Bed adhesion · troubleshooting

Why Your 3D Print Is Not Sticking to the Bed

Nine times out of ten it is the nozzle gap. The first layer should be squashed flat against the plate — about 0.8 times the nozzle diameter, so a 0.4 mm nozzle lays a 0.32 mm layer — not laid down as round strands you can see daylight between. Fix that first. Then bed level, then bed temperature, then a clean plate. Everything else on this page is what to check when those four have not done it.

Work down the eight causes Bed temperature by material

Vijay Raghav VaradaPublished 13 September 2026

4 of 8 causes cost nothing to fix12 materials with published bed settings0.8 × nozzle diameter — the first-layer testMeasured on our own machines

Read this first

An adhesive is the last item on this list, not the first. Most prints that will not stick have a mechanical cause, and adding glue on top of a bad first layer hides the symptom for one print and wastes a bottle. Work down in order. If you reach the bottom and the part still lifts, that is the point where chemistry is the honest answer — and on ABS, PC, Nylon or a large flat footprint you will reach it faster than you expect.

Diagnosis

Eight Causes, In the Order to Check Them

Ordered by how often each one is actually the cause, not by how interesting it is.

01 · The nozzle is too far from the bed

The single commonest cause. Print a 20 mm single-layer square and look at it side-on: the extrusions should have merged into a sheet with no gaps, and the top should look slightly glossy where the nozzle ironed it. If you can see separate round strands, lower the Z-offset in steps of 0.02 mm until they merge. Too close is its own failure — a transparent, rippled first layer with ridges is over-squash.

02 · The bed is level but not flat

Two different faults. Screws fix level; nothing fixes flat except mesh compensation or a new plate. A bed that is right at the centre and 0.3 mm low at one corner will hold three corners of a large part and release the fourth on every single print, which is why the failure looks random until you notice it is always the same corner.

03 · The bed is at the wrong temperature

Too cold and the polymer freezes before it wets the surface. Too hot and the first layers stay soft, the part spreads at the base — ‘elephant foot’ — and can shift under the nozzle. The table below gives the working range for all twelve materials we publish settings for. Check the real plate temperature with a probe once: bed sensors read the heater, not the glass.

04 · The plate is contaminated

One fingerprint is enough. Skin oil, filament dust, and the residue left by earlier adhesives all stop the polymer wetting the surface. Isopropyl alcohol on a lint-free cloth, or warm water and dish soap for a PEI sheet that IPA has stopped cleaning. Never touch the printing area with bare fingers afterwards.

05 · The part is cooling too fast

Part cooling belongs to overhangs, not to the first layer. Most slicers already disable the fan for layer one; check that yours does, and keep it off for the first three layers on anything that shrinks. A draught from an open window or an air conditioner does the same damage more quietly — enclose the printer, or move it.

06 · The footprint is too small, or too sharp

A tall part on a 12 mm base has almost no bond area and a long lever arm. A brim of 5–8 mm multiplies the contact area for a few grams of filament and peels off afterwards. Rounding the base corners by 2–3 mm does more than it sounds: warping force concentrates where the corner is sharpest, which is exactly where lifting starts.

07 · The filament is wet

Nylon, PC, TPU, CF-PETG and PVA absorb water from the air, and a wet filament pops and foams as it extrudes. The first layer then lands as a broken, bubbled line that cannot bond. If the nozzle is crackling, dry the spool before you change anything else — 80 °C for eight hours for Nylon, 65 °C for four for PET-G.

08 · The surface and the material do not suit each other

Textured PEI grips PLA beautifully and gives ABS almost nothing to hold. Bare glass is smooth enough that only a chemical bond works. Nylon needs Garolite or an adhesive layer. This is the point at which an adhesion promoter stops being a patch and becomes the correct component — see below.

The cause least suspected

A Plate That Looks Clean

Skin oil from one fingertip spreads into a patch several centimetres across and is invisible. The part bonds everywhere except there, and lifts from it outward.

