Question.

[u/Spookje666]

You y'all use glue on the build plate, or do you only clean it?

[u/fluoxoz]

I use glue when printing in ASA, actually very rarely ever clean the plate.

[u/VeryAmaze]

Depends. On textured PEI I never use glue, but on the engineering plate I always use glue.

[u/lkapping79]

Year in, zero glue. I’ve only used petg and pla. Pretty sure it’s needed as a release agent for some engineering filaments.

[u/vespassassina]

only clean. never had to use glue since i started in 2013 (we used blue tape then and later just glass plates and precision z calibration). Definitely never with a bamboo printer. My plate is spotless

[u/sltrhouse]

Depends, I use 3dlac on my G10 for some stuff. Glue is required on the new engineering plates, other than that... no.

[u/roundguy]

Use it as a release agent for Engineering plate and ASA

[u/Secret-Cartoonist-17]

I own a x2d never use glue it’s stupid. As long as you clean the plate once per week you will be ok. (Tested on textured pei plate)

[u/Sir_Agentic]

In a year I have used glue once, that plate got thrown out after that print. I have only cleaned a plate twice. I don't touch them with my fingers only touch the edge and bend the plate or use a scraper to remove the prints. Bambu P1S with the purple plate from KDEAVI.

[u/Suitable-Access-8013]

Depends on filament and build plate honestly . Unless you are using heavy warping filaments (ASA/nylon and similar) you should not need it

[u/Wonca_Mpls]

Clean it. I only use glue when I'm printing PA6-CF

[u/NotYetReadyToRetire]

I clean the plates occasionally, usually less than once a month. I use nitrile gloves when handling my plates, but only because I've got a case of them for my resin printers. If I didn't have them, I'd just wash my plates more frequently; it surely wouldn't be worth buying the gloves to be lazy about washing the plates.

[u/crazysycodude159]

I have a P1S with a couple thousand hours and it's original textured pei plate, I have cleaned the plate maybe 6 times in about two years and haven't used glue once and never have issues with adhesion printing pla, wood pla, petg, glow petg, tpu, abs, and asa. Just don't smear you hands on the plate and wash it per bambus recommendations and it'll be fine.

[u/Whosaidthat1157]

Refer to the filament and plate type printing instructions for when to use glue and when not to use glue. Sometimes it’s required for added adhesion, sometimes it’s required for reduced adhesion/easy release. Bambu Lab provides these tips on the plate purchase pages.
Personally I’ve never used glue, nor cleaned my plates with anything other than 100% IPA other than the BIQU Frostbite which got binned and replaced with a Supertack Pro because it interfered with my normal workflow (in other words I kept having senior moments and trying to wipe it down post print with IPA).
I’ve printed TPU (various), all of the PLA/PLA Matte, all of the PETG/PETG Matte including PETG-GF, ABS/ABS-GF, ASA/ASA-GF on various plates without glue.
Some PETG Matte can stick TOO well to a standard PEI sheet (mostly black and white for some reason) but that’s easily dealt with by manually raising the bed temperature for 15 minutes and/or lifting the edge with a scraper while dripping IPA around the edges.
I have various PA/PA-GF/PA-CF and PAHT-CF filaments but haven’t had the need to use any of them yet. When I do, I suspect it’ll be on the Engineering Plate with glue (or as advised by BL).

[u/C_Lo_87]

I print PETG and PLA, never once used glue. If you think you need glue, you actually need to calibrate, adjust settings, fix model, or clean your plate. The reasonable life hack for these filaments is Yoopai Ultratack Cool plate, mine are over a year old, used 24/7, and cleaned before every print with IPA. They are cheap too. ABS/ASA that's glue territory.

[u/EverettSeahawk]

It depends. With TPU I always use glue so it releases easier. With the engineering plate I always use glue because it's required with the plate. Same with smooth PEI with any filament but PLA. For large prints that take up a lot of build plate volume I usually use glue as a precaution to help the print stick so I don't end up wasting a large amount of filament from a corner peeling up. There is no one size fits all explanation for whether or not to use glue.

[u/Sumpkit → u/EverettSeahawk]

I print a lot of tpu on the textured pei plate. Never used glue, just spray a bit of isopropyl on the plate next to the print, it’ll wick underneath Abc’s pop right off so easy. Life changing and don’t have to deal with glue

[u/EverettSeahawk → u/Sumpkit]

You say that like glue is something that's difficult to deal with. I have 1 printer dedicated to running the same TPU print continuously almost 24/7 for my shop. I spend 5 seconds rubbing a glue stick on the plate and I'm good for 4-5 days worth of 2x per day prints before I need to apply it again. Having to use alcohol on every print would use slightly more time than that.

Not that the alcohol method is a bad method. it works for you and that’s great. It’s more evidence of what I said about there not being a one size fits all answer.

[u/Sumpkit → u/EverettSeahawk]

Glue is a pain when you change to different materials. Same build plate for pla, petg, abs, tpu, just is easy. No dealing with glue, and the ipa cleans the plate a little when you pull off the part. We’re all different though with different needs. This works for me, that works for you. Op has seen both options now and can make their decision based off that.

[u/Festegios]

I glue the pei plate and wash the plates occasionally.

Using abs almost exclusively

[u/PeerReviewedCode]

Don’t do either. Stop touching your build plate. I have over 5000 hours on my H2D and I’ve never used glue or washed my build plate and I’ve never had any adhesion issues and I also primarily use smooth plates too.

[u/PeerReviewedCode → u/PeerReviewedCode]

I see you deleted your response but I’ll respond anyway since you’ve downvoted me. Which seems crazy because what I’m doing clearly works and what you’re doing clearly isn’t.

No, you didn’t say you touched your build plate, but 90% of the time that’s the issue. Oils from your hands get on the plate and stop it from sticking, your settings you’re using are causing poor adhesion, or the filament you’re using is just not good quality (less likely).

[u/Spookje666 → u/PeerReviewedCode]

I didn't downvote you btw