dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 3 days ago
Wiping the bed with alcohol doesn’t really remove any contamination from its surface, it more or less just moves it around. Wash it thoroughly with dish soap and running water as others have suggested and give it a real good rinse afterwards. The goal is to get oils and other contaminants off of the surface and to wash them down the drain, whence they will trouble you no more.
fonix232@fedia.io 3 days ago
Wiping with alcohol between a few prints can help with adhesion but does not remove the need of cleaning the plate every 4-5 prints properly - as you've said, dish soap, a good scrub with a soft sponge (I've actually dedicated a separate Dishmatic for this purpose), rinse, repeat on other side, then dry with microfibre cloth, should do it for a good few prints.
Spray of 80-90% ISO with microfibre cloth between every print can help reduce the need for a proper clean, but marginally at best.
Wash yo plates!
greybeard@feddit.online 2 days ago
Every 4-5 prints? What are you doing to your printer? I rarely even alcohol wipe down my plate. I have one side marked for PLA and the other for PETG (Since I’ve found the PETG residue tends to cause PLA not to stick). The only time notably clean my plate is when I accidentally forget to flip it between material changes or I touch it in the build area.
fonix232@fedia.io 2 days ago
I... print. Y'know, what the printer is for.
But I also use specialised filaments for certain things, and most of those do leave an oily residue on the print plate, hence cleaning regularly.