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3D Prints Not Sticking Anymore?

Introduction

Getting 3D prints to stick properly is always tricky. What usually happens when you get your first 3D printer is that everything goes so smoothly, because it's all new and shiny. Then all of a sudden, 100+ hours into printing things suddenly start going wrong. Don't panic! This is completely normal. There is likely a very simple explanation, and I'm here to point you in the right direction. In this video I give you some tips that'll help you achieve a higher print success rate. You'll be back to a happy printer in no time.

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Tip 1: Refresh Your Print Surface

Cleaning your print surface is an essential part of printer maintenance. The cleaning process is relatively straight forward, as I showed in the video. The Prusa i3 MK3 has a removable print surface, which makes it much easier to clean. You'll want to thoroughly wipe both sides of the sheet with an Acetone solution. Please be very careful with acetone, it is extremely flammable. I have provided a link to the product I use below.

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Mylee Acetone: https://amzn.to/2NsbP0o

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Tip 2: Check for Plastic Under The Steel Sheet

This turned out to be what was causing my sticking problem. We all know that 3D printing can be a messy hobby, especially if you don't clean your printer regularly. Those tiny bits of plastic that fall from the extruder get all over the place, even under your steel sheet!!

 

Having a removable steel sheet is a hundred times better than having to hack away at your heat-bed just to remove a print. However, when you remove your steel-sheet immediately after a print finishes, the heat-bed itself gets exposed to the extruder. What tends to happen is that tiny bits of plastic leak out of the extruder and fall down onto the heat-bed.

 

Afterwards, completely oblivious to what has happened, you place your steel-sheet back on top of the heat-bed. Those tiny bits of plastic that will offset your bed levelling, and essentially cause your extruder nozzle to collide with your print.

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If you find this to be your issue, gently clean heat-bed and also clean both sides of the steel-sheet, as instructed in Tip 1. This should solve any bed-levelling issues. You may even want to re-calibrate bed levelling for good measure.

Tip 3: Use a Glue Stick

Using a glue stick is typically a last resort as it makes the print surface very messy and difficult to clean. The only time using glue proves useful is when your print has very little surface area to stick to the steel-sheet. Glue can help give it that extra bit of hold. You simply smear a thin layer over your print surface and print as normal.

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Glue Stick: 

Recommended Glue:

Thanks for reading.

Happy Printing :)

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