks like to me anyway. Is this a new spool?

[fergazz 60]

OK, here it gets interesting. Here's the start of a brim for three circular pieces.

It's happening with other colors or just with the black filament? The temperature may vary slightly between colors of the same material even from the same manufacturer.

For my black PLA from Ultimaker I use +3°C comparing with my normal PLA profile (blue, natural and Colorfabb PLA/PHA pale gold). Some users goes up to +5°C with the black ones, you should play around to make sure if it's a temp issue.

If you guys share the gcode people here can take a look if a slicing ajustment is needed

Bear in mind that's immediately after bed levelling! Hairspray on the glass, but it makes no difference - that seems very obviously like too much gap between bed and nozzle.

Is it plausible that the buildplate is somehow slipping down after it's levelled?

Can you messure the gap or took some photos? Which slicer are you using? Which version?

Edited October 11, 2017 by Guest