Any tips for cleaning blue tape from PLA?

I'm currently printing a few parts with a very large bottom surface area. I can't always get the parts off the bed without some of the blue tape sticking to the bottom of the print. Any suggestions for good ways to remove the blue tape without scratching up the bottom surface? The tape is pretty tenacious. I've been going at it with my fingernails, but I'm running out of those.

Have you tried Elmer's glue sticks instead of blue tape?

Personal experience tip: blue tape [especially 3M Scotch multi-material painter's tape, more than any other I've tried] works better, but mostly much easier than elmer's glue. My salty two cents.

I used a chizel razer for removing parts and every once in a while the tape from the parts. I broke two of them and since switched to a scyth style razor [I have a set from walmart] that works almost as good but doesn't break near as easy.

---

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

Maybe I'm seeking more general advice:

- I'm trying to print an acoustic guitar body in several pieces.
- I've got an 280mm x 280mm aluminum heated bed and each piece has a large flat surface covering most of the bed.
- The parts are fairly delicate until I can get them glued together so I can't use a lot of force removing them from the bed
- The flat bottom surfaces form the outside of the guitar body so I want them to look nice (ie, no scratches or dinks)
- The bottom surfaces need to remain dead-flat and I need really good layer adhesion for the acoustic properties
- Each piece will take 5 - 15 hours, so I really really do not want to screw one up removing it from the bed

I'm printing fairly hot (225c) , both to ensure layer adhesion and to make sure the first layer lines are completely meshed together on the bed. The first piece printed nicely on blue tape, and to remove it, I slid a putty knife (mostly) between the tape and the table. It came off OK, but getting the tape off of the bottom of the part was a total pain. Advice on how to remove the blue tape from the PLA, or suggestions on alternate methods would be most appreciated. I'm really reluctant to not use blue tape because I know that push come to shove, I can always get the tape off of the bed without breaking the part.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/06/2014 01:58PM by LoboCNC.

I'd say purple glue stick on glass. You can pop it in the freezer when you're done and the part will pop free pretty easily.

---

greghoge.com

HUGE 3D PRINTER PARTS SALE!!!

^ I'd also add that instead of waiting in the freezer you could blow an air can upside down at the bottom to cool it quickly. More effective since you're cooling just the bed and quickly.

---

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

Methylated spirit removes masking/blue tape but I haven't tried it on PLA.

A paint scraper works well, (the flat steel razor blade type)
cuts right through anything and does not scratch the glass


also roll on glue works VERY well


I use a brand from the newsagent, somethings i also put hairspray on the surface,
it is borderline excess sticking, which makes it PERFECT.
Apply to glass and smooth with something flat.

Here's a photo of what I'm tryng to print/remove. It is really flexible in some directions and fragile in others, so I need to get way underneath the part with a putty knife so that I don't flex it too much. The blue tape gives me a nice interface layer that I can scrape at without marring the surface, but it is hard to remove from the bottom surface of the part. I'll try the methylated spirits with a gentle scrubber.

can your glass plate separate and go into soapy water for a few hours? this will reduce the adhesiveness of the tape. normally you dont want pla in water, but that is just before it is extruded. wipe it dry after the soap soak.

next print take a magazine page ripit out and set it on the glass plate and tape across it. it could warp a little if tape is not stretched across tightly, but it would allow easy removal from bed.

Thanks for all the tips. On my latest print, I managed to get less tape stuck to the bottom of the print. I then sprayed some isopropyl alcohol on the bits of stuck tape, let it sit for a bit, and then scrubbed with a non-abrasive synthetic scouring pad (the white ones). This cleaned it up pretty well.

Here's a few ways to adjust how much stick you get with blue tape...
Raising your nozzle will reduce adhesion. Lowering it will increase it.
Lower temps (a few degrees) will reduce adhesion. Higher temps make the plastic melt into it more, which is why the tape won't come off.
If you use rubbing alcohol on the tape before you print, the more you rub it, the more it sticks... Wipe it less before you print and it won't stick as bad.

If you must use tape, wd40 is excellent rather than spirits.

If you already have a aluminum heated bed you could give hairspray on a piece of float glass a try.

