one piece 200mm Kapton tape

I'm just curious if anyone else is using kapton tape, and if so do you use the 200mm type? 3dprima.com/en/filaments-for-3d-printers/kapton-tape/kapton-tape-extra-supwerwide-200mm-x-32m.html
So far my only issues is my own scratches caused by trying different methods to remove pieces. I put the glass bed on a folded T-shirt and then slightly wet the bed glass and take a extra long piece of kapton tape which I stick to the table top to secure it on both sides of the bed. Using a rubber spatula I squeeze out any air and bubble and leave it to dry for a few hours. A new sharp razor blade cleanly cuts the edge off. For the white squares I use a self adhesive envelope label cut into 1/4s - make sure not to get much or any water on the white squares as they will tend to slide. I've been using -0.04mm as a Z offset on first layer and have been getting very good bed adhesion. For larger prints the stick is almost too good, should I raise the offset for larger prints?

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Socrates ~ The Amsterdamman
slic3r-1.2.9

Yes, it's nice to have a one-piece Kapton bed. We still use narrow Kapton tape in-house, just because it's a bit of a hassle having to float on the Kapton and wait for it to dry. We don't supply the big stuff because it's about £25 a roll, and rather large! You can also get it on ebay. A roll will last you a looooong time...

Ian
RepRapPro tech support

I use one of those 200x200mm kapton stickers,
it is still looking good even after lots of printing!

This is 'my way' of removing a printed part:

- Let it cool first to prevent warping when pulling
- Remove the glass and place it on a flat surface
- Use a "waterpomptang" to get a very good grip
- Use kitchen paper to prevent scratching the object!
- Press glass down with cloth to keep the glass clean
- Use sideways force on multiple parts of the object
- Look at the underside to see where it still sticks

My machine is currently not exactly level, this helps to remove large objects.

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RS-Online Ormerod #263, Kossel mini with Minitronics, Prusa i3 MK2

The narrow rolls I have (30mm and less) are quite a lot of strips to cover the whole glass plate, while that 200mm roll is very tricky to apply neatly even when using various liquids and other tricks (easy to get bubbles or creases). Ideal would probably be tape 50-70mm wide so you can cover the bed in 3-4 strips of manageable size. At least 50 and 100mm are found cheaply on ebay as well, but I can't see anything in between.

I use 50 as a compromise between number of strips, speed / ease of application, cost and end result. Just 4 strips and a 33m roll will cover about 30 times. I change maybe every 4 weeks, so that is a few years usage.

Using wet method make it very easy to slide around and get perfect butt joins. I find the key is to use plenty of liquid so that is slides easily. It also dries out pretty quickly

Personally I find the 200mm great and very quick to apply.
Just as long as you really wet the glass with water and washing up liquid, and squeegy afterwards. With the amount of water I use the corners of the kapton tend to come loose which is actually quite useful as it allows you to add the white squares afterwards and secure with some a small piece of the original tape applied.

The only issue I had with the 200mm roll is when trying to peel off a strip it tears like cheap cello tape... This can be easily solved by keeping a small fold in the end of the roll though.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2014 05:33AM by 88Zombies.