Everything First Layer - Creality Glass Sheet - Ender 3 - 2022 - Chris's Basement

[@MrHristoB]

Great to bring this up Chris!!! I bought one of these from Banggoood and was a pain in the arse to get anything to stick to it. tried IPA and soap, no luck. I just flipped it and used it for a while with gluestick. Then I decided to give it another go but this time I cleaned it with my wife's nail polish remover, some generic brand, says 90% acetone with added water, it worked and no damage to the surface.

[@ChrisRiley]

That's great, I'm glad you got it going

[@BLKMGK4]

I print on a mirror - I clean it with rubbing alcohol. Put a little slit in the seal and it turns into a nice little shaker to put a few drops on. Rub it with a paper towel and that sucker is so clean it can be tough to get things to release and I've had PETG literally rip chunks out of the bed!

[@erkanbertram2689]

I don't usually write any comments but I had to make an exception here. This was an incredible video. Thank you, Chris. You summed up every problem I'm having or have had with my glass bed. I never realized I should move the z axis to accommodate for the bed size (I've been tightening the springs).

[@ChrisRiley]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks

[@vitelliu5]

I switched to the Wham Bam system and never looked back. I had so many issues with several of those beds. The worst offenders were because the glass was not flat, it was either concave or convex (I had both happen) and it was so pronounced that even the addition of a BL-touch was unable to compensate for it. The other problem I ran into was super specific edge cases like a specific color of a specific brand didn't want to stick to it but a different color of the same brand was completely fine. Now that I'm more experienced with 3D printing I would maybe have better luck getting one to work, but that bed honestly almost killed my interest in 3D printing because of how inconsistent and random adhesion appeared to be to me with my inexperience. Thankfully I got a chance to try a PEI sheet at work on a Prusa and when I saw how good the adhesion was I bought myself a PEI sheet and have never regretted it.

[@AndrewAHayes]

Mirror tiles are much flatter as the reflection would warp if the glass were not flat, I even managed to bag some single tiles as "samples" from some DIY shops to see how they looked in my bathroom, and for those who thought about a mirrored ceiling above the bed, so did I! LOL

[@ChrisRiley]

Lol, Yikes! Thanks for your comments

[@vitelliu5]

@@ChrisRiley I would be very curious about your long term use experience since you commented about losing adhesion over time. The 1 actually flat glass bed I had just kinda slowly got worse over the course of 6 months of use and I was never able to figure out why. I found all sorts of "fixes" online such as "only clean it with dish soap" and "don't clean it with isopropyl alcohol cause it damages the coating".

[@davidharris5045]

Glass is trash!!!!!!! I always had warping in one corner or another. So I put down glue stick or hairspray, but I had to use so much it ruined the surface of the prints. Then I got thebcheapest PEI metal sheet on Amazon. Suddenly, no warping. Perfect bottoms, and I don't have to wait an hour before I start hacking at the print to try and break it off the bed. Print finishes, remove plate, flex, and return to printing. More energy effiecnt too since ypu can start again while every thing is still in a cool down phase instead of cold.

[@ucirello]

I don't know whether it has to do with KZbin talk. But this one is a classic Chris's Basement episode.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks 🙂

[@VectorRoll]

I used isopropyl on a couple of mine and it took off the textured surface material the two Creality beds I have. One was probably because I also used the scrapper with the isopropyl to try and get the stuck plastic off the bed but the second one I didn't use the scrapper and it removed the texture even more. That second one was a really old bed so it probably had a different type of material for the texture. I have two other textured glass beds that the isopropyl didn't hurt. One from anycubic and the other that came with my Tenlog printer. Anyways I now use nano polymer adhesive from Vision Miner on my glass beds. It definitely helps for the ones I ruined but also works good on the ones that still have their texture. It actually sticks a little too well on the ones that still have their textured surface, which I don't mind as the parts don't warp now.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your comment

[@rouuuk]

Ill put this in here, i only print on glass with no products laid on top (glue, adhesive tape, hairspray..etc) The only key for perfect first layer for me atleast is perfectly leveled bed and cleaning and wiping the surface while the bed is heating, so that no finger oils left. It also statically charges the surface for some reason which is good and loses the charges when it cools down.

