SOS: The filament cannot stick to the platform during printing

It is important that the first layer adheres tightly to the heating plate when printing. Only in this way can the following other layers be printed on this basis.

Let’s check several common situations to explain how to deal with them respectively.

The heating plate itself is not flat or placed horizontally:

When first layer of filament cannot stick well to the heating plate, you need to check whether the platform is level first.

Nozzle is too far from platform:

You need to position the nozzle at a suitable distance from the heating plate. Reduce the distance between the platform and the nozzle by rotating slightly the four leveling nuts below at a time. It’d better that the nozzle is piece-of-A4-paper-distance (about 0.1mm) away from heating plate.

3. The first layer is printed too fast:

If the first layer is printed too fast, the filament may not have enough time to stick to the heating plate. Thus, the common method is to reduce the printing speed of the first layer. You need to click “Custom” in the Cura, and choose the proper speed in the “Initial layer speed”.

4. About temperature or cooling settings:

If you observe that the layer later leaves the platform as the temperature decreases, it is likely to be a problem related to temperature or cooling. Therefore, you need to keep the heating plate at a certain temperature, such as PLA filament needs 40- 60℃. Click “Tool” on the screen, and then click “Option” and “Temperature” to adjust the heating plate temperature.

5. About heating plate surface:

Before printing, please check that there is no dust, grease, etc. on the heating plate. You can clean it with a little water. In addition, there are several types of tape that can not only be stuck with commonly used filaments, but also be easily adhered to the surface. For example, PLA and the masking tape, ABS and Kapton tape (polyimide resin tape) can match well.

6. When none of the above methods work: Brim

Sometimes, you print a very small model, and the model surface does not have enough area to adhere to the platform surface. Then you can choose “Brim” in the “Build plate adhesion” setting of Cura.