I loved this glass bed. After so much time trying to get anything to stick to the stock ender 3 bed, this glass bed has things sticking almost TOO well.
It was fine enough for PLA, but I’ve been playing with PETG lately and it sticks a little harder.
Well today I printed the entire bed flat for a little hiking table I’m experimenting with… and this happened when I tried to get it off…
Suggestions for replacement? Should I go glass again? I don’t have bltouch so I like how flat glass is, set it and forget it. But I’ve seen those magnetic plates that allow for super easy removal but just flexing the plate, but this bed is aluminum I think. Plus that seems similar to the stock ender 3 plate that I despise.
Just get a few new pieces of glass/mirror cut to the same size. I’ve been using a piece of mirror for years now. No glue, nothing. Petg all of the time. Works great. Has a few blemishes, but still perfectly flat and very cheap.
Nice! Yeah I’ve loved this glass. I might go back to it, but I’m gonna try PEI for awhile 🤷♂️
Heads up, PEI sheets are great because you can take them off and flex them a bit to pop parts off, but it is worth noting that PETG (and TPU) can also bond too well to PEI. It depends a bit on the kind and quality of the PEI, but you may still want to use a release layer (I’m partial to washable glue sticks, but everyone has their own personal preferences) just to keep your plate safe.
Good to know, I’ll have to play with it.
If you wait a bit for plate to cool PETG just pops off it most of the time.
That’s good to know thanks!
The reason I’m not going for pei or any other spring steel sheet is it isn’t flat and warps with temperature. I’d need to compensate for warping and potentially flatten my bed, which all goes away with glass. Additionally, since I’m on ender 5, the weight doesn’t matter, so that is what I use. Also, for me petg is better than pla in almost every way i use the printer, I care about creeping and temperature stability, which makes petg the absolute king. But for some other use cases, other stuff makes more sense.
Hmmm, that doesn’t sound very encouraging haha. Well I’m gonna try PEI anyway, see if I can keep it flat enough.
That looks like somewhat similar to an ultrabase bed. I have had one of those on my i3 clone for years and years. I’ve also printed a reasonable amount of PETG on it. Was the print and/or bed warm when you tried to pull it off? Prints detach much better when cool.
I put the whole apparatus in the fridge for a few hours, hoping it would just pop off.
The edges came up clean, but the very middle was very unhappy. I had some lifting on the corners so I think there was a draft and the plate wasn’t warming equally. Hot spot in the middle trying to keep up maybe? IDK.
Lifting on the corners, especially if this was a bed sized print, was probably due to warping. It stinks that it took out your bed, but warping probably wasn’t the cause there.
My main printer these days is enclosed. When I print PETG on it I’ll pop the lid open because PETG doesn’t like to be too warm.
I thought too cold caused warping, does too warm cause it as well?
Sorry for the delayed reply. No, too warm won’t cause warping. However, the hold side of your hot end will at best be ambient temperature. If it gets too warm you can clog your nozzle.
My view is “if the chamber doesn’t need to be hotter why make it hotter?”.
If you were printing ASA/ABS you want your chamber to go basically as hot as you can get it though - especially if you’re printing something big.
No worries thanks for the information!
PETG and bare glass: Name a more iconic duo.
Now I know this to be true
Textured PEI plate!!! I’ve had a glass plate printer and it was pretty decent but eventually warped and caused most prints to stop sticking as well.
Now I have a textured PEI plate printer and I haven’t had a single issue with bed stickiness. Bonus is I can remove the plate and flex it to pull new prints off of it.
How do you keep the plate flat to the bed without magnetics?
It’s magnetic so it snaps on and off. The magnets are quite strong.
I googled it, you put down a magnetic sheet first. Sweet, I ordered one
Mine has a magnetic layer that adheres to the existing bed. Then the PEI plat sticks to that.
Awesome! I ordered one, I’ll give it a try
FYI, I had to compensate on the bed heater to compensate for the extra mass and thickness. I don’t remember how much, but not a ton. Plus a little longer of a wait to let the heat saturate before starting the print.
Can’t be much worse than a big hunk of glass?
Nope, but a big hunk of metal (magnet) plate
I have the same printer and I often need a hammer to loosen the print from the bed!
I’ve definitely done that!
I know absolutely shit-all about this subject, but is there no kind of release agent y’all can use? Like with molds and such?
Many printers come with a thin metal plate that attaches via magnets, which you can bend/flex to help the print detach. Easily my favorite way to get a print off the bed.
I pour some alcohol around the base and then place them in the fridge or freezer. After half an hour they either release or are easier to release.
The issue is finding space in the fridge or freezer for the larger prints
I keep a very sharp scalpel next to my printer. It’s super thin and a bit flexible, but still has a sturdy handle to hold on to. With it I can get in between the glass and the PETG no matter how stuck it is. Once I cut a little bit, usually the whole print lifts right away.
I do this too, normally it works a treat.
Knew it was PETG before reading.
Somehow I missed all the warning signs and discussion on the subject. I’ll never forget.
Yeah petg you have to add a sacrificial layer of generally hairspray or glue stick to make sure the petg doesn’t bond with the glass
I have several chips in my glass bed from petg
I usually now spray 3-5 layers of hairspray on my glass before printing petg
That’s my fault for jumping in without researching lol.
Now I see why PETG isn’t as popular.
I needed something with more heat resistance than ABS but I didn’t want to go through the work of making an enclosure
PETG is typically less heat resistant than ABS
I meant PLA sorry
PETG becomes as easy to print as PLA after 3 or 4 spools to be honest.
That’s encouraging!
Lol, it looks like someone sat on it and left a butt mark!
I like the silicone type pad I have. I don’t remember what it’s actually made of but it has great adhesion, can be peeled off the main bed and flexed to pop prints off easy.
Nice! Could you link it? Very curious.
Also how does it do with PETG? Apparently PEI/PEO doesn’t do so well?
https://www.amazon.com/Creality-Ultra-Flexible-Removable-3D-235X235MM/dp/B07HNWSMXY
I’ve personally never used anything other than PLA (and resin) so I’m not sure how it holds up to PETG or other filament types.
There ia your problem, that bed is not ment for PETG, PLA only
You can get cheap PEY, PEO build plates that arw much better for PETG
I’ve never heard of this, wow, that’s good to know I guess.
This or put blue tape on a glass bed
if you can’t wait for the deliveryThis is a pretty deep hole, I don’t think tape will cut it.
But I’ve been printing little things on the front portion 🤷♂️
I’m sorry, i was tired and mixed up things… What I meant is if you have a glass bed (undestroyed), you can use blue tape to print petg. It will help if you want to keep a glass bed to maintain a flat surface unlike others build plate which are more flexible.
Ah that makes sense haha
