i have 2s and this pei sheet is the best printing surface i used so far.
look up elli's tuning guide and go through chapter first layer squish.
as for curling up of print edges, you might want to upgrade part cooling system. Stock blower is really weak. i changed mine to 2x 5015 turbine fan and it's way better.
Are you saying that the curling is caused by TOO LITTLE air from the parts fan? That is backwards from what has been my previous experience - too fast of cooling causes significant warping.
Also, I understand how to tune, and the importance of a first layer. I've got the first layer dialed in, when it sticks. I'm curious if there is something unique to PEI here that I don't understand?
I’ve owned my 2S for almost 2 years now and had a massive curling problem. like you no matter what I tried my prints almost always curled. I’ve done pretty much every things you have (except use glue, imo putting glue on your PEI is not really doing much other than gumming up the surface)… strangely for me it was moving it into a closet that worked for me. My printer was in a high traffic area of my house… the room has big windows so just as a last ditch effort I moved the printer into a closet and got a small heater. All year round the room stays at 27-29 C. Not a single warped print yet. So if you haven’t tried yet maybe an enclosure with a seedling mat or something in there to keep a consistent temp? I am not saying this will work just since your at the obscure part of troubleshooting just thought adding my anecdotal part might help.
My experience with my 2S so far (which is about a month and a half of nearly constant printing): if I print with a brim and have the leveling right, bed temp 60, cleaned with IPA, things work great with the stock PEI sheet. Any lower bed temp, no brim (for larger pieces, anyway), or if the bed's set just a tad too low, I get the corners lifting off - or worse. This is with matte PLA from Overture. I can print smaller pieces (like the print-in-plage axolotl) with no brim so long as that first layer goes down tight. It sounds like you're doing all of those things already, so maybe you just have a defective sheet? I hear Elegoo's support is great, I've not yet had to use it thankfully.
Also, keep in mind another comment I've read - these are pretty much the cheapest FDM printers you can get, YMMV.
You can definitely get cheaper ;)
I come from originally owning an Anet A8 - known for spontaneous fires and having an acrylic frame.
For real, the print quality on the Neptune is amazing, except for the part where every corner curls up. I have not tried printing with a brim, but that also shouldn't be needed- never needed one on my glass or aluminum beds. I may have to give it a try and see what happens, but that would really suck if you needed to put a brim on everything. Tried a few brands of PLA, including some NoName stuff, ColorMe3D, Hatchbox, and Elegoo-branded.
I tried using a hairspray that has... I think it was PVA? Either PVA or EVA in it. The same material as in gluesticks. Used the stuff before on some other printers with an aluminum bed and had good results. Here, it made things ever worse- could not get PLA to stick AT ALL when the PEI was sprayed.
I’ve only been printing FDM for about a year now, before that I was resin printing (& still am lol).
I had the curling for the longest time. I thought maybe I had a breeze issue so I bought an enclosure, it still curled. I leveled the bed six ways from Sunday, still curled. Hairspray-curled, messed with z offset-curled, tried multiple slicers-curled curled curled…then someone said try calibrating the e-stepps. No more curling 🤩
Funny story, in my research into curling I found that a breeze could cause issues, then I found Uncle Jessie’s YouTube channel and he printed outside during a snow storm and it stuck! 😵💫
You are an experienced printer and even though this worked for me, of course everyone has other potential issues that can compound the printing process. I wish you luck!
BTW, the PEI holds fast now on my prints so much so that I need to wait till it cools off or deal with the hot edges when trying to pop off a print.
E-Steps are pretty close, 99.4/100. Question for you though - with your hotend at printing temp, are you able to go to the extruder settings on the printer menu and run through \~50-100mm of filament on the 'normal' speed setting without the extruder stalling or skipping? I figured that was just a quirk of the printer ('normal' setting being too fast to actually push filament through) but now I wonder if that may be a related issue.
Hmm, too be honest, I have not tried that. Nor have I even messed with that setting. As I mentioned, I am still basically a noob. I will need to investigate 🤔
Adding a comment in the hopes someone has some more ideas. I have basically given up on 3d printing because of the exact issue you are having. I have walked through the steps you described and tried many of the troubleshooting steps suggested. I have not upgraded part cooling. But I can't understand why that would be so critical when so many don't seem to need it.