I spray some hairspray on the glass (cheapest extra strong stuff you can find), wipe it with a tissue over the print area and repeat. Printing then starts after settling for a few minutes on the heated bed.

At 60 degrees you will need a hammer and chisel to get you print off, after cooling to 30 degrees the print pops right off by itself.

Another advantage is that the bottom of your print is as flat and shiny as the glass is.

Also, with tape I could spend forever getting the first layer right. With this method there is a lot more tolerance.
No more blue tape for me, ever!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/08/2014 08:10AM by forerunnert.

Have you considered using PETG? It has low warp and so large prints can be printed directly on glass. It should also give a better finish than PLA and is stronger.

I should try printing on glass on top of my aluminum bed - that may be the best way to go for tricky prints. What's the minimum glass thickness I can get away with? With a 300mm x 300mm bed, it's not too hard to get the print actually warping the glass. For small stuff, I'll probably stick with tape directly on the aluminum because that heats up in just a few minutes.

As for PETG, my gut feeling is that the more brittle PLA will have better tonal qualities that PET. (There's a material spec you don't see listed very often.) I'm not so worried about the strength once I get all the guitar body pieces all glued together. I won't know if this guitar will sound good at all until I get it strung up, though. There's a pretty reasonable chance this whole project will end up in the dumpster.

Impressive print btw, do try WD40. I use it to remove anything stuck on to anything with tapes/labels, etc.

Quote
UkIan
Impressive print btw, do try WD40. I use it to remove anything stuck on to anything with tapes/labels, etc.

I'll try the WD40. I have used it for dissolving adhesives, but it's the top surface of the tape stuck to the PLA that is giving me fits.

I print on a garolite plate attached over the glass.

The main reason is I can use that for both ABS and PLA without adding tape.
ABS stick a lot to the garolite without adding anything.
Large PLA parts sometimes need adding some glue (I use "UHU" brand, yellow stick) or hairspray.

The 2nd main advantage over printing on glass or anything rigid is that you can remove the garolite plate and "Flex" it to detach the printed parts.
Garolite is a material similar to the electronics PCB substrate, and is quite flexible.
That may be a nice bonus for your use case.

You'd have to keep the glass under the garolite, otherwise the nozzle will push it down - as it is flexible - when printing the first layer, resulting in a messy bottom for your parts or a lack of adhesion.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

I like the idea of printing on something you can then flex to release the print. But with large thin pieces (the guitar top is only ~1mm thick), I'm worried that the part will just flex with the garolite.rather than pop off. Worth experimenting with, though.

Yes, PETG is a lot more flexible than PLA which is one reason I like it - much more impact resistance.
For glass I would think 3mm hard glass is about the minimum as a print that size would exert a lot of stress.

One thing that occured to me regarding resonant effects is that perhaps a sheet of spruce, or even 2, could be mounted inside the guitar and firmly attached to the bridge plate.
It does seem that the plastic exterior is not going to produce an acceptable sound on its own but it also seems possible that a resonator built inside of wood or even metal could make a quite unique instrument.
It could also provide a rather wry surprise for the skeptics who first hear the plastic guitar without having seen the inside.

Quote
LoboCNC
I like the idea of printing on something you can then flex to release the print. But with large thin pieces (the guitar top is only ~1mm thick), I'm worried that the part will just flex with the garolite.rather than pop off. Worth experimenting with, though.

We experimented with 1mm thick Gorilla Glass during our testing (almost as stiff as 2mm Boro), it was nice as you could flex it and remove prints. I never got it to print well enough to need to do that though. A flexible bed sounds enticing, but flex also means if one bit of your bed is attached differently or you over tighten one corner, etc... your bed will be twisted. Worse, if you use a probe, it will poorly register probe points, which was our problem. Note: using multiple layers can cause the same problems.

Of all the money and time spent testing parts for the Griffin Pro, that part is the one I really, really despise ever even laying eyes on. We keep the 1mm thick piece as a demo model to show people how tough it is, but every time I see it, I just want to smash it and get back the two weeks in hell I spent trying to work with it (when we get our delivery I probably will probably hurl it off a cliff... too bad there's no volcanoes around). It angers me that I spent that much time trying to make something work, but every kept saying how great it must be to "just pop off the print". NO. It's silly to harbor so much animosity towards an inanimate object, but seriously, I hate that piece of glass.

