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What material are you using?
Just about every single material type has different build plate adhesion requirements.
We will go over some basic settings for different material types later in this page, but if you are working with a material you aren’t very familiar with, I would definitely suggest reading the “Material Science” page.
Print your first layer slow and with no active cooling fan
This tip is going to be true across all filament types and all 3D printer setups. If there are any issues with that first layer sticking, then it will affect the rest of your print, so in order to get it to stick properly, we print very slow and with no part cooling. Regardless of the speed of the rest of your print, we suggest that your first layer be no higher than 30-45mm/s. While you may have a setup that can print much faster than this, the first layer is where you will likely make the exception, ensuring it has proper adhesion to your build plate.
Heated Build Plate
Your heated build plate is crucial to printing just about any material other than PLA, and even with PLA it helps quite a lot.
For almost all materials we heat the build plate to slightly lower than the materials glass transition temperature. For an understanding of how transition stages occur with polymers used in 3D printing, be sure to read the “Material Science” page.
Being near this glass transition temperature allows for the material to be slightly more adhesion as the part becomes more viscous. Going too high with this build plate can cause “Elephant Foot”, as covered on that page, so keep that in mind if you are experiencing that issue.
Below are the temperatures ranges we suggest to have your build plate for different material types. For more specifics, please visit the individual material's product page:
PLA: 55-60°C
ABS: 90-100°C
ASA: 95-95°C
PETG: 70-80°C
TPU: 25-60°C
Nylon: Our Warp Free Technology means you use a low build plate temperature of 25-50°C
Carbon Fiber Blends: Generally follow whatever the carbon fiber is blended with. 55°C for CF-PLA for example. See the individual product page for specific instructions.
Have the proper initial Z-height
If your nozzle is too far from the build plate, it doesn’t matter what kind of other adhesion methods you have, your part won’t stick and will be knocked off mid print.
The general starting method for finding your proper z-height is to grab a piece of computer paper, home your printer, and then change the z-height until you get a minor amount of drag on the paper. Most new printers actually can calibrate this automatically, but it is a good to easily recognize when a print is starting too far or too close to the build plate.
Clean your bed before you add anything
This tip is particularly true when you are using a unique build plate, but having residue on your build plate from a number of different culprits can lead to parts not sticking properly. For PEI build sheets, cleaning is essential if you want parts to continue sticking.
You need to know your build plate before you get to cleaning with anything other than isopropyl alcohol. You can use isopropyl alcohol just fine on PEI, and some with a few paper towel wipe downs will make all the difference if your part is no longer sticking. You do not want to use acetone on PEI, since it can destroy the build plate.
You can use just about anything on glass, and acetone will lead to a quick clean. Glass also doesn’t need to be cleaned quite as often, and you can get prints to stick fine as long as you add a coat of hairspray - and it hasn’t been a month since the last time you cleaned it. We suggest cleaning your PEI build plate every 5-10 prints, and glass every couple dozen. It doesn’t hurt to clean more frequently than that either.
There are quite a lot of build plate options out there now, but it is a pretty safe bet that giving it a good clean with isopropyl alcohol will help. That said, some build plates state clear as day that cleaning with anything other than soap and water will destroy the build plate. There is no way for us to know all the possible print bed options out there, so make sure you follow whatever the manufacturer suggests to clean if you are afraid of using isopropyl alcohol.
Build Plate Options:
Glass Bed: This is the most basic option available now, but was the preferred method a few years ago. The benefit to having a glass build plate, especially one that is 1/4 inch or thicker, is that it will not warp when you heat it to 100°C or higher and will not be affected by small temperature fluctuations.
Glass by itself will not be enough to get most materials to stick, so here are a few options. One of the most popular methods is just using Aquanet unscented hairspray. To many makers out there, this is an obsolete method, but it can work great with PLA. PLA parts stick great, have a shiny underside surface quality, and then pop off with ease when cooled to room temperature.
This glass with hairspray works with PLA, PETG, and smaller parts. When you get to larger parts in these materials, you will likely want a different adhesion method, or perhaps a completely different build plate.
It is smart to clean your hair spray glass build plate periodically. It doesn’t hurt to clean everything off with some isopropyl alcohol and a scraper. Then reapply the Aquanet hairspray to clean glass.
