MakerGear Forum

3dPrintingMD wrote:I honestly can't get anything to stick on a consistent basis with PEI.

I primarily use my MIC-6 with hairspray, but would love to get away from the hairspray if I could by using PEI.

what materials are you printing with? I havent had a single problem with PEI ever, but I know there are some materials that are harder to use or need the heat cranked up on the bed

3dPrintingMD wrote:I honestly can't get anything to stick on a consistent basis with PEI.

I have not had any problems. After a long period of absence while I was busy with other things, I finally got around to using my MIC-6 plate with PEI. With PETg it was perfect; with ePC it had some problems during the first layers on the first run after transitioning from the PETg, and after that it worked perfectly. For both of them I ran the plate at 90 degrees C.

I have given up on my Zebra plate. Not because it isn't a good surface; it has excellent sticking properties. But it damages easily and I keep melting holes in mine. Plus the inductive Z-probe doesn't work especially well with it because there's too much variation in the depth of the metal plate. Not much variation, but it doesn't take much to undermine the whole Z-probe concept.

On a side note, by running ePC at 260 degrees without a fan, I got so much heat creep up the hot end that the thermal expansion caused the nozzle to fall out of the bracket. The PEI proved itself nicely by not melting when the nozzle dropped on it.

3dPrintingMD wrote:I honestly can't get anything to stick on a consistent basis with PEI.

I have the opposite problem it sticks too well, its hard to remove the prints. Of course maybe blood is a good adhesive because I've sure cut, jabbed, and sliced myself enough times since I started using the PEI.

Did you rough yours up first before using it? A little steel wool does the trick for me.

I might try that, its worth giving it a shot.

With PET, the high-grit sanding is a must. I use 1200 grit to prep my plates. I haven't had to re-sand them yet but I've heard this is required after a while if things stop sticking to them. Wiping with alcohol after each print helps too. I print everything at 70c plate temp. The only issue I've had is that TPU sticks too well and even freezing the plate doeesn't help get it off. I had to scrape mine off with a glass scraper, which worked without damaging the PEI but I would not want to have to keep doing that. Next time I'll try it on a cold plate and see how that goes.

sthone wrote:

3dPrintingMD wrote:Did you rough yours up first before using it? A little steel wool does the trick for me.

Oh, yeah, oops. I took such a long break between installing the PEI and getting around to using it that I forgot that I sanded it down first. 800 grit, and I have read (probably on this forum somewhere) that you will have trouble getting prints to stick if you don't sand it down. It doesn't need much. Just enough to take it from a shiny surface to a dull one.

This fits with my experience with hairspray and ABS.

I scarify the hairspray surface after each print, then hit it with one or two coats of spray. This is the best of everything I've tried in my 5 years of printing. I use a fine but fairly rigid brush that's purchased as part of a 3-pack.

Just sanded and gave this another try. I am running PLA, with a 60* bed. And within say 20 layers the piece is starting to lift. I've even tried to really squash down that first layer.

Maybe too much bed temp ?

Sand it, then clean it off with alcohol to make sure there's no dust on it. Temp about 60 -65° for PLA. Full fan.

(Might not have gotten all the sanding dust off.)

Oh but I did do exactly that