this post was submitted on 25 Jun 2024
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Not the person you responded to, but I had mine set up. I had the software installed, I (thought) I even had the bed leveled, but every print either failed to stick to the plate, or eventually stuck to the nozzle. I ended up with a lot of spaghetti. I got frustrated and decided to take a break. I'd come back to it fresh, and see what I could do.
... That was three years ago.
One thing I learned is that Creality's QC is absolute garbage. When I first got my printer I also picked up a glass plate. Everything stuck perfectly to it, hardly any fuss at all. After several years the coating wore out and I bought a new one. Total trash, nothing would stick without heavy usage of hair spray and I eventually gave up on it.
If you want to try again, look for PEI beds. If you have one with the magnetic base, there are several with the PEI already mounted on a spring-steel plate. PEI is one of the best surfaces you will ever find to print on, although I believe one type of filament (I think a variation of PLA?) sticks too well and can damage the PEI trying to take prints off... but I've used regular PLA, PLA+, and TPU with great success, and have heard that ABS also works well on it. Just keep it clean with 90% ISO and you'll eliminate at least one problem.
Of course there's also the whole thing with bed leveling. I run into a lot of people who think the paper method is the whole process for leveling, when really it's just to get your printer dialed in close enough that you don't ruin the bed when you actually begin to do the leveling. Getting the leveling wrong is by far the most common reason why prints don't stick well so do your best to nail that aspect. You want the nozzle gap about 3/4 of the nozzle size, so for a standard 0.20mm nozzle you would want a gap of about 0.15mm for your first layer (but still use 0.20 in the slicer) to get that proper smoosh. My leveling method involves using a 5-point bed-leveling test print, and you can judge the gap by eye from that. Takes quite a few iterations to get all the corners dialed in, but you shouldn't have to do it often.
Speaking of which... another common complaint is the loose bed springs. You want to Crank those puppies down almost completely closed, then adjust the Z switch to that new position before starting the leveling. Tight springs means you almost never have to readjust the leveling knobs. I check mine about once a year.
That's PETG. I avoid using smooth PEI plates like fire when PETG is loaded. Even after swapping the filament to PLA, little bits of residual PETG can still stick leaving a shadow on the plate. Textured PEI is mostly fine, but single layer stuff like brims are a pain to get off.
Ah thanks for that! I can never remember PETG, probably because I've never used it myself.
Assuming proper level, mess with temp settings and maybe try a layer of glue stick glue. Helps big time with first layer adhesion but it gets messy if you don't clean it off. Though my bed is a mess and it still prints OK lol.
That's why I always recommended a Prusa Mk3 to beginners, if their budget allowed it.
Stuff like auto bedleveling is just too good to not have.
I set up and calibrated my Mk3 in beginning of 2020, and I never had to fiddle with anything on that machine again. It just prints.