MakerGear Forum

Hey guys,

Printed a lot in the black PLA with success. Moving on to ABS now.

I am using glow in the dark makerbot ABS. I have the temps at 245 for nozzle and 110 for plate. I have applied a glue stick and am adjusting the z height with each try, but am constantly failing at printing because the parts will not stick to the build plate. These are small parts, if it makes a difference.

What am I doing wrong?

Thanks

some guys have great luck with glue stick. if you fall into my oddball category where i cant get anything to stick to it at all then you'll need to try something else. i have always printed abs on hairspray. many guys use aquanet which has a medium bond. for a super strength bond then garnier fructise extreme control #5 has the strongest bond of anything. you can pick it up from walmart.

I had a similar problem with PETg and glue stick last night. My Z was off a little bit, re-adjusted and stuck fine after that. It was off by very little but the small adjustment had a major impact.

It would actually lay down the line but as it turned off in another direction it would drag the line with it.

PET tape has seemed to solve my problems

Glue stick just doesn't do much for me. Hairspray for PET+, ABS, and PLA on
the bed does me fine. I know many can do great with glue stick, but the few times
I used it, prints did not adhere to glass build bed good.

Not all glue sticks are the same. The one I use is Elmers Extra Strength, and it's my go-to surface for when hairspray can't prevent warping. I use a very low z-stop though-- the lines going down on my first layer are flat and look more like a thin line of tape than they do a bead of filament.

I don't use glue stick unless I have to because you have to scrape it off each time. You can't keep printing multiple times over the same layer of glue stick the way you can with hair spray- it's a one shot deal. I've notice with hair spray you actually get better adhesion with each successive print, probably due to the surface getting roughed up a bit. On a virgin layer of hair spray there seems to be a gummy surface on it that allows the part to peel easier, then this comes off with the first print and the next prints stick better.

It is good to have a fresh layer of glue, yes, but you don't have to scrape. It washes off easily with water.

jsc wrote:It is good to have a fresh layer of glue, yes, but you don't have to scrape. It washes off easily with water.

I scrape it first and then wash what is left off with water. Just habit I guess.

Applying new glue stick over top of old glue stick doesn't work either. You have to start from clean glass each time. I've thought about trying to use diluted white glue to see if it works the same, since spreading a thin layer of that would be easier than using a glue stick. Especially if you have a larger area to cover, where filling in with a glue stick is a pain. I've never tried it though.

Another thing with glue stick is that it has to be applied to a cold platform, otherwise it dries too fast and gums up.

I use diluted PVA glue and tap water on my M2's bed when printing PLA. Apply at 40C while the bed is warming to 60C, and wipe around until it is covered, then let it all evaporate.

insta wrote:I use diluted PVA glue and tap water on my M2's bed when printing PLA. Apply at 40C while the bed is warming to 60C, and wipe around until it is covered, then let it all evaporate.

I just tried this with ABS, but it didn't work. The parts peeled up very easily, almost the same as when printing on bare glass. Glue stick must be a completely different type of glue than PVA, which is a shame because the diluted PVA is a lot faster to apply than glue stick.

I read somewhere that the spray-on glue also works, but it is four times more expensive than glue sticks.

I've never tried the ABS dissolved in acetone method, mainly because I don't want to have to clean the glass with acetone. I guess if you could really get a lot of prints out of it before having to re-coat then it might be worth it.