Hi again. Been away for a bit but winter is here and starting to print again. This is where my problems arose! I have been having issues with prints sticking and messing up constantly. I removed my factory build plate and washed it thoroughly with soap and water. When it was clean and dry, I noticed that there is a small air pocket near the center where my problems have been occurring. This is the factory one with the plastic / fiberglass bottom. So I am now thinking I need a new plate, but not sure of glass or magnetic? Just to mention also that when I put a metal ruler or straightedge on the plate, I can see that it has a slight dip in the center, approximately 2 or so pieces of paper thick. Just wanted to mention this in case it helps determine which plate would be better to get. I am unsure of the glass personally as it is thicker and I do not know how to recalibrate my nozzle so it is in the right position. Any help or insights would be greatly appreciated.
Or I just wanted to throw this out there. Can I also possibly get a glass shop to cut me a piece of borosilicate (?) glass and use that? I see reviews are very mixed with glass plates. 99% of my printing is PLA. Thanks again.
If your bed still heats up, then i would reccommend going for a glass bed. My reasoning is the glass should be about as level as you can be. Its not foolproof,.l but gives you a easy fighting chance.
Ive used both plain boroscolic glass and crealities glass bed. Both worked well, minimum effort, i just clip them on with either binder clips or i think theyre called swiss clips. For part removal you can wait for it to cool, and it should come off easily, some say maybe put it in a freezer if you can (dont so this with untreated glass as the thermal shock will shock you XD) for anything stubborn i just use a razer blade from a utility knife, but that may be a me thing.
I have had a chunk of glass get ripped out (i say ripped beacuse the plate waa still useable and there wernt any cracks) and that was with PLA. Though it was a large flat piece, i think it was a bit of a fluke. If you intend on printing other materials, do some research, you may need a release agent (glue of all things) to help either adhesion or as a barrier to assist in releasing the part.
Surface prep wise i dont really do much other than wipe it clean every now and then with isopropyl.
Now if you had either an auto bed leveling system installed (they can be pretty budget friendly) where you made a mesh, i would say the magnetic flexable steel sheet is pretty fun. Im midway to implimenting this onto my printer. I saw the advantage of the steel sheet from my prusa mini. It is defidently an upgrade from a stock bed. Though there are different surface types and each have pro’s and cons. So a bit more research should be done, though the smooth pei steel sheet would likley do pretty good for PLA stuff.
*Mesh bed leveling - is where the printer takes several points and brings the nozzle down to where it should be to print. More points = more accuracy. It can be done manually, so each point is visited, you make the adjustment on the printer (not the print bed) and move along, till you get all the points. Mine is set up in a 4x4 grid so 16 points.
I actually have the magentic sticker on my printer, and for the longest time just had a glass bed over the magentic sticker (steel sheet was left off the printer)
Sooo back to your original question. Keep in mind hot things expand, so when leveling your printer or checking for straightness, you should do it at the operating temps. Though i dont think that would fix your dip, it may help. You could go out and buy a new heated bed, but so long as its mostly good, and heats up, i would likley keep going. I havent really had problems with glass, and the steel sheet is also usefull in its own way. I bought both from ali express and they took awhile, but they work fine.
You could get a glass cutter to cut you a sheet, but ehh, that’s more of a your call to do. Do keep in mind, thicker glass = more mass, also takes longer to heat up. Thinner glass may be more fragile. Im mot sure of where the sweet spot in glass thickness may be, but steel will most likley weigh less.
Sorry for the rant/spelling mistakes. Hope it helps 
My experience with glass was less than stellar. I bought some glass plates that were intended for the Longer 1 printer (I think that was what it was called) but I’m convinced it wasn’t borosilicate. Twice, while printing higher temperature materials (polycarbonate), the glass shattered due to thermal expansion as the build plate was heating up. It didn’t help that I work in a cold basement.
