Heated beds arn't needed for PLA... NOT TRUE

First off I'm printing PLA at 170. I was printing on a cold bed with double sided carpet table. The goal was to get maximum bond to the surface to reduce warping on long parts. It kind of worked but I could see deformation on the first 5 layers of the edge against the bed.

So I picked up a heated bed which everyone says isn't require for PLA. Now I know thats BS. Running the bed at 55 I'm seeing plenty of bonding to clear packaging tape. What is interesting is that you wipe the surface with your fingers that puts a slight amount of oil on to the surface and nothing sticks. Clean it with window cleaner and perfect adheasion.

The next thing everyone recommends is to use Kapton tape for the high temperatures. Kapton tape is somewhat inexpensive at 1 mill thicknesses and the cost goes up with thickness. Typically available in 25mm widths so you have to lay it down in strips. So I looked around and found some spare Monokote for airplane wings. This stuff is well over 1 mill and can handle high temperatures. It can also be bonded to any surface. Tried it and found it to be better then packing tape. Comes in large sheets, (no seams) in any color, that can be applied to the entire bed with no imperfections.

so I have the underside of the MK1 bed, that has the higher temperatures, coated with monokote and results in a perfect print with no ribs showing. No deformation in the lower PLA layers, and no adherance issues. I was able to print a test part 10 X 100 X 5 thick. The ends of this part would have lifted off the bed when cold. Hot I'm seeing no deformation and excellent adhesion.

Next is to see if this setup works as well with the higher temperatures associated with PLA.

For PLA printing - nothing is better than a heated glass bed. it is the perfect print surface, PLA sticks really well and the parts pop-off as it cools.

Just make sure it's clean and the glass is at 60 degrees C before you start the print.

Try it, you won't go back.

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[richrap.blogspot.com]

Heated beds for PLA are NOT needed. I printed without a heated bed for quite some time. Larger prints end up with just the corners curling a little, not enough to cause significant problems.

That said, a heated bed is very nice. Pretty much eliminates curling completely.

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I finally got a heated bed after I had a minor disaster trying to print a plate of prusa parts in PLA on painter's tape.

After successfully printing numerous single objects on painter's tape, I decided to upgrade to prusa v2 and starting printing one of the full plates of parts. The first few layers were fine so I figured all was well and went to bed. In the morning, instead of a beautiful plate of parts I had a giant mess. A huge blob of plastic was stuck to the hot end and there were more bits of plastic on the floor (including the bottom few layers of several parts). It looked like some of the parts came off the tape, the hot end bumped into the lose parts, drug them around, and knocked more parts loose. This appears to have continued until the hot end was dragging around a single huge mass of melted plastic. I considered taking a picture, but after a bit of thought I decided to clean up all the evidence before my wife woke up and banished the printer from the house.

After cleaning and rebuilding the hot end, I installed the heated bed that had been sitting in a box for a couple of weeks. After clamping on a piece of cheap window glass, I've had absolutely no problems with parts coming off prematurely. Your milage may vary.

I still haven't installed my heated bed yet. I had bad warping issues on medium sized parts, but I get good results with PLA on a glass bed covered with blue painters tape. Good adhesion to the bed seems to make a big difference on warping.

The tape is a big variable too. What you basically need is for the print to stick well to what you're printing it on. If that's some form of tape, you additionally need the tape to stick well to the surface you've stuck it to. A heated glass bed is nice because there's only one surface and the temperature lets you control the degree of stickiness, going from very sticky to the parts popping right off. That said, I print PLA directly onto acrylic and have GREAT results. I need to chisel the parts off with a paint scraper, but it's surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it, and the surface finish looks like it was printed on heated glass:



The reduced mass of the Y-axis on my primary machine from avoiding heavy glass and a large heating pad (would be necessary for the large 12" platform) allows me to print faster.

dean448 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First off I'm printing PLA at 170. I was
> printing on a cold bed with double sided carpet
> table. The goal was to get maximum bond to the
> surface to reduce warping on long parts. It
> kind of worked but I could see deformation on the
> first 5 layers of the edge against the bed.
>
> So I picked up a heated bed which everyone says
> isn't require for PLA. Now I know thats BS.
> Running the bed at 55 I'm seeing plenty of bonding
> to clear packaging tape. What is interesting is
> that you wipe the surface with your fingers that
> puts a slight amount of oil on to the surface and
> nothing sticks. Clean it with window cleaner and
> perfect adheasion.
>
> The next thing everyone recommends is to use
> Kapton tape for the high temperatures. Kapton
> tape is somewhat inexpensive at 1 mill thicknesses
> and the cost goes up with thickness. Typically
> available in 25mm widths so you have to lay it
> down in strips. So I looked around and found
> some spare Monokote for airplane wings. This
> stuff is well over 1 mill and can handle high
> temperatures. It can also be bonded to any
> surface. Tried it and found it to be better then
> packing tape. Comes in large sheets, (no seams)
> in any color, that can be applied to the entire
> bed with no imperfections.
>
> so I have the underside of the MK1 bed, that has
> the higher temperatures, coated with monokote and
> results in a perfect print with no ribs showing.
> No deformation in the lower PLA layers, and no
> adherance issues. I was able to print a test
> part 10 X 100 X 5 thick. The ends of this part
> would have lifted off the bed when cold. Hot I'm
> seeing no deformation and excellent adhesion.
>
> Next is to see if this setup works as well with
> the higher temperatures associated with PLA.

I use 1/8 glass and covered it with window tint.. So far it's working great with pla , parts stick real well and turns loose easily after cooled.. haven't tried higher temps for abs yet so can't say how it's goint to hold up to the extra heat.
i had tried printing the lcd case several times on plain glass,, very clean, then with hair spray , then with blue tape,, kept lifting on the edges , the window tint done it for me.

Heated bed isn't a necessity but after getting one I'd never go back! It makes things much easier!

Ok, but what methods do people use for getting ABS to stick?

waitaki Wrote:
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> Ok, but what methods do people use for getting ABS
> to stick?

I think for ABS a ~100C heated bed is basically a necessity (but I'd love to be proven wrong, my heated bed has a max temp of 70C restricting me to pla.)

ABS juice seems to be the method all the cool kids are using.

For ABS Kapton tape scuffed lightly heated to 110. I have been using a 1 or 2 pass brim on tricky parts. No curling