Category: First Layer

One of the most common problems that 3D printing enthusiasts face is getting their prints to stick to the bed properly. If the print does not adhere well to the bed, it can warp, curl, or detach during the printing process, resulting in a failed print. This can be frustrating and wasteful, especially if you are printing large or complex models.

So what is the best way to get a 3D print to stick to the bed properly? There is no definitive answer to this question, as different printers, filaments, and settings may require different solutions. However, there are some general tips and tricks that can help you improve your bed adhesion and avoid common issues.

The first thing you need to do is make sure your bed is level and clean. A level bed ensures that the nozzle is at a consistent distance from the bed across the entire print area, which affects how well the first layer sticks. You can use a sheet of paper or a feeler gauge to check the gap between the nozzle and the bed at different points and adjust it accordingly. A clean bed prevents dust, oil, or other contaminants from interfering with the adhesion. You can use a cloth with some alcohol or acetone to wipe the bed before each print.

The second thing you need to do is choose the right bed temperature and surface for your filament type. Different filaments have different melting points and properties, which affect how they stick to different materials. For example, PLA usually sticks well to a heated glass bed at around 60°C, while ABS requires a higher temperature of around 100°C and may benefit from a layer of glue stick or hairspray on the bed. You can experiment with different temperatures and surfaces until you find the optimal combination for your filament.

The third thing you need to do is adjust your slicer settings to improve your first layer quality and adhesion. There are several settings that can affect this, such as layer height, line width, print speed, fan speed, and flow rate. Generally speaking, you want your first layer to be slightly thicker and wider than the rest of the layers, as this increases the contact area with the bed. You also want to print your first layer at a slower speed and lower fan speed, as this allows more time for the filament to melt and bond with the bed. You may also need to increase or decrease your flow rate depending on whether your first layer is over- or under-extruded.

Sometimes you will see small holes in your print when viewing the first few layers. This can happen if your line width is set too high. Too high? Wouldn’t I need to increase my line width to cover more of the surface?

Running your parts with a thick line width will cause larger gaps in the “corners” where the nozzle steps over to the next line to lay down. I usually don’t worry about it too much. In most prints, these holes don’t matter and eventually get filled in anyway. However, in cases where it matters, just reduce your line width. Or, even better, replace your nozzle with a smaller nozzle.

I’ve seen too many printers pulling up pieces of their bed along with their print when they go to remove it. There isn’t much you can do about the damaged bed, but you can prevent it from happening again in the future. I have found that such aggressive bed adhesion often is the result of too much “squish” in the first layer, temperatures being too high, or a scored bed surface.

  • Wait until the part and bed are completely cool before attempting to remove. Don’t do what I did when I first got my printer and take a spatula and try to force it under the print to remove it as soon as it says “printing 100% complete.” After the part and bed are cool, if it still doesn’t come off easily, I use compressed air sprayed at the base of the part. It is cold enough coming out of the can that it causes the part to shrink away from the bed and separate.
  • Adjust your temperatures. 
  • Take good care of your bed surface. Use isopropyl alcohol to clean it with lint free cloth.

A lot of people are wondering why their prints are not sticking to the bed when they haven’t changed anything on their printer. I’ve mentioned bed leveling many times, but that’s usually the first thing I look at. The other things I look at are extrusion temperature, bed temperature, and bed cleanliness. Many people put their printers in a basement or in a garage. If there are no temperature controls on the environment, it could become a significant problem. A couple of things to look at as the weather starts continues to get cooler:

  • ensure that your bed is very clean. I use Isopropyl alcohol with a lint free cloth for PLA
  • make sure that your bed is level to the frame
  • in the wintertime, I usually increase my extrusion temperature by about 5 degrees. Your results may vary, so experiment with this on your own machine
  • enclosure, if you feel like you need a jacket, chances are that your 3d printer needs to be warmer too

A couple of days ago, I wrote about calibrating your extruder with Klipper. Today, I would like to talk about how to calibrate your extruder e-steps with Marlin firmware. Here is how I do it:

  • Move printhead to center of bed and about 150mm off the bed
  • Mark a spot (I use tape) on the filament about 125mm down from the bottom of the extruder
  • Use calipers to measure actual value of tape from extruder. We’ll call this “A” and say we have 126mm for this example
  • M503 – read current values and make a note of the current E value. We’ll call this value “B” and say we have a current E value of 400 for this example
  • M83 – enable relative mode on extruder
  • G1 E100 F100 – feed 100mm of filament at 100mm per minute
  • Let it finish the extrusion and measure the distance between the bottom of the extruder and the tape that we marked. We’ll call this value “C” and say that we have a current value of 24 for this example. If everything were already calibrated correctly it would be 126 – 100, or 26mm.
  • Calculate our new E-Steps value. 100 * B(A-C) is the formula. Substituting our values from this example we get 100 * 400/(126-24) = 392.16.
  • Update our esteps on our machine with M92 E392.16
  • Save our new value with M500

A lot of people push for Capricorn Tubing on their Bowden system. In fact, I have it myself. I recently found out about an issue that surprised me, but it makes sense when I think about it a little bit more. Capricorn is known for having high precision, tight fitting tubing to connect the extruder to the hotend. Using Capricorn tubing solves a lot of feed issues and ensures consistent prints, or does it?

What happens when you have a high precision tube that fits around filament with significant width variation? That’s what some printers are experiencing. The solution? Printers are finding that they either need to switch to more precise filament, or that they need to switch to a larger diameter Bowden tube.

The topic of first layer adhesion comes up often in 3d printing. Sometimes, the footprint of the part itself is not enough to keep the print stuck to the bed. I’ll go through some of the bed adhesion options below.

Priming Line: One of the main reasons for making an extrusion before you start on the part is to make sure that there is filament in the nozzle. A priming does this and nothing else. I don’t use this option much, but using a 50mm priming line accomplishes the purpose of filling up the nozzle.

Skirt: Your printer will create a quick circle all the way around the perimeter of the part. I use this option frequently. It accomplishes a couple of things for you.

  • A skirt fills the nozzle with filament
  • A skirt goes all the way around the perimeter of the part, confirming that your part will fit on the bed
  • By going all the way around the part, you also ensure that your bed level is accurate, just in case you have doubts about it

Brim: I use this option for tall, skinny parts. A brim is actually attached to the part, whereas a priming line or skirt are not. A brim provides more of a base for your part that is pretty easy to remove when you are done printing.

Raft: Every option is a compromise between robustness and printability. A raft leans heavily towards the robust side of the scale, but the cost is a longer print time and the fact that you will have to remove the raft from the print later. A raft creates a base for your print to build off of, rather than printing directly on the bed.

I switched filaments. I’ve been meaning to change my nozzle, so while I was in there I did that too. When I printed a test print to make sure everything was good my first layer had holes in it.

Here is what I had to do to fix it.

  • my new nozzle doesn’t necessarily have the same height as my old one, so I releveled the bed and reestablished my mesh bed leveling.
  • my new nozzle probably doesn’t have the same heating characteristics as the one that I replaced, so I tuned PID.
  • my new filament may not feed in quite the same way as the old one, so I updated my e-steps.

Symptoms of a poor bed level include:

  • print not sticking to the bed
  • nozzle scraping bed
  • thin or see-through first layer

When I get this, there are a couple of things that I check. First I check the printer mechanically:

  • Disable any BLTouch probing
  • Level the bed using a paper or feeler gage
  • Create mesh bed level manually
  • If troubleshooting, run a test print.
  • Enable BLTouch probing
  • Create automatic bed level
  • Run test print

From following these steps, you should be able to accurately diagnose where the problem with your bed level lies. Address accordingly.