You Can Never Be Too Rich Or Too Thin...... Revisited

That’s the old saying but, at least in 3D printing, I don’t think it’s true. You know how, when the nozzle is too close to the printbed & it prints a really thin, almost transparent layer, and it’s virtually impossible to remove?

I was thinking about that & got to wondering about something. This “removal” problem doesn’t seem to exist with thicker prints, not even 1-layer bed leveling test prints. What if, somehow, I could just make that too thin layer be thicker? Maybe I could then remove it from the bed.

So, I brought one of those 1-layer 20mm X 20mm test prints into Cura & scaled it up so it would more than cover the area that has the too-thin printing. Then, after correcting for the nozzle being too close to the printbed, I printed the expanded test print on top of the too-thin layer.

It worked. Almost all of the layer that was too thin came off, restoring the printbed to almost new condition. Since this was on a fairly pricey PEI coated spring steel sheet ( ~ $50 US), I was very glad it worked. Kinda made my day ?

Anyway, I posted about it because it’s something others might find useful. It would be great to hear it works on other types of printbed.

ps: I think it works because the new filament melts into & bonds with the thin layer, turning it all into 1 layer.

That’s interesting never thought about trying that to get those thin bobos off. I’ve been thinking about getting the EZflex plate from TH3D thinking it might turn out flatter than the stock glass bed on my Ender 3 v2. How do you like yours?

So far I love the spring steel sheet. I use it with Magigoo. I don’t need bed clips to hold it on >>> bonus. I got mine from AliExpress: [U]https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005001464028650.html?spm=a2g0s.12269583.0.0.4f82253dwxtgnA[/U]. It’s got a textured side & a smooth side. Haven’t tried the smooth side yet, but will soon.