Problem

Build plate adhesion was not consistent from print to print. Sometimes the prints would be impossible to get off the bed and other times the plastic would peal off the bed half way through a print. The Duplicator i3 Mini doesn’t have auto bed leveling which made the process time consuming. After some investigation, it was clear there was setting with the biggest impact on build plate adhesion from print to print.

Solution

It turns out that adjustments to the initial layer height require adjustments to the bed leveling on the Duplicator i3 Mini. The initial layer height is the height of the first layer printed. On the i3 Mini, the optimal distance from the nozzle to the bed is slightly different depending on the initial layer height. Keeping the initial layer height the same from print to print greatly reduced issues with build plate adhesion.

For the i3 Mini, setting the layer height at 0.3mm seemed to have the best results. A friend of mine with the Monoprice MP Select said that keeping the initial layer height consistent helped his prints as well. This is likely a larger issue on lower end printers that don’t have auto leveling built in.

Check out my post on 3D Printer Bed Leveling for more tips and tricks to help with build plate adhesion.