Printing PLA directly on glass

I've seen a number of posts about printing PLA directly onto glass with a heated bed. I've also seen a number of posts where people had been printing on glass, but then lost the "magic". I may have a solution (fingers crossed) to the losing the magic part.

First, I tried printing directly on glass with the bed at 70c and got pretty good adhesion, but some peeling at the corners. Next, I decided to frost the glass. The borosilicate glass laughed at my standard orbital sander, but with my much higher speed random orbital sander, I managed to get a nice haze going with 180 grit sandpaper. With this, I got pretty decent adhesion for about 10 or so prints. Then I couldn't get the PLA to stick reliably at all, even when wiped down thoroughly with alcohol or acetone. I went back and sanded it again and the adhesion returned. I now use a process, before every print, of wiping down the glass with isopropyl alcohol using an abrasive scotch-brite pad. I wipe off any excess with a paper towel. So far, I've had no problems. (I also prefer the matte finish that the frosted plate leaves.)

My theory is that after a number of prints, some sort of non-dissolvable (and non-adhesive) film builds up on glass, and that the abrasive treatment brings you back to the bare glass. Has anyone else tried this? Or does anyone know what's actually going on?

Did you ever try extra hold hairspray on the glass? That has worked for me in the past.

I print with glue stick, so not much help there... I just really wanted to thank you for your designs... Especially the capo...

Thanks!

I have been printing on PCB heatbed + borosilicate glass + hairspray for over a year now and I must say that PLA sticks like crazy on that combination. No need for sanding the glass, and I clean the glass every 20 prints or so with kitchen detergent and respray, and it's back to work.

When my bare glass would stop working I cleaned it with alcohol then it would be fine again. I figured it was something building up on there like you are saying.

Now I have been using the glue stick because I had to use it when I tried ABS and I haven't cleaned it I just keep putting one more glue.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2015 09:35PM by msaeger.

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Newbie with Folgertech 2020 i3.

I've been avoiding hairspray, and so far, just the bare glass works well. I don't know if I really need it to be frosted, but I prefer the look, anyway.

I've been using blue tape and it sticks to well. Getting larger prints off is a total pain not to mention dangerous. I'm going to try the glass with hairspray.

I've never used anything on the glass when printing with PLA. I just thoroughly clean the glass (ordinary clear window glass) and rub with a dry paper towel to finish. Temp is set at 60C. My prints will not come off until the bed is cooled - there is massive suction between the bottom of the part and the glass bed. Important factors are quality of filament and nozzle gap.
With ABS, I use hairspray (budget brand, strong hold)

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Waitaki 3D Printer

I used to wipe the glass with vinegar before printing PLA on it. I found this works well with the eSun PLA that I usually use. After adhesion problems with a particular print, I switched to wiping it with sugar solution, and I find that works even better.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2015 02:09PM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

3dLac ! works like magic, its like hairspray but only better! it works with pla. ABS wood filaments very very well for pla I use a bed temp of 45 once the glass cools the parts simply pops off.

Does someone in the US carry this? All the links I found for it were in Europe.

Quote
Tibuck
3dLac ! works like magic, its like hairspray but only better! it works with pla. ABS wood filaments very very well for pla I use a bed temp of 45 once the glass cools the parts simply pops off.

By printing directly on glass, I am talking about directly - without having a film of adhesives, hairspray, sugar or other food products. My work area is messy enough without adding sticky stuff. I'm not averse to solvents like alcohol, though, as they evaporate completely, and are handy to have close by for cleaning up other things like spilt salsa, etc.

Umm, salsa. Ole.

I print directly on a heated glass bed and for the last 6 months or so have great success without using adheasives, by cleaning the glass surface before each print with 'Antiquax Mirror and Glass Cleaner' applied with a paper tissue, rubbed until the surface 'squeaks'. I get this from my local hardware shop here in the UK and their web site is www.antiquax.co.uk. The adheasion is so good that I have to let the bed cool to room temperature in order to be able to remove the finished job. I would emphasise that I have no connection with the manufacturer of this product, but it works really well.

Harvey

It looks like your Antiquax glass cleaner is mostly isopropyl alcohol with some other solvents. I'm guessing that the squeaking part is important, indicating that you are down to the bare glass.

Hi All,
I just finished my installation of the heat bed to my K8400.
Heat bed is an MK3 running on 15V.

I am printing PLA directly on the glass, no additional material for sticking.
I do clean the glass with ordinary hand washing soap, cleaning it with a towel, and off we go.
The glass I am printing on is the original Vertex glas plate normally finished with BuildTak, which was killed on the very first prints due to the edge of a knife.
I took the BuildTak off and that's all

Heat bed is indicating 60°C, PLA is heated to 205°C due to the fact, that I like to print fast with 0.3mm, at 90% speed.

Very nice effect: if the temperature is down to 35°C, the object is popping off the glass, no tricky things to do, to get it off.


Best
Frank

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2015 04:01PM by Frank.von.Thienen.

I print directly on borosilicate glass at 70c after first layer 55c, nothing else needed, I can print abs directly as well at 105c plus, I did get it to print at 80c once but that was just a wrong setting on thermistor with glu stick I can print abs anything above 90c