We use 2mm Gorilla Glass on the Griffin Pro Mini and Standard and yes, it flexes, but it takes A LOT to flex it (similar to what 4or5mm Boro would be). I do occasionally use the flex to help get things off, however to be honest, I much prefer the 3/8in thick glass bed used on the XL we sell. It doesn't flex, in fact it's so solid that it adds a lot to the printer's stability. The XL has gone hundreds of miles in the back of my pickup without needing adjustment after bouncing around. The heavier glass is much easier to dial in and keep dialed in because not only does it never flex or bend, it will also align the printer. frame.

Simply put, I'll take a stiffer, stronger glass bed over a flexible one ANY day.


If you have trouble getting things off... Keep a razor blade handy to lift an edge, then use a long thin knife or spatula. If it's particularly thin I'll place the bed under a faucet so it loosens the (Elmer's) glue as well..

"I'd say purple glue stick on glass. You can pop it in the freezer when you're done and the part will pop free pretty easily."

I don't remember the last time I used blue tape or kapton tape :-D, a good leveled bed with purple glue it all i use.. Let it cool down a bit and to the fridge for few minutes, that all it's needed. Even for larger parts.

you guys should try painters tape with a fine layer of oil

Wipe it down with alcohol..
Wipe a fine layer of vegetable oil over the painters tape..
Wipe again with a clean cloth to remove any extra oil...

Once you experiment you can get it to work well and part will pop off similar to kepton tape and have a pretty nice bottom finish...


I also like using glue sticks but your print bed can get messy after some time...
I have tried hair spray and got it to work a couple of times..
Also another product called kwik grip adhesive spray.. this stuff is highly toxic so can only be used on a cool bed unless you have a fume cabinet..
That stuff will stick first time every time lol but leave an unpleasant finish on the bottom.
Its crap to use long term because its toxic stuff..


Also used plenty of ABS juice but oh man i am sick of acetone..
If your a heavy 3d printer user, like myself daily pretty much.. best to try this oil method on painters tape... you can get the tape to last a long time...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/11/2014 08:44AM by nechaus.

DeuxVis How thick is your garolite plane? And what range of temperature do you use with it? Thanks

---

---- "Let me make my move" ----

nechaus - I've never heard of the vegetable oil - sounds very interesting. I'll have to give it a try. I'm with you in that I'd rather deal with tape over glue stick or hairspray.

One other thing I've tried with nylon is white glue (or better yet, Titebond) thinned with water. It work great, but I'be never tried it with other filamnets. Has anyone else tried this with PLA?

Quote
Gordie
DeuxVis How thick is your garolite plane? And what range of temperature do you use with it? Thanks

It's a 1/16 inch thick plate, bought it here : [www.amazon.com]

I printed ABS with bed up to 110 °C - but you usually can lower the bed temperature for ABS as it sticks so well to garolite - and nozzle up to 240 °C.

For PLA I do bed @ 55 °C - and yeah that is a minor drawback for printing on a garolite bed that you have to heat the bed for PLA even for reasonable sized parts - and nozzle usually 190 to 210 °C.

---

Most of my technical comments should be correct, but is THIS one ?
Anyway, as a rule of thumb, always double check what people write.

when trying the oil method,
wipe it down heaps and let the paper absorb the oil...

Then use some alcohol and wipe it down further to remove excess..
Then you can give it a light sand with ultra fine sand paper..
its kinda like priming the bed for a print...
I am really happy how my prints just snap off...
you only need to apply the oil once you start to see your parts sticking to the paper..
I had a small tear before after maybe 20 prints or so... I ended up just changing the tape and did the whole process again...
Printing a quad copter frame right now


If you are having issues getting this to work at first.. you can try some hair spray..
Still works well because the oil has absorbed into the paper..
its so weird.. I saw it on youtube and thought no way!!! but surprisingly it works brilliantly and id honestly recommend it to any one..



I still love kapton tape.. the finish it leaves is the best imho... but this method is still good..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/14/2014 04:48AM by nechaus.