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I am biased

Posted by Miertam 
I am biased
August 23, 2014 12:47AM
Well my blue painters tape is.

I was having a problem with getting my prints to release without ripping the tape off my bed. Tape is cheap but it's a pain to have to replace it every print. So I experimented with anything I could print on. I have a unheated aluminum print bed and I am printing PLA.

Things that worked:

Cardboard/fiberboard Pro; Cheap, easy get prints off, prints always stuck, easy to remove and replace. Con; Have to replace it about every 4th print due to heat warping and surface tears
Flexible cutting mat Pro, Fairly cheap, prints pop right off, easy to remove and replace. Con; Accident melted part of it with my print head, Some difficulty keeping it flat.
The standby Blue Painters tape Pro; it worked! things stick to it like mad. Con; Things stuck to it like mad, a bit of a pain to replace when it tears.
Black Bookbinders Tape Pro; Pretty good adhesion and prints came off easier than on blue painters tape. Con; Anything more than a 1" roll is really expensive not as common as blue painters tape.

Things that didn't work.
Wax applied directly to the aluminum print bed; The filaments just rolled off.
Hair-spray applied to the aluminum print bed; This looked like it was going to work but as the print got further along it just released and the print skidded around the bed stuck to the printhead.
White Masking Tape; Another almost worked Some parts stuck other parts didn't I tried several brands but there was not a lot of difference in the end result.
Green Frog Tape; This stuff was horrible The only good thing about it was that it stayed stuck to the print bed when I peeled up the tangle of strings and blobs.
Clear Packing Tape: I wish this worked better than it did, The first few layers stuck and then the print broke free and skidded around the print bed. The bottom of the print looked amazing though.

Some of the things I want to try out.
silicon cooking mats/trivets
a 3 mm layer of PLA

Now about that Bias. I found that if I applied my blue painters tape at a angle on my print bed I would be less likely to peel it up at a edge an therefore less likely to rip huge sections of it up when I removed my prints. I still have to replace it every 7-8 prints (I know I need a heated bed.) but that is better than every print.

Thanks Mike
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Re: I am biased
August 23, 2014 09:35AM
Your tape has my perfectionism cringing. Other than that, good findings.
I tried out the hairspray before and got different results. Of course, I've got one of the hardest hairsprays offered at salons. I've got heavy hair. Everything always stuck, left a shiny underside, but the cleanup was not worth it. I figured it would start coating other components [like linear rails] over time, so I stayed away from it.


Realizer- One who realizes dreams by making them a reality either by possibility or by completion. Also creating or renewing hopes of dreams.
"keep in mind, even the best printer can not print with the best filament if the user is the problem." -Ohmarinus
Re: I am biased
August 24, 2014 11:39AM
imho the only thing that works for all kinds of PLA is a headed bed with pva coated glass. The dillution of the pva depends on the percentagge of pva in the glue..

tried hair spray , kypton tape , masking tape , duct tape, electrical tape , green tape , CF vinyl ( work 90 percent of the time but still not good enough ) ... best one till now pva on heated glass

for abs kypton tape on heated glass has no replacement..

still have to try PEI on glass
Re: I am biased
August 30, 2014 05:15AM
PLA - Glass build plate heated to 48'C coated with hairspray every couple of prints.
I find if I leave large prints over night it can release during the print at some point when it gets cold so temp can be a problem but usually not.
Sometimes parts stick so much you have to knock them off with something, a small rod or something will usually do it, however when the glass cools down it will usually release by itself ( I guess it shrinks a little)

Glass is a pain in the backside. 3mm isnt flat 10mm is but its insanely heavy, my 25cmX25cmx1cm glass plate weighs about 1Kg

You can see the results here https://www.facebook.com/3dpriningInSA
Re: I am biased
August 30, 2014 05:46PM
I dug through some of the bins at work and found a old iPad 2 screen to print on based on a indestructible I saw. The gorilla glass is an amazing print suffice, no heat and I am getting great adhesion and when I am done everything pops right off. The bottom of the print is super smooth. Taller skinny prints want to break free but adding a brim of 5 rows was all it took to keep them stuck. I know heating it up would improve the process but for now this is working well.

Thanks Mike
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