[@ChrisRiley]

Those are great tips, thank you

[@MostlyElectrolytes]

I've had one for about 2 or 3 years. Print everything on it; PLA, PETG....never had a print fail on it. (knock on wood). Now it's not a bone stock Ender 3; SKR 1.4, nice stepper drivers, and a BL touch to name a few things and lots of tuning thanks to guidance from Chris's Basement....you may have heard of this guy.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thank you

[@John-NeverStopLearning]

I have an Ender 3 Pro, upgraded BL/CR touch. I love my glass bed. I found if I remove the glass, the auto bed leveling automatically adjusts for the height. This also works for adding the glass. Printing TPU A95 the print usually comes right off, if it doesn’t I just set it in the refrigerator or freezer for a few minutes and it falls off. PLA, I found comes off easily while warm. Never used glue sticks or any other material on the glass bed.

[@ChrisRiley]

Very cool, thanks for watching!

[@lv_woodturner3899]

Another very useful video. I have a CR10S purchased in 2018 which had plain glass bed. I replaced it with a flexible magnetic build plate. I am not going to go back to glass, but I am glad I watched this video, lots of useful tips like the Z stop adjustment. Thanks. Dave.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your comment. Good luck with your projects

[@kraemrz]

Great video as always Chris! Thanks for helping the community... ❤️

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for watching

[@fastfood122]

The best as usual we love to watch ur videos Chris!!!!

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks so much!

[@wordreet]

Yep, got one of these on my Ender5. Works really well, I clean it with isopropyl alcohol on any day I want to use it.

[@ChrisRiley]

I'm glad you like it, thanks

[@davethetaswegian]

The one that came with my V2 a couple of years ago worked very well. I purchased several more, for other printers, and first layer adhesion ranged from mediocre to non-existent. As far as I can tell they were genuine Creality ones. They were all purchased within a few months of each other so perhaps there was a bad batch. And, for the record, I use ABL on all my printers and I do know how to set the Z offset correctly. Anyway, I gave up on them and moved to textured PEI on magnetic spring steel after a brief flirtation with G10 (I didn't find G10 to be the wonder surface that Maker's Muse suggested it was).

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your comment. I can see where these beds are fairly inconsistent.

[@WaschBaer__]

@@ChrisRiley i had the same issue, got a genuine glass bed and adhesion was non existent .. i had to sand off the top coating to get prints to stick but now i have issues again in the center where most prints are ( i thing the coating got pulled away slowly by all the prints )

[@Jules_73]

I just put a new creality glass bed on my ender 5 and was having issues with pla sticking. I wiped it down with acetone and it seemed to soften the surface a little. I then cleaned it with ipa and have had excellent adhesion ever since just cleaning with ipa between prints.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your tips

[@Garage-happiness]

I use it on my "Frankenstein" yes it is homemade. Heat is important for success. Starts with 70C, the surface is then a bit above 60C. After the first layer, I let it cool to 65C for the rest of the print. When the temperature sensor shows 53C, you can hear the part crack and come loose. Uses simple alcohol for cleaning and a dust of hair spray as glue. If you do not wash completely clean with alcohol but only remove the surface to remove grease / dust, it works to run several times on a layer of hair spray.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your insight. Good luck with your projects

[@Richie_]

I'm new to printing and have the Ender 3 V2 with the glass bed. I have had no problems while using PETG & PLA.

[@ChrisRiley]

Great, I'm glad you've had good luck with the glass bed.

[@klschofield71]

Nice one Chris. My Kickstarter CR6SE came with this type of bed and it lost its "mojo" after 4 months or so. Whereas my Ultrabase on a modified A8 still holds strong after years of use. Another old school trick, which I use for the CR6SE, is blue painters tape. I get the bulk rolls when they're on sale at the local big box.

[@ChrisRiley]

Nice! Thanks

[@smugtomato5972]

My only problem with the glass sheet so far has been that prints stick TOO well, so well that they are almost impossible to remove. I've even tried putting the plate in the fridge after it has cooled down but even that didn't do much.

[@ChrisRiley]

It seems some plates are stickier than others. Not sure why that is.

