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Is it safe to use Blue Tape on PEI for PETG?

Posted by Cyber Akuma 
Is it safe to use Blue Tape on PEI for PETG?
March 09, 2018 07:43AM
Currently, my print bed has PEI that is bonded to glass. While I can remove the glass with the PEI from the print bed as that is just resting on a silicone thermal pad, I can't remove the PEI itself from the Glass since it's bonded to it using 3M double-sided Thermal Tape.

This is a problem now because I want to start trying to print with PETG.... and that stuff is crazy-sticky. From my understanding printing it on PEI is not a good idea because it will pretty much bond to it, in fact, even on bare glass without some kind of coating it's still not a good idea as it can even stick to the glass too well and damage it... as shown at the 3:20 mark here:

[youtu.be]

I also don't have a spare piece of glass to use without the PEI, and even if I did, that would mean I would have to re-level the print bed every time I switched between the glass alone or the glass with PEI on it as they are different heights....

I figured, maybe I could temporarily just put some blue tape on the PEI itself simply so the PEI would not be printing straight onto either PEI or Glass.

But I have a few questions about this:

First of all, does PETG even print well on Blue Tape?

And if so.... does it also print "too well" and it would just get stuck to the tape?

Would it even ooze through the tape and get stuck to my PEI anyway?

And finally, if it would work fine.... is Blue Tape safe to use on PEI? Would it leave any residue or somehow damage it for printing with PLA or other materials?
Re: Is it safe to use Blue Tape on PEI for PETG?
March 09, 2018 07:42PM
I print PETG directly on PEI and find it works quite well.

A few tricks to keep in mind.

1) dont get the bed too hot, you will find PLA temps are likely close, a little hotter tho, too hot and it will stick too well.

2) DONT squish it into the PEI!!!!!!!!!! use a hot first layer and lay it on top, no squish, I use 240c first layer with the bed at 55c then drop to 220c for printing layers.

IMO PETG works very well on PEI.
Re: Is it safe to use Blue Tape on PEI for PETG?
March 10, 2018 02:19AM
Adding blue tape to your PEI sheet requires adjusting the z-height too.
I don't think the original 3M blue tape will leave any marks on PEI, since it is used for paint jobs.
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