I have a K1 MAX with a smooth PEI sheet, it works quite well. Ever since I got it I have had a problem with the first layer being “mutilated” sort of like it is boiling. The amount varies from print to print but always there. Now there is a message printed right on the PEI sheet that says to apply glue to the sheet so I always did. When I had the Frankenender with a glass sheet, I always used glue with it and had zero problems so I didn’t know what would be causing this problem. As a “hail marry” I quit using glue and the problem went away. The prints stick great, no more bubbling first layers. I don’t know why the glue would cause a problem on this PEI sheet especially since it actually says to use glue. Maybe someone with better "3D PRINTING-FU can say.
Having seen this on another Creality printer, I would guess it’s one of two issues:
- PEI shouldn’t need glue, but I find third party (economy) products do not have consistent spread of the PEI on the steel sheet below. They still recommend glue to compensate for their bad quality: you just happened to get a good sheet.
- Inconsistent heat spread. The bed should be machined aluminum, but again fine Chinese products have quality issues.
The PEI sheet does work very well better then I thought it would.
The printer has a full area heated bed and only really expensive beds are machined. All the cheaper (under a couple of thou. $) ones usually only have sheared aluminum beds which can be a problem if you get one that is warped out of tolerance. ABL’s can only do so much. That is the beauty of a glass bed it is usually very flat and easy to tram and as I said glue works great on it.
I just don’t understand why glue on a PEI plate does this. It shouldn’t. 