There are two critical elements in attaining reliable bed adhesion:
- Bed material/adhesive systems—There are countless solutions, and MakerGear sticks with a method that is tried and true: Polyimide Film (aka Kapton) on Borosilicate Glass. Many users love the great adhesion that the polyimide film provides at elevated temperature and the equally great release of the printed object when the plate cools down. Users looking for a stronger hold can replace the Polyimide Film with a PEI sheet (BuildTak makes a trusted option) or simply use hairspray (Aquanet) or glue stick (Avery Purple) applied directly to the glass.
- Nozzle proximity to the bed—with the release of True Leveling, MakerGear removed the springs from beneath the bed and placed the bed squarely on four adjustable points. This meant that once a bed was leveled it stayed level. Since the release of True Leveling, we have added a touch probe (much more reliable than other probing technologies), which makes the leveling process very straightforward. Additionally, the probe compensates for the unavoidable minor variations from flatness by creating a mesh pattern of the build surface before each print. Our printers use this mesh pattern to raise and lower the bed during the first few layers of the print to ensure the nozzle is at the correct distance from the bed.