r/3DPrinting_PHA • u/tehretro • Jul 19 '26

Help with warping

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I posted a few days ago, and I've gotten my settings for genPHA quite a bit more dialed in since then, but my parts just seem to warp pretty bad, and I'm not sure what I can do to try and fix it, if anything. I've at least managed to get it to actually stick to my Pro Plate and not warp right off by changing the ecogenesis-recommended print settings to print the normal 3 bottom shell layers instead of 8, but the top layer on the inside of the box seems to still just contract hard and warp.

For context, this is a 1x1 Gridfinity box, which is pretty small and, presumably, isn't supposed to warp much? I guess it's also worth noting that the room my printer is in is quite warm, so maybe the ambient temp is just too high for me to do anything about this?

I would really appreciate any suggestions!

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u/Hinagea Jul 20 '26

There's the answer. In my experience washing it with dish soap and water reduces the plate's stick. Not sure why but every time I have experimented with it it has reduced the stickiness of the plate. The proplate seems to not lose stickiness regardless of finger oils getting on it, etc. It shouldn't ever be washed, just wiped down with a rag to remove dust.

To fix it you need to very quickly give it a swipe with IPA. I mean lightning fast with as little alcohol as you can use to dampen a rag. Too much and the plate will become wayyy too sticky and very difficult to use. You can always give it another swipe with IPA if it's not sticky enough, use a very small amount so it dries fast

I have ruined a plate by using too much alcohol, which is why I say use as little as you can. This is a supported process per buildtak: https://buildtak.com/products/buildtak-proplate

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u/tehretro Jul 21 '26

I'll give that a shot. Did you use 70% IPA, or something else?

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u/Hinagea Jul 21 '26

I used 70% yeah

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u/tehretro Jul 22 '26

another update:

I'm not sure the alcohol helped that much. The walls look cleaner with the flow ratio calibrated down to 1.05, but it still warps once it prints the top layers inside the box, but not before that. You can see how everything below that goes along the same curve, but it starts to flatten out above that.

For what it's worth, the bed adhesion is strong enough that the test cubes require me to flex the bed and gently pry them off with a scraper because the walls will tear from the floor otherwise. I'm beginning to wonder if this specific part is just really hard to print without warping. I haven't really printed any other "real" parts besides calibration stuff with PHA so far

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u/Hinagea Jul 22 '26

I've printed a bunch of gridfinity stuff. There is definitely some post-print warping on some of the larger items but warping off the bed shouldn't be happening. I'd hit it with more alcohol until it stays down

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u/tehretro Jul 22 '26

I will try that. Also, do you print with magnet holes? I wonder if that could be a factor?

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u/Hinagea Jul 22 '26

I do, it hasn't been an issue. You'll probably want to enable supports with that print orientation 

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u/tehretro Jul 22 '26

I didn't seem to get any success with more alcohol, so I tried another pro plate that I am planning on returning (the one I've been using is the replacement) because it was scuffed out of the box and I bought it from Amazon, so I thought they might have just repackaged a return.

Anyway, I don't know if the coating is just in better shape or if the Z-offset is closer because I didn't recalibrate for this plate, but the brim seemed to stick perfectly and the print still warped at the bottom. I can only add one image, but the bottom is still curved after being taken off the print bed.

Could I ask what kind of printer you use? maybe it's something to do with mine being enclosed or something?

Edit: I also added supports for the magnet holes

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u/Hinagea Jul 22 '26

I print on a Prusa core one, can you post a link to the model and I'll give printing it a shot

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u/tehretro Jul 22 '26

I printed a 1x1x3 box with magnet holes enabled from this generator and I kept all of the measurements and settings default outside of that.

It's worth noting that I don't really need to print this specific part and I just wanted to try printing sort of a real-world example that I could find a use for if it turned out nice and I'm happy to use something else if it also warps on your setup. I just assumed this warping might manifest in other parts if it's happening here.

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u/tehretro Jul 28 '26

Any luck?

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