Bed Adhesion Issues

Poor bed adhesion can cause a print to dislodge from the print bed during printing, resulting in print failure. Many factors can cause poor bed adhesion, and sometimes poor bed adhesion is a result of multiple factors working in combination.

Before attempting troubleshooting, make sure you are using the most recent printing profile for your printer. To download the most recent profiles, see Gigabot Printing Profiles (Simplify3D, Slic3r, Cura).

Possible Causes

Factors that cause poor bed adhesion include:

• Bed temperature is too low
• Nozzle temperature is too low
• Bed adhesive (or lack thereof) is not compatible with the print material
• Z gap is incorrectly calibrated
• First layer print speed is too high
• Part Cooling is on for the first layer
• Warping

In addition to the above factors, poor bed adhesion on Gigabot X may be caused by the below Gigabot-X specific factors:

• Excessive oozing before starting the print
• Inconsistent extrusion
• Underextrusion Due to Extrusion Rate Calibration

Possible Solutions

• Bed Temperature: Increase the bed temperature. Baseline temperatures to try are:
  • 45C for TPUs or materials with melting points below 150C
  • 60C for PLA, PETG, and materials that don’t warp
  • 100C for PC, high temperature materials, and materials prone to warping
• Nozzle Temperature: Increase the temperature of the extruder (for filament machines) or the bottom heat zone (for pellet printers)
• Bed adhesive: Experiment with different bed adhesives, or lack of adhesives. Some bed adhesives are formulated for use with specific materials. The goal of a bed adhesive is to establish adequate adhesion to the bed while printing, while still allowing the print to be removed when finished. Bed adhesives include, but are not limited to:
  • PVA gluestick: Default adhesive that works with a wide variety of materials, including PET, PETG, PLA, and PC
  • Magigoo PP: This adhesive works with PP, HDPE, LDPE, and many materials that are incompatible with PVA glue
  • Bare Bed: ABS adheres best to a bare bed surface cleaned with isopropyl alcohol
• Z gap calibration: If the Z gap is not correctly calibrated, the nozzle may be too far from the bed. One sign of poor Z gap calibration is if the second layer appears to have a different extrusion rate from the first layer, such as gaps or ridges between lines. For instructions, see Setting the Z-Axis Home Position.
• First Layer Print Speed: If the print speed of the first layer is too high, it can decrease bed adhesion. Reduce the print speed of the first layer to mitigate. A reduced first layer speed is already included in the standard Simplify3D Profiles, which can be downloaded here.
• Part Cooling: Part cooling should be off for the first layer. Part cooling settings are already set up correctly in the standard Simplify3D Profiles, which can be downloaded here.
• Warping: Warping may resemble an issue with bed adhesion, but it is actually different. Warping occurs when a print changes dimensions as a result of temperature changes during the printing process, causing internal forces within the print. These forces overcome the forces adhering the print to the bed, causing the print to peel up from the bed. Improved bed adhesion can combat warping, but doesn’t address the issue at its root.
  • Signs of warping include:
    • Bed adhesion is find for the first layer, but begins to fail during the second or subsequent layers
    • Larger geometries are more likely to peel off the bed during printing compared to smaller geometries
    • A portion of the first layer peels off the bed, but the portion still adhered to the bed is adequately adhered.
  • To mitigate warping, increase the build volume temperature by adding an enclosure
• Excessive oozing (Gigabot X): If the extruder is left heated for an extended period before starting a print, it can ooze out enough material to impact the first few layers of a print before the extruder once again reaches its operating extrusion rate. To mitigate this:
  • Do not leave the extruder heated for extended periods
  • If the extruder was left heated for extended periods, purge it before starting a print
  • Include a purge sequence in the start gcode. This is already included in the standard Gigabot X Simplify3D Profiles, which can be downloaded here.
• Inconsistent extrusion (Gigabot X): Inconsistent extrusion can cause periods of underextrusion, which can reduce bed adhesion. To troubleshoot inconsistent extrusion, see the Inconsistent Extrusion Section of Gigabot X Extrusion Issues.
• Underextrusion Due to Extrusion Rate Calibration (Gigabot X): Consistent underextrusion (that is not caused by inconsistent extrusion issues) means that the Gigabot X extruder motor must be calibrated. For instructions, see Calibrating the Gigabot X Extrusion Rate.

Questions or concerns? Reach out to our support team at support@re:3D.org or open a support ticket.