Hello everyone!
I am
New here and new to my Ender 3 V2. After testing it for a week I was very happy with the results. Over the weekend, I went to print something and the bed was not levelled. I ended up spending hours trying to get it to level with zero success. The middle of my bed seems to be much lower then the corners. Every print would simple not stick or it would just print in mid air. I tried to lower the z offset in the tune section of the print but was noticing it wasn’t able to stick to the board.
I’ve watched hours of videos. I ordered new springs but I cannot print anything because it’s just not sticking to my bed or just not levelling at all even after I level it.
I’m also noticing the right arm seems to sag big time which makes levelling impossible.
Can anyone give me any help and guidance ? I feel absolutely defeated.
We are here to help so don’t ever feel alone or defeated, We will get you up and running.
Couple of things I always have to mention when dealing with prints sticking to the bed, Never be afraid to take the bed off, wash with hot water, wipe with ISO 99.9 and start over. Just the sweat from your hand left on the bed will be a contaminant and will prevent the print from sticking.
Let me ask you a couple of questions first and let’s get you up and running.
What filament are you printing, PLA, PETG, TPU or something else?
What temps are you using, Bed and nozzle
Do you have a BLtouch installed or are you still running it stock?
Are you using any kind of adhesion or glue on the bed?
I am assuming you are printing on Glass? if so are you printing textured side up or textured side down?
I will go to the next step and post up a snippet from my book. Its a bit of a General guide to help with adhesion issues on printers in general, Just have to pull it from my repository, Bear with me will have it posted in a half hour or so
-I am using PLA
-I tried with a bed temperature of 50,55, ad 60. Nozzle at 200 and at 205.
-i do not have a BLtouch installed
-right now, i am not using any kind of adhesion on the bed. I was able to run prints without this successfully… i came to print this on the weekend and all of a sudden it was just not sticking.
-i am using the “stock” plate that came with the Ender 3V2. i tried the glass side and i tried the textured size. Cleaned it multiple times - same result on both side.
One thing i noticed is when i level the bed, and print, when the nozzle gets to the middle its WAY off yet all corners are indeed levelled. not sure if this has to do with the right arm that seems to sag even though it is tight…
Sorry got caught up in a meeting, Here is a snip out of my book, Hopefully, it will get you going in the right direction.
If you still cannot get it to stick after this let us know
This section is meant to be a general guide to help with Adhesion issues to your bed surface.
As I have touched on in other sections there are many different types of print surfaces that you can use and as of the printing of this book, there will be others coming out tomorrow.
Currently, no matter what the surface is there are some general rules you will want to be aware of
Heat is generally a good thing, If you just cannot get it to stick bring it up 5 deg. Here are my suggested settings,
TPU – 55-65 Deg C
PLA – 60-70 Deg C
PETG – 70-80 Deg C
ABS – 85-95 Deg C
Nylon – 70-80 Deg C
Start with a clean bed – If all else fails take the bed off, Clean it completely under hot water, scrape it if you need to, Dry it and reinstall it on the bed and start over.
Once you have the bed washed remember just the grease from your skin can prevent the prints from sticking, The next step is to spray 99.9 percent isopropyl alcohol on the bed and wipe it with a clean dry cloth. Be careful not to inhale the vapours especially if the bed is warm. It can be a bit unpleasant.
Only use PEI sheets if you are printing PLA unless you are using some kind of barrier glue or adhesion. PEI will bond to PLA under heat and will release naturally when you allow it to cool. Over time the PEI will stop “grabbing really well, Quick solution to this is to take a ball of 00 or 000 steel wool and work over the entire surface in small circles to “roughen” the surface and make it stick again. PETG will bond permanently to PEI sheets on your printer under heat. When you attempt to remove your print you will remove pieces of your PEI sheet with it. Take the safe route, Use PEI for PLA only.
What does a removable print bed mean? – Technically any print bed is removable it just depends on how much work is required to get it off. Most of the time when someone is referring to a removable bed plate they are talking about magnetic removable. This means that there will be a magnetic sheet stuck to the top of the bed heater element, on top of this there will be a very thin surface that you will actually print on. Once the print is complete you will easily be able to pull off the entire print surface and simply flex is to pop the print off the bed. Once the print is removed you can reinstall the print surface and start your next print.
Print surfaces are available in a couple of categories, PEI, Textured, Glass, Carbon fibre, or G10 also called Garolite. Any of these can be used as permanent beds or removable through the use of Magnet sheets or clips. Let’s break these down a little bit.
A. PEI – removable or fixed, The PEI sheet can be stuck to a very thin piece of metal and can serve as a removable build surface. When used on a removable build surface you can have PEI on one side or both, the alternative side can also be textured or plain steel, Simply gives you alternatives to print on depending on your particular situation.