And then when it comes to working with ABS and ASA, if you want to use a glass build plate, we would suggest checking out Magigoo's line of products.
Magigoo Original works for PLA, ABS, ASA, PETG, Hips and TPU. We personally recommend only using it for ABS, ASA, TPU and large PETG, since PLA works fine with just hair spray and sometimes sticks too well to Magigoo. But when it comes to ABS and ASA, not only does the part stick better than an acetone slurry, it literally slides off when at room temperature. Their naming is proper, this stuff works like magic.
You can actually also use Magigoo on PEI build plates as well if your parts just aren’t sticking.
PEI Build Plate
There are so many versions of PEI build sheets now, it’s difficult for us to only speak of one generic version.
Most PEI plates will even ha a smooth sided side as well as a textured one. So it is very easy to add some Magigoo to that smooth side for an ultimate hold.
The idea behind PEI is to create essentially very small suction cups as the build plate heats up and that releases as it cools to room temperature. This means parts stick great without the need for any additional bed adhesion. In fact, you can damage the PEI if you add adhesives, so you really do not want to use anything on it.
The one thing that is needed when printing in PEI is to clean it frequently. PEI really loses adhesion fast if it isn’t cleaned, so fast that within 10 prints you might be battling with nothing sticking. So we suggest around every 5 prints to clean off the PEI with some isopropyl alcohol (NOT acetone).
You really want to make sure you have the proper z-height honed in before starting a print, because if your nozzle is too close, then you can damage your nice PEI build plate or sheet.
Other Build Plates
With modern 3D printers, just about every printer comes with its own build plate style. The Ender 3 V2 (and similar clones) comes with what is called a carborundum glass bed. I do not know a lot about this, even though I have printed on it quite a lot. Prints seem to stick well to the texture, though we can also suggest hairspray if not sticking.
The Ender 5 comes with a very thin magnetic sheet that seems to be a form of PolyCarbonate. Many printers also use this black surface, which normally will have prints stick extremely well. And then really there are endless options that I have not tried.
It is worth trying whatever comes with your printer before you go out and purchase a flex plate, because if you are happy with what you have, there is no reason to spend extra money.
Using a Brim
A brim refers to lines that follow the perimeter of your print that act as essentially an anchor for your part. We do not recommend using a brim at all for PLA or other non-warping materials, since they can be a nuisance to remove. But for high warping parts, we really recommend using one. And for materials like ABS and ASA, the brim is extremely easy to remove.
How thick the brim is will be based off your nozzle diameter. A brim of 15 lines will be twice as wide with a 0.8mm nozzle as it would be with a 0.4mm nozzle. For most parts and nozzle diameters requiring a brim we suggest using from 10-30 lines. Anything more than 30 is likely unnecessary.
We are not big fans of using a raft, unless you have a lot of small parts to print. This can allow these small parts to not get knocked over, but will allow them to clean off much easier when compared to a brim.
Summary of Fixes and Precautions
• Know what material you are using as well as what is required for it.
• Heat your build plate to either near the glass transition temperature of the material you are using, or to a specific temperature suggested by the manufacturer.
• Frequently clean your build plate, especially if you are having bed adhesion issues. Use Isopropyl alcohol for most build plate types, though you can use acetone on glass. I suggest only using water and soap for cleaning off PVA or if your build plate is sensitive like the one from 3DQue.
• If you are using glass, you will want to add extra adhesion, such as Aquanet unscented hairspray for PLA, PETG, and small ABS parts.
• Check out Magigoo; I highly recommend their products.
• I suggest checking out the build plate options by Wham Bam, BuildTak, TH3D, and other competitors as an alternative to regular glass. There are quite a lot of options, and many printers come stock with an upgraded build plate now.
• Hone in the initial z-height
• Slow the speed down and turn off the active cooling fan for your first layer on every material type.
• Use a brim to help anchor the part if printing a higher warping material.
• Print with a raft if a brim isn’t enough, though I normally only use rafts for lots of small parts on a single build plate.
• You can increase the initial layer thickness, though it will distort the dimensions of the bottom of your print.
• Increase the initial layer height to max out your nozzle diameter (75% of the nozzle diameter), so that the tolerances of your initial Z-height is a lot easier to hone in.