In April, I eagerly invested $58.05 in an original double-sided satin powder-coated spring steel sheet, shipping included. Anticipating seamless printing, I was met with frustration when I couldn’t get my prints to adhere. Despite trying a plethora of adhesion solutions—painter’s tape, kapton tape, masking tape, purple glue stick, regular glue stick, scouring, dishwashing liquid, alcohol, and acetone—nothing seemed to work. I reluctantly returned to printing on a smooth sheet, clinging to the hope that a breakthrough was imminent. I explored various avenues to overcome the adhesion challenge, but even popular remedies like hairspray, with its airborne ingredients like Carboxymethylcellulose, Denatured alcohol, Hydrofluorocarbon Polyvinyl, Propylene glycol, and Polyvinylpyrrolidone, felt like an uneasy compromise. Discovering a reliable solution became my mission, as depending on hairspray posed its own set of problems.
After neglecting my MK3s+ for a few months, I even contemplated selling it. With a pending move to a smaller space, the decision to retain a second machine became a significant consideration. The machine’s awesomeness didn’t hold much weight if it struggled to produce prints or if the maintenance costs were prohibitive. Despite purchasing a different sheet from Amazon, I faced continued challenges with adhesion. However, when moving day finally arrived, a gut feeling compelled me to hold onto the machine. Once settled into my new place, I devised a plan to approach the adhesion issue differently, confident that the machine itself wasn’t the culprit.
After setting up the machine in my new place, I realized that there was perhaps one mistake I was making the entire time, selecting calibration for a smooth sheet instead of textured on the MK3s+ console. The satin sheet has some texture. I chose texture sheet and calibrated the nozzle to be approximately one step away from striking the sheet (see video below). This worked for the calibration, but the print did not stick. However, after a light application of Avery glue stick, the print stuck. I cleaned the sheet with warm water and dishwashing liquid after each print. I soon found that cleaning after each print was not necessary. I have cleaned the print twice over the last couple of weeks because a print did not adhere to the sheet, but later realized it happened because the bed was set to 0°.