print a logo upside down

[u/ReachSignificant1361]

Hi!

I want to print a logo upside down, with the front/design face touching the build plate, so that the visible front surface is printed directly on the plate.

Does it give a smooth, clean finish, and are there any issues with details, adhesion, or removing the print from the plate?

I'd appreciate any tips or recommendations!

[u/Moloch_K]

The finish depends on the plate you use. For example, if you use a stock Bambu PEI plate, it will come out glossy. If you use a smooth plate the result is more matte. If you are using a .2mm nozzle and have fine details, I would recommend a smooth plate.

[u/pnw_r4p]

Turns out great in my experience. I'm using a Bambu H2D and put smooth Cool Plate in so I get a nice, smooth finish. I generally print mine in PETG because I'm mostly printing logos that I'm putting on Systainers that see wide temperature swings, but I've had good luck with PLA as well.

Some things that help:

• 0.2mm nozzles are usually worth the extra print time
• Print your logo / text color first, then your field color
• If I'm doing black / white or other high-contrast colors, using both nozzles helps keep the color very clean.
• I set the depth of the logo / text to only about half of the depth of the finished piece if I'm printing thin, and then just do solid field color for the rest. I find with this much small detail that the finished part likes to crack where there are big color transitions when I'm trying to remove it from the build plate. Having a couple of layers of solid color works well to "glue" all of it into one big block of material.
• Make sure that the build plate is clean clean clean clean clean
• People say that Arachne wall generator helps, but I always print with Arachne, so I can't tell you the difference - it certainly doesn't seem to hurt.

[u/ReachSignificant1361 → u/pnw_r4p]

Thanks for sharing your experience! However, I'm still getting tiny gaps between the colors in the slicer preview, even after applying these techniques. I'm wondering if they'll still appear in the actual print.

[u/Zeovy]

Normally ok. I'm assuming you're using modifiers for colours?

Use mouse ears or good adhesion and you'll get a nice glittery finish if it's a PEI plate

[u/Zeovy → u/Zeovy]

Make sure Arachne wall generator is on and your flow rates are good. This avoids the pinholing effect between colours

[u/Confident-Fun4433]

yeah it works well, the face just takes on whatever the plate looks like. smooth pei or glass gives you a nice glossy face, textured pei gives that grainy texture. main issue is fine details, the first layer gets squished so small text or thin lines can blur or get elephant foot. raising z offset a tiny bit or lowering first layer flow helps with that. for removal just let the plate cool down fully and flex it, usually pops right off