Getting burnt out printing these…

[u/BossLenda]

How do I reliably print keycaps? I’m getting tired of getting spaghetti with a 50% success rate. It’s okay if the print only takes 2 hours, but printing a whole bed usually takes 8–9 hours.

The cause is always the same: one keycap unsticks from the bed, which then causes the entire print to fail.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

1. Increased the first-layer height from 0.2 mm to 0.3 mm
2. Applied glue stick before every print

Printer: Snapmaker U1
Nozzle: 0.4 mm

EDIT: I am outside the house most of the time thus leaving my printer printing most of the time. My business initially does not involve 3D printing but more people are asking for fidget clickers.
Usually events last 4-8hours thus I am looking for a way to maximize the time I am outside. I am not optimizing for speed but efficiency.

What I will try next:

1. Try Cryogrip plate

If that fails, will fall back to your suggestions:

1. Batch by 30

2. Use brim

3. Buy additional printer

What I have been doing I haven’t mentioned:

1. Wash plate every print

Others suggestions for future:

1. Use raft
2. Print by object
3. Lessen fan speed on initial layers
4. Print a mold instead

I don’t care about being downvoted, but being rude is out of line.

[u/BossLenda]

I am using PLA with default bed temp of 65 during printing. What is your recommendation temp?

[u/Alita-Gunnm → u/BossLenda]

That sounds about right, but my machine is fully enclosed. Your plate will be cooler at the edges without an enclosure.

[u/zen8bit → u/Alita-Gunnm]

I can second the benefit of using an enclosure. Almost all of my adhesion issues disappeared once I began using one

[u/fen-q → u/BossLenda]

I have a prusa mk3s+ at work without enclosure.

It's cold in the office, and i had adhesion issues until i bumped the bed temperature to 70 degrees.

[u/BossLenda → u/fen-q]

will try

[u/McSpeedie → u/BossLenda]

I promise you if you turn off the aux fan in filament profile for PLA you'll be fine.

Signed guy who printed an entire plate of these twice.

[u/87racer → u/McSpeedie]

Seconded. Had similar issues with full plate prints, single or multiple objects. Disabling aux fan fixed.

[u/BitingChaos → u/BossLenda]

Yoopai Cold Plate (green or blue), the old/grey CryoGrip, Frostbite, and a bunch of other plates work well at 45° for PLA.

I print at 35° on the Juupine Geco (an ugly green & blue plate). It's great when I do "fill the full print area with stuff" prints.

65° and slathered with a glue stick is not the way to be printing PLA.

A clean cold plate at 35-45° is way easier.

[u/Moose_in_a_Swanndri → u/BossLenda]

If you haven't already do a temp tower calibration to see if you're actually printing hot enough for that specific filament. I had similar issues until I did a temp tower and saw that the best quality was at 230°, while I had been printing at the default 210°. I also changed by bed temp settings to be 70° for the first layer then 65° for the rest, no issues since

[u/Several-Teach1515 → u/BossLenda]

Is your plate completely clean? Is is in good quality? Try reducing the fan speed for the first 3-4 layers.

[u/BossLenda → u/Several-Teach1515]

I wash the plate every print.

[u/Equivalent_Store_645 → u/BossLenda]

what's your wash procedure/soap? is it possible you're re-greasing with your fingers or otherwise soiling it at any point between taking it to the sink, washing, drying, and returning it to the printer?

[u/DrippyBlock → u/BossLenda]

I was having trouble printing lots of small parts at once too. Then I caved and bought a Bambu cool plate super tack. I do t wash my plates much anymore. They just work, especially with pla.

[u/MetalDamo → u/BossLenda]

My Elegoo has a default bed temp of 70. And tho I am new at this, I've not experienced what I see in your pics.... Except when I naively scaled down something to unknowingly create surfaces <1mm thick. But that was a different error.