[@smugtomato5972]

@@ChrisRiley It might be that my z offset is too low, I'll have to do some more experimentation. I hope that will make the prints just "pop off" like they're supposed to when the plate reaches room temp, or at least easy to remove without having to destroy the print lol

[@smugtomato5972]

After some more experimentation it definitely had nothing to do with the offset, it's just that sticky. I ended up smearing some glue stick on the surface before a print and that solved all my problems, sticks very well when heated and releases on it's own when cooled down

[@sortofsmarter]

The unusual thing for me is I use the Back side of a 12 inch mirror on my CR10. it has some king of gray smooth coating on it on top of its copper layer and I have the best luck with just a little bit of hair spray on it. Everything from PLA, silk PLA, PETG, Flexible filament and some ABS but that usually has such a odor that I don't like to use it. But I've been using this way for years and so does my son on his Anet A8..

[@ChrisRiley]

Very clever. I like your ingenuity

[@AndrewAHayes]

What I have managed to discover is that some people clean the yellow gunk that sticks the protective sheet down with dish soap but it does not get it off, IPA will though, so the people who washed their glass sheet start printing with it and it is great and then a few months down the line nothing will stick to it and they blame the glass, what has happened is the yellow gunk has baked onto the glass with repeated heating, I got a new Ender 5 Plus last week and assembled and calibrated it for a friend and the glass no longer has the yellow gunk on it. My oldest glass bed is nearly 3 years old and is still good

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks!

[@wnctrailcam]

I like that Z stop. Trying to make very small adjustments on the stock one is time consuming sometimes.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thank you for your comment

[@Patriarchtech]

I thermal epoxied a similar sized plate steel sheet (that I got from from one of those PEI kits that also comes with the magnetic sticker) So now I have a magnetic glass bed:-) It works very well however it is not super easy to get off. Thermal conductivity is fine. I have been using this setup for 2 years.

[@ChrisRiley]

That's awesome! Using what you got!

[@richardmoore9319]

I have two of these beds on two different CR-10S printers. They both worked great at first, but then lost the magic first-layer adhesion ability after a couple of months use. They are still nice glass beds, but now I have to use glue or hairspray to get good first-layer adhesion. Also, I don't think all of these are created equal. Some I've seen have a shiny surface, mine had a matte surface.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

[@ChozoSR388]

Love it. Manufacturer: _recommends a solvent to clean the product they manufacture_ "Ehhhh, I wouldn't try that"

[@ChrisRiley]

🙂👍

[@Coyote.five.0]

the only honest problem you should tell people now that you have the power to do that is : if your machine came with the thin composite material bed and you go for the glass bed you will add 4 mm height and hell lot of weight to the bed, the result of that is if you print a test cube you will see the bed wobbles more due to the weight added , if you are a 3d printer perfectionist this bed is not for you you will need to tweak stepper motors and belts and rollers will suffer a little more so just for fyi i leave this here because i think is a very serious problem you forgot to mention to new comers or people that not know better.

[@ChrisRiley]

Good points, it will increase weight. I touch on that a bit in the fulabed video.

[@badencombs1330]

Great video. My prints always stick great, but even after cooling the glass all the way, my prints do not want to come off. Any advice?

[@ChrisRiley]

Your first layer might be a little close. I saw a trick one time, that you could spray the plate with IPA and it would release the print. Not sure if it works, but it might be worth a try.

[@chadblows]

I had issues with PLA Pro on the glass sheet where regular PLA would stick fine. Ended up sticking a a PEI sheet to the smooth side of the glass and everything works great now

[@ChrisRiley]

Thank you

[@woodwaker1]

Good video. I liked the Creality glass sheets, but had better luck with the plain glass side and hairspray if needed, and always with PETG or the glass will chip.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for sharing Dave.

[@onedm1]

I'm new to 3D printing (Ender 3 Pro) and struggling with printing items that should fit together or have specific tolerances to fit on or into things. I have a suspicion that the culprit could be the z-axis. It's pretty tough to spin with my hand. Should it spin relatively easily from the top of the lead screw? Sometimes I think I hear scrubbing during a print. Almost like the nozzle could be running over pieces of the already-hardened print. My prints typically look fine to the naked eye but seem to be off when I try to use them for their intended purpose. Is there a test that could help me solve the problem, or do any of you have suggestions? I'm in KC too!

