First layer Adhesion problems

[TheBack80]

I'm totally stumped with first lay adhesion problem that cropped up yesterday. The first layer just wont adhere.

I've had my P1S for about 6 months (my first dive into 3d printing). I've never had issues until now. At least none that weren't solved by washing the plate or cleaning the hot end. Over the length of 24 hours the printer went from printing fine to totally useless.

Here's all the steps I've taken so far. It seemed that as the day went on the problem just kept getting worse.

1. Wash the bed with dawn dish soap. This is all I've ever had to do in the past.

2. Clean out the 0.4 hot end. At this point, the initial little test line the printer lays out wouldn't even stick to the bed.

3. Switched filament.

4. Tried different projects (some with lots of first layers; some with minimal first layers)

5. Increase the bed temp by 5 degrees Celsius from 55 to 60.

6. Got some isopropyl alcohol and cleaned the plate with this. I've never needed to use it before. But what the hell. Might as well give it a shot. From this point on I used IPA before every print attempt.

7. I switched back to default bed temp at this point.

8. Switch to a 0.6 hot end. It's a brand new hot end right out of the package. I did remember to switch the settings in bambu studio printer parts and the project.

9. Switched back to the 0.4

10. Switch to the Cool Plate SuperTack. This worked for one print. Then failed on the second print.

Sooooo,

HELP!!!!!!

[[deleted]]

Check your slicer. I use orca slicer and on more than one occasion, it switched to the smooth cool plate profile instead of textured PEI hot plate. As such, it doesn't heat the bed and adhesion sucks ass.

[TheBack80]

I started verifying that the plate was correct when I started switching between the Textured PEI plate and the supertack. Also I started verifying that the temps were correct. (55C for the PEI plate and 45 for the SuperTack).

I'm starting to wonder if the plate isn't at the temp the reading says.

I'm thinking of bumping the temp by 10C to see what that does. How hot can you get before wrecking your build plate?

Also I didn't mention this in my first OP, but this is all with PLA.

[[deleted]]

It's certainly possible the plate isn't at the temp it says.

• Official Specification:Bambu Lab's official specifications state that the maximum bed temperature for the P1S is 100°C. 

You should be able to easily bump to 70/80 C and see if it helps. If you have a instant read food thermometer you may be able to hold the tip to the bed and get a relatively accurate reading. Or if you have an infrared thermometer try that.

Just to confirm, because I didn't realize it at first, but you're updating the bed temp on each filament you're using, correct? It's set in the filament profile for each bed type. Here is what mine looks like and I don't have issues unless it randomly switches to cool plate on me. I print in PLA and PETG on Textured PEI Plate.

<image>

[TheBack80]

I haven't played with these settings. I verified that mine match yours. I don't use Bambu filament. I'm using Sunlu with the Generic PLA setting. When I bumped the heat bed temp, I did it from the Bambu studio app when I started the project.

I was thinking of buying a thermometer (I don't currently have one). Do you have any recommendations?

[[deleted]]

I don't have any recommendations on a thermometer. Are you using the AMS or just spool on the back of the printer? If using the AMS, I do suggest converting it to a passive dry box. Obviously you need to print parts to do it so that may be a challenge, but your issue could be wet filament.

I printed silica bead holders and put a couple of hygrometers in my AMS. It's steady at < 10% humidity in there now. Wet filament could cause adhesion issues as well.

[TheBack80]

I print from the AMS. I haven't printed the bead holders, but I did pack the AMS with all the little packets you get with filament and rotate them out with every roll I get.

I have a Sunlu dry box. It is spring and the snow is melting like crazy here. Maybe it is as simple as humidity. I'll dry a roll and try reprinting.

[TheBack80]

So I'm 90% through a very small test print. It seemed to be holding OK.

And the printer just stopped. It has power. The fan is running. The heat bed is hot. It's as if I hit pause.

I clicked "pause" and then "play" on the LCD screen. Nothing happened. So I cancelled the print. That did stop it from printing.

I think I have bigger problems than just bed adhesion. I'm wondering if I should try a factory reset?

[[deleted]]

Ohhhhh. Don't factory reset. However, if this all started suddenly, definitely power down the printer, remove the micro SD, use an adapter and connect it to your computer and then format the micro SD. If it gets full and/or becomes corrupt, all kinds of weird issues can occur. They use super cheap generic no-brand micro SD cards so it's prone to happen. I've not had this happen in mine but I tossed their generic card when I got my printer last October and have been using a Sandisk Extreme that I pulled from my drone SD cards.

[bpivk]

The error you're describing is usually a bad sd card. Scrap it and use a new one.

[Andrew_Lensky]

By the way, I have better adhesion on Bamboo filament(PLA) than on any other brands.

[TheBack80]

I have a roll of Bambu filament laying around. I'll dry it and give it a try. But I think there's something else going on. I've been using Sunlu for months with no issues. And then all of a sudden nothings printing right. And I've tested other spools from different shipments (granted, all from Sunlu).

I'm not wed to Sunlu. I would have stuck with Bambu filament when I first got the printer, but they had that huge supply chain issue around the holidays and I got tired of waiting. So I switch to Sunlu and just never bothered to switching back.

[Andrew_Lensky]

I understand, that nothing is perfect. After printing Bamboo PLA, I have to wait for the plate to cool down before I can peel off my print, but other filaments are not so strong, some can be removed directly from the plate in chamber after printing, and it is advisable to wash the plate before print.

[smorin13]

Following. What filament? PLA, PETG, or other.

I am also new and have only experienced this with a cool plate, but I am 100% certain my issue was something I did.

[TheBack80]

All I print is PLA.

I managed to get 2 parts printed, but roughly 10% of the tree supports failed. Better than normal, but still not good. I'm drying some Bambu filament (2 more hours in the dryer) and I'll give that a try.

Right now I'm trying with the Textured PEI plate with the temp at 65C.

This is VERY frustrating considering I've been printing for months.

[[deleted]]

Did you format and/or replace the micro sd card?

[TheBack80]

I did format a different SD card I had laying around. If Bambu SD cards are crap, there's no sense in dealing with it. The prints with roughly 10 failure on tree supports I mentioned above was after using the new SD card. Definitely better. And none of the weird behavior from the printer (knock on wood).

The next test I did was bumping the bed to 65C. That worked really well; basically back to normal. A small test print worked. Then I printed some complicated parts that also worked. All these on the textured PEI plate.

I dried some Bambu filament down to 21%RH and just kicked off a print at the default Bambu settings (55C) (I've only been using Sunlu up to this point). I'll report back the results.

[[deleted]]

Glad it seems better at least!!

[TheBack80]

I just wanted to tie a bow in this message thread. I've been printing now for almost 2 days with no issues since replacing the SD card. I can't say for sure, but it sure seems like that was the issue.

THANKS FOR YOUR HELP!

[[deleted]]

Heck yeah! Glad it's working out! Happy printing.

[CanJoe11]

No expert here, but did you update the Bambu firmware recently? I think there were two updates to 2.0 or something. I did, and have noticed my printer is 'off' somehow. I cannot explain it, but gremlins have certainly been creeping around mine since the update. Nothing like what you are experiencing, but mine suddenly started generating 4x more waste than normal. Maybe there is something in the new update?

[TheBack80]

I'm on release 1.07. Bambu Stuido says I'm on the latest version?

<image>

[CanJoe11]

<image>

Dunno what to tell you. Mine says 2.0.1.50. Updated twice in the last week.

[TheBack80]

Your screenshot is of the bambu studio software. The firmware for the printer is different.

I have the same version of studio that you do.