Is the Heat bed tape needed?

Hello and sorry for all my questions.

If I have a heated bed MK2, do I need a tape to print ovver it? if I need it, can I use a normal clear tape used to seal boxes or should it be a special tape?

Thank you

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 03:35PM by epareja.

---

Ernesto Pareja

dcctrains.netne.net

Clear tape is not ok.

You want to use kapton tape that will resist the high temperatures.

You may want to put a glass on top the heatbed to get an always flat surface. Some people print PLA over glass. Most people use tape over the glass to print ABS on. Some youtube videos show direct printing on MK2 pcb.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 04:24PM by misan.

Use 3mm or 4mm Mirror-glass (a mirror) for PLA, clean it with 'window cleaner with vinegar' NOT IPA or Acetone. - 45 to 65 degrees C

Use 3mm or 4mm Mirror-glass covered with PET Tape for ABS - 95 degrees C or hotter

Try to use Bull-dog clips to secure the glass to the heated bed, or Kapton/PET tape if not.

---

[richrap.blogspot.com]

Where do you buy your mirror glass from?

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

Ikea?


[www.ikea.com]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2012 04:28PM by misan.

I use normal 3mm glass and clean it with methylated spirits fro PLA

---

__________________________________________________________________________
Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand

I also use normal 3mm glass I got out of an 8" x 8" picture frame. Kapton tape, at 215 C for ABS.

Do you need to change the Kapton tape on every print?

Not at all. It will last many prints.

But you may need to clean the tape surface with acetone or alcohol every now and then to keep the ABS to stick well to the tape.

nophead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where do you buy your mirror glass from?

The best ones I have used and now have a stock of are from Ikea, they are called SORLI and are in a pack of 4 for about £5
They have nice rounded corners and are 4mm thick, perfect fit on a Prusa heated bed, and I have not snapped one yet, where as I have snapped a few of the 2mm ones from the pound shops.

---

[richrap.blogspot.com]

Skip the tape for ABS. Just clean it with 100% isopropyl and set your z calibration to squash down the first layer. Set the heatbed to 100C. When the print is done, it will pop off the bed by itself when the glass contracts due to cooling. If I'm in a rush, I just blow a fan on it until I hear the sound of it popping off. (props to jcabrer for teaching me this technique).

No need to clean after every print unless you touch the glass with your hands. I use a paint scraper with a knife edge to scrape off any residue from the bed.

I'm using RC airplane coverings directly on the heated bed. Its cheap and available in any hobby shop, comes in a veriety of colors and very large sheets, sticks very flat to a warm bed surface. As some have noted above prints don't stick very will after repeated cleaning with Acetone. Use window cleaner. Since it has no adheasive, it pulls off easily and what ever is left can be removed using acetone.

richrap Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> nophead Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Where do you buy your mirror glass from?
>
> The best ones I have used and now have a stock of
> are from Ikea, they are called SORLI and are in a
> pack of 4 for about £5
> They have nice rounded corners and are 4mm thick,
> perfect fit on a Prusa heated bed, and I have not
> snapped one yet, where as I have snapped a few of
> the 2mm ones from the pound shops.


I've bought a 'ram' mirror from ikea, and have been cutting my glass surfaces from it.
It's cheap and big. So far haven't had any breakage and have been giving them a fair amount of abuse..

What is special about mirror glass?

> I'm using RC airplane coverings directly on the
> heated bed. Its cheap and available in any hobby
> shop, comes in a veriety of colors and very large
> sheets, sticks very flat to a warm bed surface.
> As some have noted above prints don't stick very
> will after repeated cleaning with Acetone. Use
> window cleaner. Since it has no adheasive, it
> pulls off easily and what ever is left can be
> removed using acetone.

Yes. Finally someone else is using Monokote with ABS. I prefer the Monokote on glass so it's nice and flat. I also never clean it because I've found it gets "seasoned" and works even better over time.