[@ChrisRiley]

Awesome you're in KC. With the ender 3 sometimes it seems like both sides don't move equally and cause issues. It should be pretty easy to turn by hand, make sure the X L bracket isn't bent, I've seen that a lot. You might want to try and lower your extrusion multiplier. Try it at a .9, over extrusion might be causing the same type of issues as well.

[@dleivam]

About 2 years ago I had the creality glass in my ender 3 and I had a lot of problems, a lot of first layer fails, even cleaning it with isopropyl alcohol before prints. I had to even lower the nozzle so much to try to the filament sticks to it, I ended up with a lot of scratches in the surface. at the end I switched to PEI surface on a magnetic flexible bed and I never have a problem again.. So maybe it was what you said, a problem with a batch of beds from creality.. Looking back I wouldn't buy it again, even if it worked, because it adds too much mass to the bed, you had to use higher bed temperatures, you had to wait until it cool down before remove an object and at least mine, wasn't that flat either, which is the first argument to use it.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your insight

[@SeanTaffert]

Parts breaking free would happen more with taller parts than a flat sheet. You should try printing the same, taller part, 10 times in a row, on the same spot.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks

[@sargfowler9603]

I had problems with my bed until I gave it a light sand with fine paper. Never had a problem since

[@ChrisRiley]

Perfect, thanks for the tip

[@jerrykey8092]

great job chris

[@ChrisRiley]

Thank you

[@ericazucena4062]

I recently bought this plate for my ender 3 pro but when I go to level the bed the outside 4 corners are good and barely touch the post it note. however the middle is still way too low? If there a way to fix that?

[@ChrisRiley]

Unfortunately, no, if the carriage is bent and too far out, the glass will flex just a bit and cause this.

[@DanielChaves1984]

Why not stick a magnetic sheet to the back of the glass? Would that work to not need to use clips? Probably have a corner notched out of the magnet so you can pop off the plat easier.

[@ChrisRiley]

With the stock bed the magnet wouldn't be affective.

[@DanielChaves1984]

@@ChrisRiley right right I forgot they use aluminum plate for the heat plate, so you would have to stick the magnet to the bed and get some kind of metal foil to stick to the glass plate for that to work.

[@jeffsabel9363]

Do you know of a company that makes a self adhesive PEI sheet that I could stick to the glass? My glass top surface has worn out but I love how flat the glass is. Thank you for the endstop adjustment model. It's what I've been trying to design but am not experienced enough with cad or slick enough to figure out.

[@ChrisRiley]

Here you go, I like this one. www.printedsolid.com/products/buildtak-pei-sheets

[@pulith5220]

i also had the same issue of the 1st layer not sticking and what i figured was the 1st layer extruder needs to be hot. i am using esun pla+ so i print the 1st layer at 220c and after at 190c this works. when i tried the 1st layer at 190c it didnt stick. got a question to you on you box test you can see the corners didnt meet up is there away to fix it bcz i also have the same issue i am using klipper on creality ender 3 s1 pro

[@ChrisRiley]

Issues like that are usually retraction needs to be tuned. The nozzle isn't primed enough to lay down the filament after it moves. It's hard to get it just right.

[@backgammonbacon]

Most issues using the Ender 3 come down to inexperience. This glass sheet with a pei sticker on the back is an almost perfect print surface being able to handle nearly every material.

[@ZhuJo99]

Exactly. Did the same on my Ender 5 Plus. Took the glass it comes with, used Creality own PEI sheet for E5+ by attaching magnetic layer on the rough side of the glass and have PEI sheet on the glass, not on the bed itself.I can just turn the glass to use smooth glass surface on other side and voila. Best is that I can use abs juice at the same time on glass or pei formost other materials (wasn’t lucky with ABS/ASA on PEI)

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks

[@jeremylee9215]

I've found it my sheet hasn't been at full temp for several minutes I have trouble getting prints to stick, but if it's been fully heated and at temp for several minutes then its been all good.

