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Clean the Bed

Whatever material you use, the bed has to be clean. Any time you touch it oils from your hands get on it. Printing something on it will leave a residue. Dust and other crap falls on the bed.

Use warm water and dish detergent, Dawn is good.

A lot of stuff on the plate dissolves in water. There is a difference between soap and detergent. You want a detergent that has nothing, stuff to keep your hands soft or smells nice, in it. Dawn is that. It’s an American brand. Let me know of a brand from other parts of the world.

The stuff that does not dissolve in water, the oil on the plate, will dissolve in detergent. Rinsing with warm water gets all the stuff dissolved in the water and detergent off. I take my plate to the kitchen sink. Run the water til it’s warm. Rinse the plate. Add detergent and rub it in. Rinse it off. If I have the time I let it dry by itself, if not I use a paper towel to dry, a cloth may have stuff from the last time you dried a plate.

Some people use alcohol. You want over 90% alcohol, you can get rubbing alcohol, but that is only 70% alcohol and not what you want. Alcohol will dissolve oil, but it evaporates and leaves the oil behind. It also will not dissolve all the other things that could be on the plate. I find warm water with detergent does a far better job.

I wash occasionally. Before a print I really care about. If I had a problem with a print. If I have a problem of any sort, cleaning the plate is easy and it eliminates a possible problem.