Is partly ruined PEI print sheet fixable/usable?  

RE: Is partly ruined PEI print sheet fixable/usable?

Try putting the damaged sheet on the printer with the damaged side down and heat the bed up as high as it will go. Let it sit until it times out and cools. That might be enough to flatten the sheet and allow the bubbles to reabsorb into the adhesive as the sheet is heated and clamped down by the magnets. Maybe put a sheet of printer paper between the print sheet and print bed heater (especially in the damaged area) just in case any adhesive starts to flow to avoid gluing the sheet to the heated bed. I don't know if/how well this will work, but I can't see it hurting (especially if you use the printer paper).

If you are careful with placement of prints, you can avoid the damaged area of the print sheet to still use the damaged side. If you are concerned about the nozzle colliding with a bit of PEI that is sticking up, use a layer-based modifier to have a high enough z-hop to clear any raised bits of damage for any travel moves.

For cleaning my sheets, I use:

• IPA between prints
• Occasionally take the sheet to the kitchen sink and scrub down with Dawn and lots of hot water, dry with paper towels, and handle only on the edges. For satin and textured sheets put on the printer and set the bed heat to 100°C and wait for the heater timer to expire (to drive off any excess moisture to avoid rust between the powder coat PEI grains).

You may want to put sticky notes on your PETG filaments to remind you to wipe the sheet with Windex (or use MagiGoo if that is your flavor) before using so you don't kill another sheet. 😉

Prusa considers the print sheets as a consumable item, so maybe order a spare or two.

As far as getting Prusa products from the US location, you would need to order directly from PrintedSolid. They maintain a separate ordering system from Prusa. You will also notice slightly higher prices at PrintedSolid for Prusa printers and parts as they have already paid import duties and shipping from Prague (which is included in their price). But, while you are checking out PrintedSolid, take a look at their Jessie filament. They make it on-site in Delaware. Their bog-standard PLA starts at $20/kilo. Their Jessie Elixir uses the same formula as the original (and basically unavailable) Polyalchemy Elixir (Printed solid bought the formula from Polyalchemy when they stopped making filament). I've found Jessie to be quality filament. YMMV

Fist treat the damaged sheet as @sembazuru suggests.  It should reduce the problem enough to allow you to resume printing.

Turn the print sheet over and use the other side, remaining bubbles will probably disappear in a few hours print time.

If you only have one print sheet then yes, buy a second one and possibly add a satin sheet too.  Reskinning is an, er, interesting, exercise that should not be attempted until you have ruined both sides.

Best practice with smooth sheets is to mark the corner with a sharpie and keep one side for PLA and use the other for PETG treating each side accordingly.

Best cleaning routine:

Clean with IPA between prints.

At the first hint of a problem, use dishwashing detergent (Dawn/Fairy) and HOT water.

If this is not enough rub neat dishwashing detergent into the sheet, wait a few minutes then rinse clean with VERY HOT water.

If that's not enough use acetone: *On the smooth sheet only* once or twice a year at most.

Cheerio,

RE: Is partly ruined PEI print sheet fixable/usable?

Many thanks for your tips, @sembazuru and @diem ! I'm putting a bunch of them to use right away. The sheet is currently baking on the hotbed (with a piece of paper because there's definitely exposed adhesive), I've put notes on my PETG rolls and inside my enclosure. Windex is on hand and MagiGoo is in my shopping cart.

Posted by: @sembazuru

Prusa considers the print sheets as a consumable item, so maybe order a spare or two.

Ah, good to know. I ordered a new sheet last weekend and am kinda wishing I'd ordered two. It'll definitely be in my next order.

When I bought my Mini+ a few years ago I ordered a spare sheet with it and never used it (though I wasn't printing frequently when that was my only printer), so I figured it would be okay to go with just one sheet when I got the MK4s recently. Who knew expanding my capabilities would lead to more printing? 😉

Thanks for the explanation of how US ordering works with Printed Solid, @sembazuru. I wish the blog post had mentioned that (or maybe I missed something). It'd be really cool if, in the future when Printed Solid has more of Prusa's products available, Prusa's store could mention something about this to US customers (especially with all the tariffs being thrown around lately).

RE: Is partly ruined PEI print sheet fixable/usable?

Print sheet update: Heating it up did very little for the torn edges and bubbles besides softening them a bit. I ended up trying to smooth things out by slicing into the bubbles and pushing out the air with a metal roller, which I also used to try to flatten the torn edges (which didn't work). Then I used a razor blade to shave down the edges and other bits that weren't flat. It's not pretty at all, but is good enough to print things that don't need to be perfectly flat on the sheet's good side. I kept the sheet of paper between the sheet and hotbed because adhesive was definitely coming out.

I cleaned the good side with Windex and have a PETG print attempt running right now. Got some MagiGoo on order for when the new print sheet shows up. 🙂

RE: Is partly ruined PEI print sheet fixable/usable?

You can also use the damaged side for tough filaments that need a glue stick to print.  I use one scarred sheet with PC Blend.  

RE: Is partly ruined PEI print sheet fixable/usable?

You can also remove the damaged film and stick a new one. Be careful, it is not for the clumsy and quite difficult. Instructions on how to do it are here:

https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/replacing-the-pei-sheet-on-the-mk3s-mk3-mk2-5s-mk2-5_23920

You can buy the new PEI film here:

https://www.prusa3d.com/product/pei-ultem-sheet/

RE: Is partly ruined PEI print sheet fixable/usable?

Posted by: @neopifex

Prusa's store could mention something about this to US customers (especially with all the tariffs being thrown around lately).

Remember, anything that PrintedSolid sells that comes through the Prague warehouse likely has tariffs applied and incorporated in the PrintedSolid webstore price, even the parts that are inexpensive enough when ordered individually from Prague to not have tariffs applied.

(I don't have any insider information, but I suspect that PrintedSolid gets pallets of materials from Prusa. I would expect any tariffs would be applied to the value of the entire pallet instead of each individual item on the pallet. I could be wrong.)

tl;dr There are very few winners in a trade war.