[@ChrisRiley]

Great, thanks for your commet

[@madcatusa]

I've had three of these beds, one came on my Ender 3 V2 and I purchased two for my Ender 3. Initially, the glass beds that I purchased for my Ender 3 worked exceptionally well. However, over time, the coating wears down and eventually adhesion really becomes an issue. I have since changed both printers over to an inexpensive metal bed with a PEI coating and a magnetic sheet. I won't go back to the glass again.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your insight

[@WILLYDOGUSA]

What temperature do you guys suggest to use with the glass bed? For pla I do 60/45, but sometimes I get a corner to warp, should I raise them a little?

[@ChrisRiley]

60 should be good, but it would still get curling give 70 a try. If you run into a lot of stringing or bad overhangs you know it's too high.

[@larryhancock5040]

I hear some people say take off the magnetic layer from the bed before installing the glass and some say don't. What is your opinion and why?

[@ChrisRiley]

Either way is probably fine for the most part. If you take it off, you probably get more accurate thermistor readings of the glass. If you leave it on, I would just add a couple of degrees to my bed temp to compensate.

[@smugtomato5972]

If you want to use the smaller clips you will have to remove it, I've also heard stories of the magenetic sticker getting stuck to the glass plate and it being a nightmare to separate them. Probably best to remove it

[@TheMadRocker]

Wouldn't this be primarily a PLA problem? PETG sticks to everything, sometimes too well.

[@ChrisRiley]

Yes, PLA, ASA and ABS mostly.

[@Gandalf54548]

I got the Creality clips on Amazon here: smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08PZKGJTR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks

[@TheMidnightSmith]

Nice tips!

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks

[@FreeEnergyNerd]

strange... i just made a comment that disappeared. probably because i put a link into it. Just wanted to say that i have been using this creality glass on my cr-10Spro. But i do not use the coated side, but the plain glass one. I clean it with dishdetergent every second print.. (over the sink, pure stuff a little water - with my hand... then dry it with a paper towel) its adhesion is great.. i only have to do an autolevel every 3 months. I had issues with the coated side, sticking prints etc.. on the plain glass side you just cool down under 40 degrees and it just falls off. Even if it looks clean, you have to wash it for the next print. After over a year, printing every second day.. the glass looks like new. PLA 60 degrees and 195 for the nozzle. Ah yes and the clamps.. i use the so called bulldog clips - the ones you see on the wikipedia page. They are great because they only reach for 3 mm on the bed. Luc

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your insight. 🙂

[@Davedubya69]

I used to use acetone all the time when I used the glass bed. If prints stop sticking with IPA I "refresh" it with acetone. It would be something like 10 cleans with IPA then 1 with acetone. Then 10 more IPA cleans. Either way, glass beds were 💩 for me. PEI is best.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks Dave

[@Acestrex]

I have used my creality glass bed for years and the only trick is use 90% rubbing alcohol only.

[@ChrisRiley]

That works for me too.

[@atamico]

Nice vídeo.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thank you

[@Mobile_Dom]

completely off topic, that is a super pointy nozzle chris, where'd you get it?

[@ChrisRiley]

It's a stock Ender 3 nozzle .4

[@Mobile_Dom]

@@ChrisRiley huh, they must have changed over the years, mine never looked like that, thanks for the reply :)

[@Sergiodj453]

👍

[@ChrisRiley]

👍🙂

[@gerthalberg9735]

From experience with a glass sheet from Tronxy (I do think they are the same though) It takes a little longer for the glass to heat - so after the temp is reached wait a couple of minutes to let the glass heat thoroughly. Cleaning day to day IPA and microfiber cloth - maybe once a month acetone and a scouring pad followed by IPA. First layer as you point out is critical to get right and the smaller the part is rhe importance rises - so I'll use brims on small parts. Don't force parts off but let the glass cool a little. I've had the glass for more than a year now so whatever coating or film there was is gone for sure but prints still stick.

[@ChrisRiley]

Thanks for your insight

[@roi3272]

Every time your fingers touch the bed I die a little bit on the inside

[@ChrisRiley]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[@Gunner0352]

#barrywhite

[@ChrisRiley]

OH YEAH!