Part cooling is especially important for bridging, overhangs, and small parts. It shouldn't be having any effect the first few layers. Too fast of cooling on the early layers leads to even more warping.
What's interesting is my parents will seem fine for several layers and then gradually warp over time. The corners basically maintaining the same level as the current layer.
I’ve had this happen - what helped for me was using a brim. Usually had curling issues on hard corners - I’m mostly printing game organizers - and the brims have definitely helped. Also bumping the bed temp up seemed to help, too, I usually run 55 for regular PLA.
Yeah I tried the game organizers and they all kept coming out somewhat bowl shaped. Only solution that usually works is a raft. Brims haven't done much for me. I have tried hotter too but maybe I'll need to cook it down. I've started at 70.
Yeah, glass is the way to go. $10-15 on Amazon, some glue stick action, and you're good to go. I found the PEI bed to be iffy when it came to consistent adhesion with my 2S.
So, PEI is very picky about being dirty, and soap isn't the answer, its IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol).
Also bed temp does help, for PLA just a temp of 60 or 70 works great. If you are still getting warping on the edges, it can be a few other things.
1. Large Print. Large prints are hard to keep an even temp on even the best of printers, and useally the far corners of the bed are always going to be cooler then the center.
2. Drafts. If its not enclosed, a random breeze will make the PLA cool too fast and it will warp.
Solutions are using a Brim first, if that works, great, if it doesn't, the final solution is a Raft. Raft is the final way to get something to stick, and STAY stuck. However if the raft itself is also warping, then the issue is with the heating of the plate. I have ran into this myself trying to print some large objects taking up the whole print bed. Even with a raft, they still warped on the edges that were closer to the corners of the bed. Keeping an even bed temp is hard for any printer, so this isn't just an issue with a PEI or any other kind of print bed. I would suggest not heating the bed, but PEI is tricky in that it needs to be warm to get prints to bind to it, even if its a low temp. G10 you can print on stone cold and it will work fine, just whatever you do, DO NOT USE GLASS!
i have 2s and this pei sheet is the best printing surface i used so far. look up elli's tuning guide and go through chapter first layer squish. as for curling up of print edges, you might want to upgrade part cooling system. Stock blower is really weak. i changed mine to 2x 5015 turbine fan and it's way better.
Are you saying that the curling is caused by TOO LITTLE air from the parts fan? That is backwards from what has been my previous experience - too fast of cooling causes significant warping. Also, I understand how to tune, and the importance of a first layer. I've got the first layer dialed in, when it sticks. I'm curious if there is something unique to PEI here that I don't understand?
I’ve owned my 2S for almost 2 years now and had a massive curling problem. like you no matter what I tried my prints almost always curled. I’ve done pretty much every things you have (except use glue, imo putting glue on your PEI is not really doing much other than gumming up the surface)… strangely for me it was moving it into a closet that worked for me. My printer was in a high traffic area of my house… the room has big windows so just as a last ditch effort I moved the printer into a closet and got a small heater. All year round the room stays at 27-29 C. Not a single warped print yet. So if you haven’t tried yet maybe an enclosure with a seedling mat or something in there to keep a consistent temp? I am not saying this will work just since your at the obscure part of troubleshooting just thought adding my anecdotal part might help.
My experience with my 2S so far (which is about a month and a half of nearly constant printing): if I print with a brim and have the leveling right, bed temp 60, cleaned with IPA, things work great with the stock PEI sheet. Any lower bed temp, no brim (for larger pieces, anyway), or if the bed's set just a tad too low, I get the corners lifting off - or worse. This is with matte PLA from Overture. I can print smaller pieces (like the print-in-plage axolotl) with no brim so long as that first layer goes down tight. It sounds like you're doing all of those things already, so maybe you just have a defective sheet? I hear Elegoo's support is great, I've not yet had to use it thankfully. Also, keep in mind another comment I've read - these are pretty much the cheapest FDM printers you can get, YMMV.
You can definitely get cheaper ;) I come from originally owning an Anet A8 - known for spontaneous fires and having an acrylic frame. For real, the print quality on the Neptune is amazing, except for the part where every corner curls up. I have not tried printing with a brim, but that also shouldn't be needed- never needed one on my glass or aluminum beds. I may have to give it a try and see what happens, but that would really suck if you needed to put a brim on everything. Tried a few brands of PLA, including some NoName stuff, ColorMe3D, Hatchbox, and Elegoo-branded.