B. Textured – these are almost always used only with removable print surfaces, One or both sides of the print surface can be textured. The better quality ones will be textured on Steel sheets and generally will last a very long time. The only way to shorten their lifespan is to bend them so the surface is no longer flat. Textured surfaces are best when being used for PETG as the texture on it will prevent enough surface area from coming in contact with your print that it will prevent the permanent bond that will sometimes occur. Textured beds are also available in a cheaper version usually having a black PC surface, they will not feel nearly as robust as their metal counterparts.
C. Glass – Can be fixed or removable with metal clips or binder clips. Connects directly to the heating surface and will allow for thermal conduction all the way through it. Most of the time the glass will have a slightly textured side and a smooth side as well. The duel sided texture was designed to print PLA on and the smooth side was for everything else. Again the texture was to print on when hot and when it cools the glass shrinks and pops the print off very easily. Sometimes the only way to remove prints from the glass bed is to use a scraper this can lead to damage to the print and sometimes the breaking of the glass.
D. Carbon fibre – This is the new alternative to glass, with Good Thermal conductivity and a dead flat surface. You can buy carbon fibre sheets as a removable version (approx. 1mm thick) or a glass replacement (approx. 4mm thick). You will need a scraper in almost all cases to remove from the thicker plate. In all cases, you will need glue of some sort to get your print to stick to this surface. CF will not inherently stick to anything, you will need something like Elmer’s purple glue, MagiGoo or nano polymer appropriate to the material you are printing on it.
E. G10 – also called Garolite has been around for a very long time and is actually the same material that is used to build circuit boards. If you have ever seen an electronic main board you have seen G10, it’s the stiff surface all the chips are soldered. Who knew you could also print on it?
What does it mean when someone says “level your bed”? – This is actually a very early term in 3D printing, It refers to the process of making your print surface (bed) parallel to the nozzle no matter where over the print surface it moves. The correct technical term for this is actually tramming the bed and not levelling the bed. Before you ever start Tramming your bed please verify all the nuts, V-wheels and bolts and springs are tight before you start. There is nothing worse than levelling your bed, starting a print and having it worse than before only to realize that a V-wheel is not adjusted properly and now you have to start over. Verify all the connecting bolts on your gantry are tight and square, you are basing the tram on the gantry being in a fixed position. If you see that your gantry is sagging on one side or the other tighten it up so it shows level. Always adjust the V-wheels so that they are snug on both sides of the extrusion and you are unable to easily spin them. The V-wheels are always set up in sets of 3 or 4, all the wheels on one side of the extrusion will be in a fixed position and the opposite side will be adjustable with an eccentric nut. In some printers, there have been cases where the bolts that connect the gantry side to side get loose or stripped out and these need to be addressed first.
My bed is warped now what do I do? – The unfortunate part of any 3D printer is that the bed will never be perfectly flat, the only question is, Is the flat enough to print on? I know of one manufacture that will not replace a bed unless you can measure a full 2mm of deviation across the bed. Although I still laugh a little when I see that as an actual requirement before they will replace a warped bed. If you do have a problem with turtling on the bed I would just opt for a new print surface, Pretty well anything after the market will improve on a badly warped bed. In a pinch and you are trying to prove it’s the bed surface, When you check it once and it’s high in the middle, Do nothing except flip the surface over and now you should see the center as Low. If the center is still high the problem is more than likely in the gantry, Bent or out of alignment is the best bet.
How do I know if my first layer is “squished” enough? The First layer squish is the most important part of any print. If the first layer fails the rest of the print will fail, Guaranteed. If you look at the picture on the right you will see a couple of examples of the first layer. (a) is too close to the bed and will cause it to push itself off the bed. (b) is perfect and will stay pretty well through a windstorm. (c) is not tight enough and just touching it will make you realize it will come off the bed with very little force. I know everyone will look at the pictures I usually touch my prime line, and try to push it off the bed, It should not easily move if it does you are not close enough to the bed. Always remember to change your baby stepping slowly until you understand what you are looking for.
If you still cannot get it to stick at all don’t be afraid to use some Purple glue stick. I know when everyone gets their new printer home they don’t want to have to “cheat” and use a glue stick. The reality of this section is that these are best practices and will help in most cases, but they will not solve all problems. Just as an example you can follow every step in this guide and have it work well, Part way through the print it still pulls off the bed because the filament may be a little wet or stringy. If you have done everything right up to this point the most important part is to make your prints succeed and not waste your time and filament.
Hello! Thank you for all the information.
After testing many different things, with the spring upgrade and using a glue stick on the bed, INCREDIBLE difference. I also noticed when i increase the bed temperature by 5 degrees it also made a big change. The prints are sticking now and the quality is much much bette !! Thank you for your time, greatly appreciated! I will for sure have more questions down the road of this journey !!
That’s awesome, Glad it’s working out for you better now. post up some of the cool things you print here in the gallery, Love to see what our community is up to.
If the cross arm is drooping then you may need to adjust the wheel tension and frame alignment. The best upgrade I did was put an dual Z axis on my E3V2 .It works slick and no more droop. A CR-Touch helps as lot too.
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