Start here, then tune

Bed Temperature and Surface, All Twelve Materials

Material	Bed	Nozzle	Surface that works	Enclosure	Adhesive
PLA	0–60 °C	190–220 °C	PEI, glass, textured sheets	No	Rarely needed
PET-G	60–85 °C	225–250 °C	PEI — see the release-layer note	No	As a release layer
CF-PET-G	70–85 °C	240–265 °C	PEI with adhesive	No	Standard
TPU 95A	0–60 °C	215–240 °C	PEI, smooth glass	No	Helps on smooth plates
ABS	95–110 °C	220–250 °C	PEI, Kapton	Yes	Plus
ASA	95–110 °C	240–260 °C	PEI, Kapton	Yes	Plus
Polycarbonate	80–120 °C	265–310 °C	PEI with high-temp adhesive	Yes	Plus
PC-ABS	100–115 °C	250–275 °C	PEI with adhesive	Yes	Plus
Nylon PA12	60–100 °C	240–270 °C	Garolite G10	No	Plus
CF-Nylon	80–110 °C	260–285 °C	Garolite G10	Yes	Plus
PP	80–100 °C	220–245 °C	PP sheet or packing tape	Yes	Surface first
PVA	45–60 °C	190–215 °C	PEI or glass with adhesive	No	Standard

When the free fixes run out

An Adhesive Is a Component, Not a Patch

There is a reason bed glue has a poor reputation: it is usually sold as a cure for bad levelling, and it is not one. Its real job is narrower and more useful. It is a controlled interface between the part and the plate — strong while the plate is hot, releasing as it cools, and thin enough that it does not change the first-layer geometry you just spent an evening dialling in.

That interface is not optional for some combinations. ABS on bare PEI at 100 °C will lift a 150 mm part at the corners whatever you do with Z-offset. Nylon on anything but Garolite needs chemistry. And PET-G has the opposite problem — it bonds to bare PEI hard enough to tear chips out of the sheet, so the film goes on as a release layer to protect the plate.

PrintStick is one thin pass of a 30 mm felt head, water-washable, and it leaves nothing on the underside of the part. Standard covers the materials that print below 80 °C; Plus is formulated for hot plates from 80 °C up.

How PrintStick works

Two formulas. The bed temperature decides which.In stock · ships across India with tracking · GST invoice · 50+ prints a bottle · leaks or arrives damaged, we replace it

Add Standard to cart₹1,199 · PLA, PET-G, TPU Add Plus to cart₹1,899 · ABS, PC, Nylon

Still stuck

Questions People Ask When Prints Will Not Stick

Why is my 3D print not sticking to the bed?

Almost always the nozzle is too far from the plate. The first layer has to be squashed into the surface — roughly 0.8 times the nozzle diameter — not laid on as round strands. After that, in order: the bed is not flat, the bed temperature is wrong for the material, the plate is contaminated, part cooling is on for layer one, the footprint is too small, the filament is wet, or the surface and material do not suit each other.

What should the first layer look like when it is right?

A continuous sheet with no gaps between the extrusion lines and a faint sheen where the nozzle ironed the top. Side-on you should not be able to see individual round strands. If the surface looks translucent and rippled with raised ridges, the nozzle is too close, which fails in its own way — the part welds to the plate and can chip it on removal.

How much should I squash the first layer?

About 0.8 × nozzle diameter is a reliable starting point: a 0.32 mm first layer from a 0.4 mm nozzle. Print a single-layer 20 mm square, look at it, and move the Z-offset in 0.02 mm steps. Do this once after any change to the plate, the nozzle or the springs, not before every print.

Is bed adhesive cheating?

No, but it is not a substitute for levelling either. Four of the eight causes above are free to fix and should be fixed first. An adhesive earns its place on the combinations where geometry cannot win — ABS and ASA on a hot plate, Nylon, PC, large flat footprints — and on PET-G, where it goes on to protect the plate rather than to hold the part.

Can I just use a glue stick or hairspray?

They work, and both have costs. A PVA glue stick streaks, bakes onto a hot plate and has to be scraped, which is how PEI sheets get scratched. Hairspray coats the printer as well as the bed and builds up a film that eventually has to be stripped with alcohol. A purpose-made bed adhesive is applied in one pass and washes off with water. There is a full comparison in the cluster below.

Does a heated bed matter if I print only PLA?

It helps and it is not essential. PLA will hold on an unheated plate that is clean and correctly gapped. 50–60 °C keeps the first layer soft long enough to wet the surface properly, which is why it is the usual recommendation. Above 65 °C PLA starts to soften at the base and you gain elephant foot rather than adhesion.

The rest of the guide

If It Is More Specific Than This

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