Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
I'm attempting to print a very basic model on my new mk4 in PETG. I had a lot of trouble with PETG sticking too well to the smooth sheet so I bought a textured sheet for my PETG prints. I've been able to get smaller prints in PETG to stick to the middle of the textured plate but that's it. I found another forum post on this issue and have tried several things suggested there to get this to work with no success. Even the brim around the print just beads up and doesn't stick.
The increasingly extreme things I've tried to get my printer to work:
- Drying out the filament. - Print does not stick.
- Using 99.9% IPA. - Print does not stick.
- Using a gluestick. - Print does not stick.
- Washing the print bed with dawn dish soap and water. - Print does not stick.
- Scrubbing the print bed with scotchbright then cleaning. - Print does not stick.
- Scrubbing the print bet with fine steel wool then cleaning. - Print does not stick.
- Sanding the print bed with 1500 grit sandpaper then cleaning. - Print does not stick.
At this point I feel that I've basically exhausted my options. I've ordered a sheet of G10 to try but that won't show up for a bit. Even if that does work it's a shame to have wasted $40 + shipping + hours of troubleshooting on a textured sheet that doesn't work for its sole purpose. Doesn't Prusa print all of its printer parts in PETG on textured sheets? One would think this would be the most tested and easiest thing to get right.
My setup:
Prusa Mk4 printer.
Prusamint PETG black Filament.
Prusa textured sheet.
I've tried both .4 and .8 mm nozzles.
Standard Prusa PETG settings in the Prusa Slicer.
The printer is in a Prusa Enclosure.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best Answer by Chris_KA:
Hi, I had similar Problems when I changed to a 0.6 Nozzle with the MK4 using the textured Sheet. It turned out that there was not enough filament coming out of the nozzle. I was able to compensate this with two methods,
- increasing the Extrusion Multiplier in the Filament Settings. I used 1.1 which resulted in an acceptable 1st Layer
- Just after the Print starts you can long-press the button to enter the ZOffset. I lowered the printhead a tiny bit which also resulted in an acceptable 1st layer with good adhesion. You also can use the Z. alle offset in the printer settings I think
my conclusion is that the presets for 0.6 nozzles are not yet matured enough resulting in problems especially on textured sheets. I am afraid this is the price early adopters have to pay. You need to tweak the settings to get good results. When I got my MK3S+ in 2019 all profiles and default settings where perfect. I assume in 2025 we have it again.
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
Hi, I had similar Problems when I changed to a 0.6 Nozzle with the MK4 using the textured Sheet. It turned out that there was not enough filament coming out of the nozzle. I was able to compensate this with two methods,
- increasing the Extrusion Multiplier in the Filament Settings. I used 1.1 which resulted in an acceptable 1st Layer
- Just after the Print starts you can long-press the button to enter the ZOffset. I lowered the printhead a tiny bit which also resulted in an acceptable 1st layer with good adhesion. You also can use the Z. alle offset in the printer settings I think
my conclusion is that the presets for 0.6 nozzles are not yet matured enough resulting in problems especially on textured sheets. I am afraid this is the price early adopters have to pay. You need to tweak the settings to get good results. When I got my MK3S+ in 2019 all profiles and default settings where perfect. I assume in 2025 we have it again.
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
You might be in the wrong forum for MK4 support (this is the XL forum).
If it's any consolation I've had similar problems with PETG/Textured Plate/0.6 nozzles. I've tried 1 through 4 of your list but I haven't yet tried @Chris_KA's extrusion multiplier and the z-offset change but I'll be sure to. I usually watch the first two layers religiously. If the first layer actually sticks and the second doesn't catch on the first, I'm usually in the clear.
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
No I am not!
The XL uses the same Extruder and a 0.6 nozzle as Default. This is the same setup I had on my MK4 causing similar problems
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
Thanks for the responses. Based on @chris_ka 's suggestion, I'm trying upping the extrusion multiplier now to see if that helps. I'll get back to you with whether it worked or not in a bit.
Posted by: @xilni
You might be in the wrong forum for MK4 support (this is the XL forum).
If it's any consolation I've had similar problems with PETG/Textured Plate/0.6 nozzles. I've tried 1 through 4 of your list but I haven't yet tried @Chris_KA's extrusion multiplier and the z-offset change but I'll be sure to. I usually watch the first two layers religiously. If the first layer actually sticks and the second doesn't catch on the first, I'm usually in the clear.
Thanks, I would have sworn I clicked the MK4 forum but it looks like I messed it up. Maybe a mod can move it over or something.