I always printed ABS on pure glas but the first layer really has to be squashed on the glas. After warping problems with complete platers I've chosen to try out the Kapton Tape above the glas. Best results ever. It needs some force to remove the parts after they're finished but this is a small trade off when u have perfectly flat parts. Another solution is to mix ABS and Aceton but it's quite annoying to prepare the table each time you want to print something.

I have not been successful with ABS and acetone mix over glass. Parts like Greg's accesible extruder still warp and detach the thin layer of the ABS slurry.

Misan, did you use Hotbed for ABS printing in that picture?

For everyone: I found this 10cm wide Kapton tape on Ebay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120902838826). Is this good or I'd better go for a 15cm wide one or maybe a shorter tape?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2012 11:47AM by epareja.

@epareja: I do use an aluminium hotbed with kapton tape on top. However I did read on Open3D blog that ABS+acetone slurry did make the hotbed a thing of the past. So I took a clean, put it on top of my [now cold] bed and gave it a try (actually two).

While the ABS+acetone mix did adhere to the glass quite well, as soon as the part starts pulling and trying to warp the corners of my parts start pulling the mix off the glass. This is what the picture is trying to show.

I'd be happy getting rid of the hotbed as it adds an extra latency to my printing parts (my bed takes almost 15 min to reach 120C) but I guess I won't as I have not found a better way.

PET tape actually works better than kapton tape since it's thicker. Kapton is easily pulled off the bed when large parts curl up at the corners.

While I agree PET is easier to deal with (I positively hate applying Kapton), I've found the adhesion to Kapton to be better with ABS.
May be it's just the one roll of PET I have here.

Yes ABS sticks to Kapton better than PET but I find it too hard to get off so I use PET, or glass with ABS juice.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

I need to find a small glass container and try some ABS Juice.

I have found that small PLA parts print well on hot glass. Larger PLA parts like to lift and warp on hot glass.

Blue Tape on hot glass make prints stick to the plate fiercely!

anyone try the floor acrylic method for making abs stick, wipe some on, let it dry during heat up of heater bed. it works really well!

You can use glue layer such as on some tapes and sticking foams.
I had a success with ABS and such a layer that I found in old scanner cover.
I tried a foam based black shild from the cover - without success. But after removing it I found that glue remained on bed works well (tried on cold bed)

Hi,
I only print with ABS and use heated bed, glass and kapton tape. Works well as stated by others. Always looking for a way of making it simpler but so far not much luck. I thought I had a good idea the other day but unfortunaltely I have to say it was just a good thought at the time. Hairspray! Yes, hairspray used all over the world, cheap and easy to get. It is easy to apply to glass and sticks well but ABS does not stick well enough on to it. (Not sure if it actually contains any wax??) Have printed some small parts, but it is not reliable as the adhesion is rather poor. I have never used PLA, so maybe some one is willing to try. Hairspray cleans off the glass with methylated spirits.

Regards
Jan

nophead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes ABS sticks to Kapton better than PET but I
> find it too hard to get off so I use PET, or glass
> with ABS juice.

But even when you use ABS juice you heat up the bed to 120C, right?

Yes.

---

[www.hydraraptor.blogspot.com]

I have printed pla on Pyrex glass cleaned with windex at. It sticks well and announces it self released with a slight musical clink as it cools.
( ultimachine pla yellow and the samples they stick in the box. Bed at 60c hot end at 185c)

Abs on kapton tape sticks too well as It s a fight to get it removed from the bed without breaking the part.
(ultimachine blue abs bed at 90c and hotrend at 215c)

I seem to recall abs parts not being so hard to remove before, but it was an unknown black abs that I got from makerfarm with my parts. And that was also prior to learning how to apply kapton nice and flat without wrinklles or overlaps. (lends to the suction theory?)

I just tried pet sheet I ordered with mendelmax parts from store.mendelmax.com and it is just as hard to remove the parts from it as the kapton tape. It does go down easier being one sheet as opposed to the four stripes of 50mm kapton it normally takes. I have however found it almost impossible to remove the skirts or other traces of abs from it.

I am going to try a fresh one and start with a lower bed temp as the goal is for parts to hold while printing and pop off after the bed cools down like the pla does on the glass.

Bob