Hey there, first post – hope it’s okay to put out a request for some advice. I just started 3D printing a few weeks ago (got an Ender 3 S1) and contrary to seemingly everyone else online, I’ve had no issues whatsoever with bed adhesion, rather the opposite.
Mostly to this point, I’ve been using ‘EconoFil’ PLA from filaments.ca (which was tricky to remove until I bought a better bed spatula-thing). Yesterday I got a roll of Overture ‘Eco-PLA’, which I’ve printed with a couple of times using organic supports, and both times has left a really stuck-on, almost chalky layer of filament on the bed. This isn’t so bad if I’m printing with the same filament afterward, but the Eco-PLA is ‘Midnight Black’ and I want to switch back to the Econofil for another model, which is ‘Bone White’ and I don’t want the bottom to get stained with the leftover Eco-PLA.
Has anyone had any similar issues? Any foolproof technique for removing stubborn, very thin layers?
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June 27 2023
As a bit of an update:
I realize my post was kind of unclear – the issue I was specifically trying to address was the stuck-on, ‘chalky’ layer of residue that was left by the Overture filament, not removing prints in general.
That said, it looks likely that my particular issue could be wet filament. I’d assumed that all brand-new filament (having arrived vacuum-sealed with desiccant) was going to be sufficiently dry. I tried using my bed as a DIY filament dryer and that yielded a bit of progress. My slightly-annoying workaround (until I have a better dryer) is to print a tiny 2-layer ‘sacrificial’ square to pick up any left-behind residue when switching to a lighter-coloured filament.
(Also, total fedi-sidenote: I was confused why multiple people were giving the exact same suggestion, but I think it’s a fediverse thing – not everyone is seeing all replies, I guess lol)
I clean my print surface with some isopropyl alcohol between prints and then wash the sheet every so often with warm water and dish soap. I use a satin textured sheet rather than a Pei one on my Mk3, most prints self release when cool but petg does leave some residue, IPA cleans that nicely. I did use a Pei sheet in the past which I used gluestick on, largely because I do a lot of printing with petg and the one time I said eh it’ll be fine I ripped a chunk of the surface off with the print, gluestick definitely works for a clean release, and I found I didn’t need to reapply every print.
For really stuck on stuff, like an early cancellation, I have a plastic scraper. Using that and flexing the sheet back and forth until I can get under a corner is enough to pop it off. Usually it’s the lead in purge that prusa slicer starts with that I need to do this with. A quick clean after than and it’s good for the next print.
Hm, good to know that the glue stick helps with getting a clean release. I figured it was only useful in cases where a lack of bed adhesion was the issue.