The other day, I was waiting for a print to start(standard stuff). And it seemed like it was taking a long time… Sooo, I took a head break, and when I came back, my bed was nearly clear and I could see the heating coils through the glass…
But Cura was only seeing the bed temp at 80c… But given the look of it, and the heat I could feel from it, it was nuking my bed…
Now I have all kinds of adhesion issues…<— Pretty much nothing sticks now…
I’ve cleaned the pissle out of the bed with alcohol/dry wipes, and have tried several different filaments…
The bed still looks like new… But I’m not sure if the Cura bug that overheated it, caused for a molecular breakdown to the point that PEI lost it’s awesome-ness?
I’m considering buying a new PEI glass…
Just curious what the pro’s suggests?
I was having some adhesion problems on my mini. Lulzbot recommended a vigorous cleaning with a terrycloth rag dampened with isopropyl alcohol. That solved my problem. I had been wiping it with a paper towel and alcohol previously.
A) Check that the bed did not warp from the heat. Do a single layer print and made sure the extrusion width is consistent across the bed. Especially check the middle of the bed.
B) Verify that the first layer height is correct via a single layer print. The extrusion should be slightly smooshed.
C) Call support for any options they might have.
D) If nothing else works, get some 2000 grit sandpaper and lightly sand the PEI. If you can’t find 2000, anything above 600 should be okay. You are just trying to take off any shine that might be on it. Remember just a very light sanding. It should bring the PEI back to life.
Thanks everyone… I’ve done all of your suggestions, although I’m not sure how to go about a single layer print?
I tried making my own single layer test, and Cura would not print it… I then tried “mhackney” 2MM test print, again Cura didn’t like it…<–assuming it was too thin with LB’s current profiles… https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/a-strategy-for-obtaining-great-prints/1326/1
So I tried the 4MM template, and it printed with no adhesion issues… I printed one with 100% flow and one with 90% flow… I’d love to finesse it to be perfect…Left=100, Right=90
I’m not sure what fixed the issue…
I did notice today when firing up Cura, the initial printing bed temp was set to 85C… even after reloading one of LB’s profiles? So I switched back to quick print settings, and back to full settings and it was now set at 110C… <— I’m not sure that it was set the past few days…
I used a brand new micro-fiber rag instead of blue shop paper towels… and instead of using my spray bottle, I used alcohol from main bottle… The difference, is that the main bottle is stored on a wooden shelf, whereas the spray bottle I’ve been using has been sitting on my metal toolbox… <-- Perhaps our high humidity here(Louisiana), and metal and alcohol’s love for moisture has caused my spray bottle to accumulate some water?
The clear bed almost looks like the PEI pulled away from the glass or silicone heat bed. Maybe when you cleaned it, there was enough force to re-adhere.
The problem with this is, the adhesive may lose group more and more. Eventually air bubbles could get trapped between the silicone heater and PEI… not sure if the Mini has glass sandwiched between… It doesn’t look like it. When air gets trapped between the PEI and silicone, your prints may lose “flatness” on the flat bottom (side on the PEI).
This happened on my other printer which I retrofitted with the PEI sheet for the mini. I attributed the air bubbles to my crappy application. . And because i was printing too close to the bed. Therefore prints stuck so well to the PEI, I was lifting up the PEI when removing the print.
Yes there is a glass plate between the heater and the PEI film. The few separated films I have seen were more white where it occurred, you can see little bubbles under most of the PEI sheets I gave seen so far on beds.
I will say if you have broken through the film the air and ‘other’ materials will cause the adhesive to dry out and degrade.
The few separated films I have seen were more white where it occurred, you can see little bubbles under most of the PEI sheets I gave seen so far on beds.
Try re-calibrating your e steps by following the Extruder Calibration OHAI, but use 40mm/min extrusion speed, rather than the 100mm/min stated in the OHAI (40mm/min equates to something much closer to the feed rate for a typical print speed). I can almost guarantee you will get a lower e steps number (mine went from 866 to 825). I had almost exactly the same ripple. Fixing the e steps and putting in a more accurate filament diameter (went from the Quickprint profile default of 2.85 up to 2.89mm) both greatly reduced my over-extrusion problem, eliminating that ripple you noticed.
This was discussed in more detail in the thread: Can’t get prints to correct size, where the gurus here set me straight and made a huge impact on the quality of my prints.
. And because i was printing too close to the bed. Therefore prints stuck so well to the PEI, I was lifting up the PEI when removing the print.