Was working fine now can't get ABS to stick

I cleaned the plate with soap and water, then wiped with rubbing alcohol. Set temp to 260 bed 105
textured PEI sheet.
I’ve tried both Orca Slicer and Cura
Baby stepped it down while printing a full bed sheet .4mm thick .2 layer height.

got it to start sticking, but the print head it self unsticks it and drags it everywhere and if left will make the blob of death. (happened twice already to me) First time I got the blob of death don’t remember the reason. Second was when my current problems started. ABS printing had been fine prior, but then the processor overheated and stopped a print mid-way. I restarted it and it came detached ruining the print head.

Ever since then I have not been able to print ABS. I haven’t tried a different filament yet.

I tried slowing it down to 40mm /sec for the first layer and still it comes undone. I also tried the smooth PEI side with no change.

one weird thing is that I had to baby step it an extreme amount, in my opinion, to even get it to start sticking -0.2mm

I’m at a loss. the only other factor is that when I got the blob of DEATH it took out my MicroSwiss hotend. With that hotend it was printing just fine. The warrantied it and is already have one on the way, will see if that makes a difference.

I am currrenty using the Creality supplied extra hotend that came with the K1 Max.

I’ll try a different filament tomorrow. Any other ideas?

Hello DarkMx-6,

I don’t know about rubbing alcohol ? ? not sure that is good to use.

After a wash down with washing liquid/ rinse / dry … wipe down with IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol)

Then, if you fancy one, a glass of a nice IPA (Indian Pale Ale) :wink:

Cheers.

Looking at Wikipedia it could be just about anything. One recipe " In Ireland and the UK, the comparable preparation is surgical spirit B.P., which the British Pharmacopoeia defines as 95% methylated spirit, 2.5% castor oil, 2% diethyl phthalate, and 0.5% methyl salicylate.[3" has castor oil which is a big red flag. It could also be ethanol, depends where you get it from. I would stick with 97%+ isopropyl alcohol.

We used to use that on slot car tyres to give better grip on the track in competitions; it also will melt plastics.

Pretty sure it is the same thing.

I don’t know where you guys are from but maybe it’s an American thing?

Just printed TPU on the smooth side of the bed without an issue.

Hello DarkMx-6,

I think it is a matter of what is the other 30% ?
Close to 1/3 is something else …

I use 100% Isopropyl Alcohol made and purchased in Australia.

Cheers.

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That says 70%, what makes up the other 30%? I use 96% or more isopropyl, the only other ingredient is a little water. Rubbing alcohol contains mostly an alcohol and other things as I have indicated. Try to get as pure an isopropyl as you can, plenty on Amazon.

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I buy 99% IPA from Amazon, it’s readily available, and it’s as pure as you can buy.

Rubbing alcohol contains oils and perfumes, clearly something that isn’t going to do a good job of cleaning the build plate or enhancing keeping the model stuck.

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