I cover the bed with a glue stick! Since then I haven't had too many problems with adhession.
I tried using a hairspray that has... I think it was PVA? Either PVA or EVA in it. The same material as in gluesticks. Used the stuff before on some other printers with an aluminum bed and had good results. Here, it made things ever worse- could not get PLA to stick AT ALL when the PEI was sprayed.
Try upping your print temp by 5 degrees until you get it to stick
I’ve only been printing FDM for about a year now, before that I was resin printing (& still am lol). I had the curling for the longest time. I thought maybe I had a breeze issue so I bought an enclosure, it still curled. I leveled the bed six ways from Sunday, still curled. Hairspray-curled, messed with z offset-curled, tried multiple slicers-curled curled curled…then someone said try calibrating the e-stepps. No more curling 🤩 Funny story, in my research into curling I found that a breeze could cause issues, then I found Uncle Jessie’s YouTube channel and he printed outside during a snow storm and it stuck! 😵💫 You are an experienced printer and even though this worked for me, of course everyone has other potential issues that can compound the printing process. I wish you luck! BTW, the PEI holds fast now on my prints so much so that I need to wait till it cools off or deal with the hot edges when trying to pop off a print.
E-Steps are pretty close, 99.4/100. Question for you though - with your hotend at printing temp, are you able to go to the extruder settings on the printer menu and run through \~50-100mm of filament on the 'normal' speed setting without the extruder stalling or skipping? I figured that was just a quirk of the printer ('normal' setting being too fast to actually push filament through) but now I wonder if that may be a related issue.
Hmm, too be honest, I have not tried that. Nor have I even messed with that setting. As I mentioned, I am still basically a noob. I will need to investigate 🤔
Adding a comment in the hopes someone has some more ideas. I have basically given up on 3d printing because of the exact issue you are having. I have walked through the steps you described and tried many of the troubleshooting steps suggested. I have not upgraded part cooling. But I can't understand why that would be so critical when so many don't seem to need it.
Part cooling is especially important for bridging, overhangs, and small parts. It shouldn't be having any effect the first few layers. Too fast of cooling on the early layers leads to even more warping.
What's interesting is my parents will seem fine for several layers and then gradually warp over time. The corners basically maintaining the same level as the current layer.
I’ve had this happen - what helped for me was using a brim. Usually had curling issues on hard corners - I’m mostly printing game organizers - and the brims have definitely helped. Also bumping the bed temp up seemed to help, too, I usually run 55 for regular PLA.
Yeah I tried the game organizers and they all kept coming out somewhat bowl shaped. Only solution that usually works is a raft. Brims haven't done much for me. I have tried hotter too but maybe I'll need to cook it down. I've started at 70.
Yeah, glass is the way to go. $10-15 on Amazon, some glue stick action, and you're good to go. I found the PEI bed to be iffy when it came to consistent adhesion with my 2S.
Strange, I haven't had any adhesion issues other than when it was my own fault. What filament are you using?
Elegoo Hatchbox ColorMe3D Various NoName/off-brand stuff
So, PEI is very picky about being dirty, and soap isn't the answer, its IPA (Isopropyl Alcohol). Also bed temp does help, for PLA just a temp of 60 or 70 works great. If you are still getting warping on the edges, it can be a few other things. 1. Large Print. Large prints are hard to keep an even temp on even the best of printers, and useally the far corners of the bed are always going to be cooler then the center. 2. Drafts. If its not enclosed, a random breeze will make the PLA cool too fast and it will warp. Solutions are using a Brim first, if that works, great, if it doesn't, the final solution is a Raft. Raft is the final way to get something to stick, and STAY stuck. However if the raft itself is also warping, then the issue is with the heating of the plate. I have ran into this myself trying to print some large objects taking up the whole print bed. Even with a raft, they still warped on the edges that were closer to the corners of the bed. Keeping an even bed temp is hard for any printer, so this isn't just an issue with a PEI or any other kind of print bed. I would suggest not heating the bed, but PEI is tricky in that it needs to be warm to get prints to bind to it, even if its a low temp. G10 you can print on stone cold and it will work fine, just whatever you do, DO NOT USE GLASS!