MakerGear Forum

I am using the stock temperature settings that were included with the Simplify3D software which are 215 for the hot end and 70 for the print bed. The pla is sticking to the tape just a little to well and I get some of the tape stuck to the bottom of the parts. Let me add I feel like on small parts maybe they are getting just a little to hot. Large parts look beautiful when printed but still stick to the tape. So my question is should I reduce hot end temperature and leave the bed temperature, reduce bed temperature or reduce both. I am using the HatchBox pla at the moment.

I always found blue tape to be a bit unpredictable, which is why I switched to hairspray.

Thank you Tim. Do you squish your first layer or is the hairspray grabbing hold of the filament without squishing. One other question if I may do you use a heated bed. Alan

desman wrote:Do you squish your first layer or is the hairspray grabbing hold of the filament without squishing. One other question if I may do you use a heated bed.

It really depends on the filament type, but in general, I print my first layer at full height, and it just likes to stick to the hairspray. Works very well for PLA, reasonably well for PETg.

I always use the heated bed, running it at 50 to 60 degrees C for PLA, and 90 degrees C for PETg.

I should say that I stopped using the blue tape after a number of PLA prints in which the blue tape was stuck so well that I could not get it off by scrubbing, scraping, or sanding. . . it appeared to have fused to the plastic.

"blue tape after a number of PLA prints in which the blue tape was stuck so well that I could not get it off by scrubbing, scraping, or sanding." This where I am at and will give the hairspray a good try.

Blue tape works well if you get the blue painters tape . More expensive good quality. And don't overly flatten the first layer. Cheap tape and a really flat layer make problems. Also no heated bed is needed if you get it dialed in.

PcS wrote:Blue tape works well if you get the blue painters tape . More expensive good quality. And don't overly flatten the first layer.

I figured that there wouldn't be so many people still claiming to use blue painter's tape if there weren't some secrets to getting it to work that I was missing. I was using Scotch 3M tape that I picked up from Home Depot, but it was left over from painting rooms in the house. I have no idea what aging does to it. In the end, it seemed just a lot easier to put down some hairspray---takes me a fraction of the time to prepare the bed as the painter's tape, and it lasts for dozens of prints, with the occasional extra squirt to cover over bare spots.

The one thing I did like about painter's tape was that the bottom surface would end up very similar in texture to the other surfaces. Printing on hair spray or bare glass leaves the bottom side smooth and glassy.

I mostly use hairspray as well . I had really good luck with tape for pla . Lots of Prints for each aplication . I really like the pei. Just need to get another sheet and add it to the back of my mic 6.If I could get the stuff on flat enough for my liking it would be all I use .

I have some similar issues with tape. It's a fine line between good adhesion and embedding PLA into the tape. The tape itself also changes a bit if you use bed heat along with the tape. It "dries out" or artificially ages the tape. I think the tape works better as it shrinks and stiffens, but it can get very hard to remove from the bed if it has been heat cycled a lot.

I use three pieces of 3" wide tape along the 250mm axis. The middle piece gets the most abuse and is quickly changed out when it becomes damaged. I know it is set right when I can just get a razor under the print's edge and it pops off, but can't loosen the print manually.

I used to use glue stick, but have gotten lazy and moved back to the tape lately. It only takes a few seconds to change a damaged piece and it doesn't build up the way spot repairs of glue stick can. Occasionally, I get a print that is very hard to remove and I'll end up scraping or soaking some tape off, but it is worth the piece of mind to know my print is not likely to lift during printing and can be easily fixed by making a tweak to the first layer height% setting in S3D.

One day I will try hair spray, but I haven't made any prints that require glassy bottoms.

I stopped using painters tape for PLA a long time ago. Apply a sheet of the thicker 4mil Kapton tape, heat the bed to about 60 -70c and wipe the bed down with some denatured alcohol between each print. The parts stick very well and once the glass is cooled down they almost fall off. Never have used hair spray or anything else. Still using the same Kapton sheet after 10 months and 100's of prints.