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
Hi, I had similar Problems when I changed to a 0.6 Nozzle with the MK4 using the textured Sheet. It turned out that there was not enough filament coming out of the nozzle. I was able to compensate this with two methods,
- increasing the Extrusion Multiplier in the Filament Settings. I used 1.1 which resulted in an acceptable 1st Layer
- Just after the Print starts you can long-press the button to enter the ZOffset. I lowered the printhead a tiny bit which also resulted in an acceptable 1st layer with good adhesion. You also can use the Z. alle offset in the printer settings I think
my conclusion is that the presets for 0.6 nozzles are not yet matured enough resulting in problems especially on textured sheets. I am afraid this is the price early adopters have to pay. You need to tweak the settings to get good results. When I got my MK3S+ in 2019 all profiles and default settings where perfect. I assume in 2025 we have it again.
This did it. I upped the "Extrusion multiplier" to 1.1 and lowered the "Z offset" in Printer Settings > General to -0.15. Thank you!
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
Topic Moves
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
I have similar issues with my MK4 on a textured sheet with a 0.6 mm (obxidian) nozzle. I need to set the Z offset to -125 microns (and -50 microns for satin).
I have not yet tried 0.4mm.
I know that they disabled the skirt for faster printing, but if you are trying to set the first layer on the printer (vs in slicer), it's super annoying because you have to be quick on the change.
Xl works great so far with 0.6 mm on satin for me.
Definitely a long way from "perfect first layer", but things will get better.
RE:
Nothing I’ve experienced so far has screamed “this hardware is faulty”, however it does seem like they haven’t had enough sample data/time to get those profiles tuned perfectly on the XL like we’ve had in the MK3S/MK4 platform.
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
Like others have said, I found it necessary to manually adjust the live Z setting for satin and textured sheets, in my case by about -0.015 to -0.025, to get good adhesion for most materials, regardless of whether I'm using a 0.4 or 0.6 mm nozzles.
Formerly known on this forum as @fuchsr -- until all hell broke loose with the forum software...
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
I just updated to Splicer 2.7 alpha and firmware 5.1 Alpha. My first prints let me think that it's getting better. I was able to print on the textured sheet without Z-Offset
RE:
So just came back from messing with the Live Z Offset with the Textured Sheet/PETG/XL and -0.050 seems to give me perfect layers without it getting loose and messing things up. Wild that 0.050 mm makes such a difference though I'm still not 100% unconvinced that it's not PETG getting stuck to the nozzle and messing up the Z cal despite the cleaning routine. Thank you so much!
Is the "Printer Settings > Size and coordinates > Z offset" the right setting to do this automatically?
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
So I admit I was a little hasty with my last comment, my test print wasn't big enough to be a proper sample so here goes my attempt at -0.050, -0.100 and -0.150.
All tests with PETG and the textured sheet on the Prusa XL and a 0.6mm nozzle.
My test print includes a single layer 10x10 cm square and another two layer square, also 10x10 cm right next to it.
-0.050 mm, single layer: Lifting on sides very evident
-0.050 mm, two layers: Even worse lifting but especially on the second layer. Decided to stop the print once I saw how the second layer was going.
-0.100 mm, single layer: Much better but still have slight lifting.
-0.100 mm, two layers: Almost perfect but the lifting from the first layer is causing bulging on this second layer. I actually wonder if these bulges would have messed up a third layer passing over those spots?
-0.150 mm, single layer: Oddly shiny. Looks a bit thin but otherwise perfect. Tore a little bit along one of the filament paths while I was handling it.
-0.150 mm, two layers: Still shiny but otherwise really good.
Conclusion is that -0.150 mm might be perfectly acceptable, -0.125 mm might be the sweet spot? I'll keep testing.
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
I'm happy I pushed past my initial laziness and opted to try -0.125 mm because oh wow does it work for my specific setup.
Here are the single and two layer test prints respectively.
Looks perfect. Not sure how or even if I should test the extrusion multiplier but I'm very happy with this already.
RE:
Last observation of the night, setting the Z offset in the Printer Settings of the slicer did not give me the result I expected. Adhesion was as bad as no live Z offset adjustment.
I'm thinking:
- It does nothing at all, whether because the slicer encodes it into gcode incorrectly (you can clearly see it's changing the gcode here https://www.diffchecker.com/Lm6SCBtv/) or whether because the printer ignores it.
- The value is getting overridden by the printer at some point before it can take effect.
- Setting the Z offset actually does something different than adjusting the live Z offset.
- Spurious error in the test run, possibly filament contamination on the nozzle caused the whole process to get messed up. I'll try again to try to eliminate this possibility as much as possible.
What are people's thoughts?
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
It was number 4, either a dirty nozzle or I used the wrong file.
Attempt number 2 with a guaranteed clean nozzle and double checking the right file:
RE: Mk4 can't print PETG on textured sheet
Is there a way to do this automatically in the slicer and create a side profile for textured sheets? OR does this have to be done after the MK4/S does its first layer calibration?