Bed Adhesion Guide

Why Bed Adhesion Actually Fails

A print that won't stick, or lifts partway through, usually isn't bad luck — it's one of three physical causes. The first is temperature: every material has a bed temperature range where its first layer stays soft enough to bond to the surface as it's laid down; too cold and it solidifies before it can grip, too hot and it can over-adhere or smear. The second is surface chemistry — different bed surfaces (PEI, glass, BuildTak, tape) bond to different plastics with very different strength, which is exactly why the right surface for PLA can be the wrong one for Nylon. The third is warping from uneven cooling: as a print's lower layers cool and contract faster than the layers still being printed above them, the part pulls itself upward at the edges and corners, peeling away from the bed even if initial adhesion was fine. Materials with higher thermal contraction — ABS and Nylon especially — are far more prone to this than PLA, which barely shrinks as it cools. Treating these as three separate, diagnosable causes (rather than one vague "it's not sticking" problem) is what actually leads to a fix instead of guesswork. The temperature ranges themselves differ a lot by material — PLA typically wants a bed in the 45-60°C range, while ABS and Nylon need something closer to 90-110°C to stay workable long enough to bond and to keep the whole part warm enough to resist the cooling-driven warping described above. Print below a material's effective range and you're fighting adhesion from the very first layer; print within it and the surface choice and adhesion aid matter far more than temperature ever will.

Why Some Combinations Need More Prep Than Others

Not every material-surface pairing behaves the same way, which is why this guide rates each combination individually instead of giving one universal recommendation. Some pairings are effectively self-sufficient — PLA on PEI needs nothing extra because the surface's texture mechanically grips the material well on its own. Others need a prep step to bond at all, like Nylon on most surfaces, which barely adheres without a PVA-based glue stick or a specialty surface like garolite. And a few pairings are actually at risk of bonding too well — PETG can weld itself to bare PEI strongly enough to tear the sheet's texture off when you try to remove the print, which is why a release agent or a layer of tape between them is the safer default rather than an optional extra. Reading a "Needs prep" or "Not recommended" rating as a starting point for troubleshooting, rather than a fixed rule that always applies to your exact printer and filament brand, is the right way to use these ratings in practice.

How to Use This Guide

Select your material and bed surface, and the guide returns a recommended bed temperature range, a compatibility rating for that specific combination, a warp risk assessment, and a plain-language adhesion aid recommendation. If you're printing a part with a small first-layer footprint, enter it — small contact areas are more prone to lifting regardless of material, and the guide factors that into whether it suggests a brim. If you already know your material properties from the Material Comparison Tool, bring that context here to double-check the bed surface and prep step match what the material actually needs. These recommendations are community-consensus starting points drawn from widely-documented practice, not physics-derived guarantees — individual printer, filament brand, and environment (humidity, ambient temperature, bed leveling) all shift the real-world result, so some trial and error on a first attempt with a new material or surface is normal, not a sign you're doing something wrong.

Adhesion Aids and What They're For

Common Mistakes

• Using glue stick on PEI when it's not needed. PEI grips PLA well on its own — an unnecessary glue layer can create a barrier between the plastic and the sheet's texture, actually reducing adhesion instead of helping it.
• Never cleaning the bed surface. Oils from handling filament and the print surface build up invisibly over many prints and quietly degrade adhesion — a wipe with isopropyl alcohol between prints keeps a surface performing like new.
• Assuming one bed surface works for every material. A surface that's excellent for PLA can be actively unsuitable for another material — check the specific material-surface combination rather than reusing whatever surface is already installed.
• Chasing adhesion problems that are actually warping. A print that lifts at the corners partway through often isn't failing to stick — it's cooling unevenly. More glue stick won't fix a warping problem; an enclosure, brim, or bed temperature adjustment will.
• Ignoring first-layer height. A nozzle set too far from the bed under-presses the first layer regardless of how well-prepped the surface is — adhesion aids can't compensate for a first layer that isn't making proper contact.

Frequently Asked Questions

Not sure which material to print with in the first place? Compare options on the Material Comparison Tool before dialing in a bed surface and adhesion aid for it here.