Is there any good reason not to print PLA direct on glass?

Having struggled with applying Kapton tape, and experimented with using Marley solvent pipe adhesive instead, I'm now getting good results printing direct on glass.



So I'm wondering why RRP and others bother with the Kapton tape? Is there some advantage to using Kapton with PLA that I have missed?

For anyone interested in trying this:

1. Set slic3r to use a bed temperature of 80C for the first layer and 65C for subsequent layers. Note: you also need to edit the "Custom gcode" in the Printer settings, to set 80C bed temperature.

2. Remove fingermarks etc. from the glass with acetone or isopropanol.

3. Start heating the bed to 80C, and home the X and Y axes.

4. While the bed is heating up, wipe it with a paper towel moistened in vinegar, then wipe it dry. [I don't yet know whether this is really important, or what else would work in place of vinegar.]

5. When the bed has reached 80C, home the Z axis, and run the auto bed compensation if you are using it.

6. Start the print.

7. When the print has finished, allow it to cool down, then it will be easy to remove from the glass.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2014 07:13PM 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].

Because we only have to clean a Kapton bed once a week! Printing on glass seems to work for some people, and not for others. Adrian Bowyer used to print on glass exclusively. Then he moved house, and couldn't any more, so now uses Kapton. I don't know if it's to do with humidity, temperature, or ghosts. Someone mentioned that one side of glass has metal in the surface; maybe that's something to do with it?

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

I think RRP recommend Kapton as a good compromise for PLA and ABS (which probably have pretty different surface activity that Kapton accommodates), I'll definitely be trying this with ABS on plain and ground glass and will feed back (no mess no MSDS is good). You mentioned in another thread that you were considering frosted glass (I presume this was ground or etched rather than surface coated) - did you try this and if so notice any effect with PLA?

Ray

Cracking DC (lol well not a good choice of words I guess).
Have you tried it without the vinegar? Stupid question I suppose...
I was thinking of trying copper clad, and the back of copper clad.
Another thing I was wanting to try when I get home, is making a wiper stick with a bit of clean
leather on it to wipe the crud off a hot extruder. (A finger out of a gardening glove from the pound shop would do).

Kim

I think when people have tried borosilicate/frosted and other types of glass, some people swear by it, others find no difference: [www.google.co.uk]

edit: I should qualify all of the things I *think* I know about 3D printing by saying "try it out!"

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/24/2014 07:30PM by droftarts.

Hi,
printing on glass.... there are many components that make up the balance,
not least the static energy,
the printing surface must be perfect in line...
the Z home must to be perfect! 0.1 more or less makes the difference.. try it
printing on glass is very sensitive to temperature changes ...
with the same plastic of different brands you can try different temperatures... and results.
PLA can not be pure, and "everything" depends on the plasticizers....
test different products before giving up...

the glass has a perfection that the tape can not give...
I have already printed a new Ormerod on the glass and now I'm trying different colors

[www.dropbox.com]

is not always true that you need to print at high temperature on the glass

but I'm never sure of anything and I want to try everything

Dario

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2014 06:19AM by Ormerod187.

Quote
dc42
Having struggled with applying Kapton tape, and experimented with using Marley solvent pipe adhesive instead, I'm now getting good results printing direct on glass.

large-gear-direct-on%20glass.jpg

So I'm wondering why RRP and others bother with the Kapton tape? Is there some advantage to using Kapton with PLA that I have missed?

For anyone interested in trying this:

1. Set slic3r to use a bed temperature of 80C for the first layer and 65C for subsequent layers. Note: you also need to edit the "Custom gcode" in the Printer settings, to set 80C bed temperature.

2. Remove fingermarks etc. from the glass with acetone or isopropanol.

3. Start heating the bed to 80C, and home the X and Y axes.

4. While the bed is heating up, wipe it with a paper towel moistened in vinegar, then wipe it dry. [I don't yet know whether this is really important, or what else would work in place of vinegar.]

5. When the bed has reached 80C, home the Z axis, and run the auto bed compensation if you are using it.

6. Start the print.

7. When the print has finished, allow it to cool down, then it will be easy to remove from the glass.

With Kapton:

1. Set Slic3r to anywhere between 50 and 60C (anything higher than 60C deforms the first few layers, not a problem if you don't expect parts to fit together tightly);
2. Clean bed with acetone on kitchen towel;
3. Print;

Every other month, replace Kapton tape, takes about 2 minutes...

After making a mess of my table calibration and the nozzle ripping the Kapton tape, I decided to give the plain glass ago before
re-taping the glass.
First I tried without the vinegar and it tried to work, but not quite . It so nearly stuck to the glass, so I stopped and reset everything.
Second attempt was with a wipe of vinegar... A perfect result.
I'll be printing on glass in future.
Temps 190'c Nozzle 65'c Bed..

Kim

Iḿ printing on glass covered in hairspray "as I type". While browsing the net I came across a glass bed for the makerbed, where they suggested using hairspray, and it works like a charm. I guess any sticky spray will do, the good thing of hairspray is that it easily washes off, downside is that it smells like a rundown hairsalon while the bed heats.