I’ve since switched to 3DPC’s Carbon Fibre build plate. It basically has all the properties of glass but is almost indestructible. You do need to use a glue stick, though, but he adhesion is superb. It does release somewhat when it cools. It’s important that the build plate not release the model when the plate cools so that the model doesn’t move during a power failure, if your printer has a Resume Print feature that will allow you to continue a print if the power is lost. Build surfaces that let go too easily will release the model rendering the Resume Print feature useless.
I have boron glass, pei flexible, powder coated, satin flexible, coated glass and a flexible metal plate that has some crazy micro coating.
The metal plate is a complete fail. It is from a company out of business anyway.
The creality coated glass is next to useless as far as my experience. It requires glue to work. It’s black gop it is coated with comes loose on prints.
The flexible powder coated works well but leaves a deep texture I do not like. When it is cooled nothing sticks so release is easy. Power failure resume is pointless.
The pei flexible is fantastic it is the best of both. And the satin is even better.
I would suggest a wham bam system!
Well, it would appear that this is what I will be trying out next! Fingers crossed it will work alright. I am not a high volume printer, probably about 75 meters since I got my machine a year ago, so this should hopefully last a while.
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08WKFFRD7/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I use the Creality glass bed, flipped over with the smooth side up and glue. With the exception of one role of filament it works great but can be fun getting the print off since it stick so well. I did notice that since I put a CR Touch on my Ender3v2, for bed levelling 3 X3 pattern, part bonding is much better.
There is a local guy advertising on of these Ender3V2 for not much money i wonder if it worth it used?
I suppose you should add up what it would cost in parts (that can be used on other printers) so that if it has a dead motherboard or other major problems (bend rails, for example) you could at least break even on the parts you’d be acquiring.
He says working just doesn’t use it anymore. He did some upgrades looking at the pictures. has BL touch … springs (i gues they were a problem) glass bed
Depends on the price and condition.
A lot of people just give up on 3D printing. If you get it running well the Ender 3 V2 is a very good basic machine, Completely repairable with stock parts and can be upgraded to be a much larger more capable machine for a lot less money then most other printers., it’s just a mater of getting through the learning curve.
i’ll have a look. but with my second B1 It would have to be stellar. I was ordering Prusa Mk3 but put it on hold when the XL came out. if the second B1 holds up as well as the other B1 then I might be ok until the XL’s ship and maybe get that one. and let the B1 just do what they each do best.
No question in my mind. Get the Creality glass bed. I use on my ender 3 and 5.
So I apparently had forgotten to mention the following. Late last week, as per discussion with a friend with the same printer we discussed my bubble in the build plate. While I tried to ‘push’ it out like decals on a car or window tint with ZERO success. So I then took a 1/16" drill bit from the backside directly below the bubble where the two layers were seperated. Carefully I drilled a tiny hole up to the bottom of the top layer to release the trapped air. I then placed it upside down and using a small mallet I tapped it solid again. Did a couple of prints and it does now appear to work decently again until my new build plate arrives. Yes, slightly archaic, but I wanted to print a coupld of small ornaments.
LOL… Fixing a 3D printer with sub-millimeter precision by using a mallet
There’s a meme in there somewhere…
You could have just stabbed a tiny hole from the top with a razor blade to let the air out. Drilling a hole from the bottom up is like doing open heart surgery for a cough ha ha.
Edit: I should say that I don’t mean any offence, just that I found this solution kind of funny!
Well, after getting and installing my build plate, the PEI one linked above, it does appear to be working very good so far. The only problem with it is that it says the smooth side is good for PLA, and rough surface for PETG. I tried the smooth side and did not have much luck, but have been using the rough side with very good success using PLA once I got the bed adjusted for the thicker material. I really like the ease of removing the bed to take a print off of it from for sure, and the magnet sure snaps it down good and tight.
I have smooths textured and satins. I use all three for many materials. be cautous of the smooth and petg it will grip crazy hard.
The smooth try cleaning it with detergent (laundry detergent) and water, dry it well and use a light wash with IPA. I have no issues with adhesion.