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Build Surface Adhesion

All Surfaces

  • ⚠️ Avoid touching your build surface as much as possible. Oils from your fingers will cause issues. Handle your spring steel with a clean rag or cloth.

  • ⚠️ Ensure that your 📄first layer squish is correct.

  • ⚠️ Thoroughly wash all build plates with dish soap and water (and make sure to rinse thoroughly too).

    • You should do this even for brand new surfaces.

    • Isopropyl alcohol does not do a great job of cleaning oils. It mostly just spreads them around.

    • I keep a spray bottle of (SLIGHTLY) soapy water next to my printer. Using a paper towel, I scrub with soapy water, then again with isopropyl alcohol (IPA) to remove the remaining soap residue.

    • Soap is not necessary for every print. You can use IPA most of the time, with occasional soap when it needs further refreshing.

  • User a proper first layer temperature.

    • PLA: ~60C
    • PETG: ~80C
    • ABS: ~90-100C*
      • *:warning: Voron V2 and Trident have a ~10-15C temperature drop due to the thickness of the bed. Most people run ~110C for ABS because of this.
    • Some filament brands recommend inaccurate/conservative temperatures. Try standard temps instead if you are having issues.

  • Use adequately thick line widths (in your slicer) for your first layer.

    • I use 📄120% normally, but higher line widths can further increase adhesion.
      • Thicker widths create more pressure against the build surface, resulting in a better bond.

  • Ensure your PEI is not counterfeit. You may have to ask in the Discord for others' experiences with a given brand. If your PEI is clear rather than yellowish, it's fake.

    • Stick to well-known brands.
    • This is common with unknown AliExpress and Amazon sellers.

  • Ensure that your build surface is actually meant for printing. Some plates appear to be two-sided (yellow/orange coloring for aesthetics) but are actually only one-sided.

  • Instead of PEI (or to supplement your PEI), you can use adhesives like 📄Vision Miner Nano Polymer.

    • (Not sponsored) This stuff is excellent.

      • There is a $19 50ml bottle on Amazon but it's not always in stock. 50ml goes a long way, especially if you dilute it.
      • Dilute it 1:1 to 3:1 isopropyl alcohol to adhesive - it will last longer and is much easier to spread.
      • It grips like crazy.
        • (Though sometimes it grips too much. It can pull chunks out of glass or pull texture off of beds if too much is used. Less is more!)
      • It doesn't leave sticky residue (it does leave some slight whitish coloring though, which can be easily cleaned with IPA)
      • It lasts a long time between applications.
      • It (usually) releases when cooled, assuming you didn't use too much.

Smooth PEI

  • Scuff it up with a 📄kitchen scouring pad.

    • Some people choose not to do this, to keep the glass-like surface finish on their prints. However, you will be sacrificing adhesion and may need to use brims and/or adhesives on occasion.

    • ~800-1000 grit sandpaper, or even the scrubby side of a fresh sponge may also work.

    • This helps immensely, much like how you would scuff/sand a surface before painting or gluing something to it.

    • You can refresh the surface this way on occasion, just remember to wash it again afterwards.

Textured PEI

  • Textured PEI often needs a little more squish than smooth PEI. This pushes the filament into the voids.

Last Resort

As a very last resort, you can try refreshing the surface with acetone.

Keep in mind, however, that:

  • ⚠️This weakens PEI over time.
  • ⚠️It can destroy certain surfaces (mainly certain brands of textured sheets).

Only try this if it's going in the trash otherwise.

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