Warping in same location for larger prints

[rkondakjian 1]

I have an Ender 5, and for the most part most of my prints are relatively small footprints, and they come out "perfect". When I try to print larger models I am getting warping, but only in the front left corner. I've tried a few of the routine approaches to address this, rotating the model 90 degrees, using a brim, even moving the model further left. Yet it seems I get the warp in the same section of the print each time.

 

I have some suspicions, none of which I have been able to put to use to overcome it at this time. I'm curious if this behavior is unique to my bed, or it's just a natural phenomena with 3d printing that it's always the same position regardless of what I am printing.

 

Attached picture are not a complete history of all attempts I've tried, they are just visual support of what I have experienced. The first blue model is roughly 220mm wide x 95 deep. The 2nd and 3rd are 140x200. I have tried printing those longwise along the X and then the Y, and then even using a brim. The extra warpness in the 3rd picture is the result after I stopped the print and ripped the still hot model, brim and all, off the bed.

[GregValiant 1,258]

What material?  It's kind of shiny - would it happen to be PETG?  What is the build plate temperature?

What is the build plate made of?  Do you have any way to check if the temperature is uniform across the surface?

[rkondakjian 1]

"What material?" PLA - in this specific case, Polaroid PLA for blue and Amazon Basics for black, but this has happened with Sunlu PLA as well

 

" It's kind of shiny - would it happen to be PETG?" Using Sunlu I set nozzle temp to 210 to avoid clogging, but for Polaroid and Amazon Basics, nozzle temp was 200

 

"What is the build plate temperature?" I set the bed to 70 (some prints might have been 60, and then subsequently increased to 70 to try to counteract the warping, using the brim, etc)

 

"What is the build plate made of?" It's the frosted PEI plate - this https://www.amazon.com/Creality-Printing-Magnetic-Flexible-Platform/dp/B09QCL4KFN/

 

"Do you have any way to check if the temperature is uniform across the surface?"  I do have a digital infrared thermometer gun - I could give that a try

Edited February 15 by Dustin
Please do not post affiliate links here.

[GregValiant 1,258]

Check around the printer for drafts as well.  I have a ceiling vent and I had to print a deflector for it because when the furnace/air came on it would blow right at the printer.  It took a couple of minutes to figure that one out I tell ya'.

 

PLA isn't much prone to warping so:  the plastic isn't adhering to the build surface, or there is a temperature differential across the bed, that left front corner is lower by a bit, something like that.  Just for reference, I typically print PLA with the bed at 50.

 

You might try some "adhesion promoter" but check on those other things first.

Edited February 9 by GregValiant

[rkondakjian 1]

My next step was to put the printer inside the enclosure. I don't like the layout/design of the enclosure as it would subsequently limit access to the spool, making filament changes a little clumsy.

 

If it turns out there is an issue with my plate not heating up evenly, is there a fix for that short of replacing the bed itself?

 

Thank you.

[GregValiant 1,258]

It shouldn't come to that.  There are still printers around that don't have heated beds and they can print PLA.  The same would apply to an enclosure.

I print mostly functional models and with PETG and the bed is at 83.  I have to use adhesion promoter for every print.  Depending on the geometry of the model I get some warping sometimes but I have never really found a need for an enclosure.  My experience with PETG is that a brim doesn't provide enough hold down force.  I usually design 2mm thick pads (elephant ears) for areas that I can see will be prone to warpage.  For PLA I never have to do that.

 

[gr5 2,176]

You need to try several things.  Clean the PEI plate from any oils.  Squish filament into the PEI harder in that "bad" corner.  Watch my video which explains why so you don't just follow rules but understand why the rules exist:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t58-WTxDy-k

 

 

[gr5 2,176]

By the way, if you think PLA is tough because of warping, wait until you try a higher temp plastic someday (basically every thing other than PLA is higher temp).

 

You should not need to enclose your printer.  Hell people print ABS without enclosing their printers and ABS warps 10X more than PLA.

 

You should probably get some magigoo instead of the glue in my video.

[Slashee_the_Cow 270]

10 hours ago, gr5 said:

You should not need to enclose your printer.  Hell people print ABS without enclosing their printers and ABS warps 10X more than PLA.

Not to mention about 5x less adhesive - half of my prints when I tried ABS couldn't even adhere to themselves. But for anyone out there who prints ABS: use an enclosure. Not just because it helps prevent warping, but also printing ABS releases poisonous vapours into the air.

 

I'm not printing ABS (these days I basically just do PLA, PETG and TPU) but I do have my printer in an enclosure. Not for print quality, for its own protection, because this place is almost never cleaned and is probably an asthmatic's worst nightmare and I don't want to kill my printer with dust (so far my "killed printer" tally is 2 because of crappy filament and 1 because of its own stupidity and stubbornness).

[rkondakjian 1]

Well this kinda sucks. I guess I could increase the bed temp 😏

 

I'll wait until I'm not printing and just heat up the plate and run another temp scan. Even if the bed is off - 65 should be hot enough for PLA to stick and not warp, right?

 

Edited February 15 by rkondakjian

[Slashee_the_Cow 270]

1 hour ago, rkondakjian said:

Even if the bed is off - 65 should be hot enough for PLA to stick and not warp, right?

PLA doesn't even need a heated bed, although if it's not heated you might need something to help adhesion. I usually print PLA with the bed at 60 so 65 is fine.

[gr5 2,176]

Did you watch the video I just linked to?  It explains the cause of warping.  It explains the solutions.  You wouldn't be asking this question if you watched the video.