Printing PLA on cold copier transparency film

Today I printed PLA on copier transparency film (rough side up) and had good success with it. I didn't use a HPB and found PLA sticking very well on the film. I glued the film onto the bed with double sided adhesive tape.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2012 08:47PM by theodleif.

How did it come off after cooling. Was it on there solid? Did the film show any damage afterward?

It wasn't more difficult to get it off than in case of tape. I printed the same part 3 times on the same film and found no loss of adhesion.

Printed 4 more parts and it still sticks well.

I wonder if anyone has tried using this on something like the Makerbot TOM.

I had the same idea acetate sheets but couldn't find any in the office - not much call for them these days, good to know it works. Another idea i had was this tape acetate looks cheaper and easier to manage though.

yes, I wrote about this about a month ago with some experimentation on different printbead materials. and appeared that PLA stuck very well on OHP films even without a heated bed.

The setup was simple.. here are the layers from bottom to top:

1) top bed (wood or aluminium)
2) glass ( or anything flat and smooth)
3) spray of water
4) OHP film.
5) bulldog clips on the corners

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The water layer is essential as it prevents the OHP to bend upwards as the PLA cools.

layer of water.. genius!

clever, what made you think of it?
I think I might go see if I can find myself some ohp film.

i knew this film had to be replaced periodically, it even had to be taken off the bed after each print in order to take the printed parts out.. so using tape or glue wont be a good idea as there is a lot of cleaning up to do, and it is prone to leave an uneven surface...

At that time, I had a piece of glass with me (obviously PLA didnt stick to cold glass)... so without using glue or tape, I knew some sort of liquid would be good.. so first thing came to my mind was water.. it was cheap, easy to manage and clean!

using water, the pressure and suction creates enough force to keep the OHP stuck on the glass (when all air bubbles are pushed out), but the film slides because water is slippery. So an easy solution was to place bulldog clips at each corner clipped to the top plate. magnets would work better because bulldog clips dont have an even spread of clipping force, letting in air from the side. so my advice would be having your film cut smaller than the size of the glass.

after the prints are done, simply take the film off the glass, then run it over the corner of your desk and all prints will come off the film. maybe the type of film i got was a cheapo.. the PLA loses adhesion after 2-3 prints on the same surface... so I had to flip the film around.

anyway.. i got my HBP working.. so no longer using OHP films