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I have an Ender 3 and I'm experiencing an issue where it won't print on the edges. Near the outside of the bed plastic just peels away. Bed is level - verified multiple times.

The nozzle appears to be dragging the freshly extruded filament away before it has a chance to cool. Straight lines and wide curves print well about 30 % of the time, and sharp corners and curves won't print at all.

The printer works fine in the center, but the outer 3 cm or so are unusable. Not sure what could cause this. I leveled the bed multiple times - even told the printer to move without touching it, just to eliminate incorrect leveling by slight play in the rollers. Head is the same distance from the plate in the center as it is along the edges. No irregular high or low areas - bed is perfectly flat.

Is this a known issue with the Ender 3? How can it be fixed?

I am using the stock fiberglass bed with the BuildTak surface.

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  • $\begingroup$ Can you flip the print surface and try the other side ? I'm not familiar with that one. Have you cleaned it with IPA ? $\endgroup$
    – Criggie
    Oct 12, 2021 at 20:58
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    $\begingroup$ I didn't know it needed to be cleaned. Ill try that. $\endgroup$
    – Proxy303
    Oct 13, 2021 at 19:17
  • $\begingroup$ Cleaning is one option. You can also try adding some glue stick which in my experience works quite well. Another option is to make the nozzle go closer to the bed even by about 0.1 mm. I had to do this many times since different materials stick differently. So when I switched from PETG to ABS I had to go closer. The downside is that you may introduce othe (mostly visual) problems to the first layer auch as elephant's foot or squished lines. $\endgroup$
    – TurgonTheKingOfGondolin
    Oct 16, 2021 at 16:50
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    $\begingroup$ Couple other suggestion (besides cleaning/leveling/etc) would be: check the heating maybe. Pretty sure the bed heats from the center and I wonder if its not, and/or not making its way all the way out to the edge. Also what material? Is it warping up from the outside? Or is it not warping and its just not staying put? $\endgroup$
    – Joseph Crozier
    Oct 21, 2021 at 20:13
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    $\begingroup$ It's not warping, just not staying put. It is PLA. The heater goes under the entire bed. $\endgroup$
    – Proxy303
    Oct 21, 2021 at 20:37

3 Answers 3

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I used to have the same problem. Put masking or scotch tape on the bed, it should help with adhesion. I think the problem is that the bed is very dirty with finger grease and other things.

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It sounds like it may be due to uneven heating. Check with an IR thermometer to make sure. If you're sure the bed is clean and has even heating, you may want to try a different surface. G10 is cheap and almost always perfectly flat.

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  • $\begingroup$ Ive replaced the bed with a glass bed, this issue still persists, although not nearly as much. The bed is completely flat now. Theres a new problem: the nozzle has to be almost scraping against the plate for filament to stick. $\endgroup$
    – Proxy303
    Nov 17, 2021 at 12:55
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Try reducing the print speed and cleaning the bed with acetone before each print.

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  • $\begingroup$ Welcome to 3D.SE! This sounds more like a comment than a full-fledged answer. Could you expand on this a bit more? Also, the cleaning portion of your answer was already given in a previous answer. Please take a look at the [How to write a good answer] page to get some ideas on how to improve this answer. $\endgroup$
    – agarza
    Nov 14, 2021 at 23:35

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