[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

 

Thanks for that cloakfiend this is how I removed product from a raft as my first post method

 

I find this technique a bit complicated, even if make the ABS print comes out pretty well from the support.

It could be nice if you could make a video of the entire process

Regards

 

It probably is complicated but my solution at the time as I had limited materials to hand I cant see a video being anymore useful the settings etc where in the first post and the removal in the video.

It was an answer that worked on a problem at the time............I now have more mounting plates and materials so should be good................although I cant see the Kapton being a choice a gluestick is just to easy to use in comparison .

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

@paulmag, I dont bother with rafts or brim or infill anymore. It only took a touch of trouble to take it off because i was rushing. I have a scraper as well, There are many methods of taking the stuff off, I have no trouble with that at all. Using a raft makes life very easy, but i like the flat bottom and feel it holds better. I have no issues with the bottom being slightly ugly what so ever, considering it is perfectly flat all you have to do is buff it on some high grit sandpaper and job done. Takes like 1 min or less its a non issue.

 

I think it may depend on what you are printing there are many ways so it seems

I like the raft for a part in ABS where I dont want to fight to remove it as my video as it has vulnerable parts I didnt want to distort/break also I found that I have less shrinkage problems as the part is not stuck to the table where it cannot shrink and I dont get the first few layers constrained more than the others above as all that is taken up to a great extent in the raft.

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

Thanks for that cloakfiend this is how I removed product from a raft as my first post method

 

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

Thanks all for your input I do appreciate your help and your "passion".

After 3 weeks experience of printing I can say that with PLA prittstick is fine for me and with ABS I have had good results with the original post I made and the Cubestick glue stick which is easier.

I will have a go with Kapton again as I am sure that someone so evangelical about a method must be having good results.........I must just have implemented it incorrectly.

I probably wont make a video but will probably post how I get on.

[easy to use 3D CAD-Software]

I have been using Rhino from ver2 and its good at what it does and fairly simple ..not easy.. to use but like any of them the better you get the more you can do....the biggest trick is to create watertight stl files .

Its not inexpensive but cheaper than solidworks.

I need to create parts with engineering type precision ..............I have not been using a 3D printer for long but like any gear what you design ideally needs to take into consideration the production of the item.

My last project and my third 3D print job had 15 parts printed in ABS and other non printed parts had to fit together with the printed parts.

It took a few test prints to sort out shrinkage but it all went together as we wanted it to so pleased about that.

Sorry for the ramble but what software you use and how capable you and it are will determine the quality and what you can produce

I have downloaded a program that looks useful for organic modelling IE monsters and stuff its called Sculptris from Zbrush and free to use

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

Perhaprs it's only my "bad" thought but...seems that someone have some particular interest on pushing glue-stick vs. kapton

1) Kapton and glue-stick are both good for ABS... BUT:

2) Kapton can manage multiple print; if you pay particular attention almost """"infinite"""" as Kapton doesn't change shape, don't make any dirty, don't attach to your print head, don't attach to your printed object

3) you have not to make any realign of your bed after each print

4) you have not to clean your bed after each print!!

5) it is not as expensive as you tought! AMAZON

6) you don't waste your time cleaning your bed (some repeated I know ) and realign it!!

7) the printed surface in contact with Kapton is as smooth as glass !

Now glue-stick:

1) works fine with bot ABS and PLA... BUT:

2) can manage ONE print.. two or three if you are REALLY LUCKY

3) it's not uniform and your printed surface is UGLY!!

4) you have to clean it out and the best way is to remove your bed glass and rinse under warm water

5) every time you clean it and re-apply you MUST realign your print-bed

Glue-stick it's cheap Vs Kapton?? NO WAY

Both method let you print ABS ... choose what you like more

P.S.: for me Kapton Rules

 

I dont have any agenda regarding methods of adhesion I only stated the ones I have up to now that I managed to get to work.

If I can get kapton to work for me then I will use it.

The best methods are the ones easiest for me to use and currently it is glue sticks but if I need to use another method then I will I dont care what method I end up using as long as I get  successful prints.

When my second glass plate arrives I will revisit the Kapton route and follow the advice given...........if it fails to work for me then I will continue with the gluestick but if it works I am happy to stay with the tape.

PS I dont know why you have a bad thought and think someone has a particular interest in pushing glue sticks...........

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

I'm always amazed by how much time and effort and expensive kapton people put into bed adhesion, while ignoring the excellent inexpensive solution that UM provides: glue stick.

In my experience any glue-stick brand intended as a office or school paper adhesive will work fine - you can easily get a dozen prints with the same application of it, and it washes off easily when you want to refresh it.

Glue stick works perfectly with PLA and ABS. If you ever have a print that won't come off easily after cooling, either stick the build plate in the freezer for a few minutes, or soak it in the sink overnight.

If a print won't stick with glue stick, you probably need to reset the bed height, not fool around with messy stuff like hair spray, or rough-surfaced blue tape.

 

Im afraid I have had NO success with the prittstick it just curled off when printing ABS great with PLA and my table is set correctly.

The Cubestick with ABS is excellent works everytime.

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

You can easily put the kapton with water. You need to spray some water to get the glass slippery so you can adjust, then with a soft squeegee you can get rid of the water and the air bubble.

If you can, avoid to use pla on the kapton. It sticks too much and it can be hard to get the pieces without damaging the kapton some times.

 

Ah OK so I can apply same as I do with vinyl nice and thanks for coming back I think I will order a second glass table makes life easier.

merci bien

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

thanks I have been reading of differnt ways of using the tape and your description is another .

Thanks for sharing your experience.

I do favour the cubestick method it is simple and took no effort to do just smeared the gluestick on the glassplate and away I went, with the Kapton I had to ensure it stuck down with out air bubbles etc...... but still failed but if I get stuck I may try it again. I now have the materials for all methods to hand now

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

Just a bit of an update

I have obtained Acetone Hairspray Kapton tape and Cube stick.

I have tried 3 times the kapton and hairspray without success the hairspary just lifted of the kapton ...............maybe wrong brand of hairspray just got cheap strong hold.

I tried the Cubestick and it worked first time

Acetone ..............maybe later if the cubestick runs out

Thanks all for your input

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

I still think that Kapton is still the better way to print with ABS

But I never find it mentioned on answer... it's quite odd...

Seems you all like to clean the bed glass often and often after every print... getting rid of that sticking glue on it... anyway everyone have his own procedure to feel happy

and this is some cheap ABS bought from RS

Printed at 240°C

Bed Temp 52°C

Speed 60mm/sec

Layer height .15mm

Brim 26

 

Thanks for the reply I was just using what I had to hand and it works just an option I am willing to try anything that works

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

I have ordered a cubestick not to bad a price I tthought from here http://www.helpanyonecreate.co.uk/cubestick.html#

under a tenner

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

I just use "cubestick" glue for ABS, bed at 100celsius, works fine ....

Would still like to find out what type of glue it is so I can replace it for something cheaper and easier to get ...

 

Now you tell me thanks

I will have a look at that thanks

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

This is cool.  And smart.

1) What bed temp did you use for ABS portion?  What temp for PLA raft?  I recommend 60C to 70C for the PLA raft but if you print *only* ABS you want the bed at 100C minimum (105 or 110C even better but it's hard to reach those temps without covering up your printer and getting the air up to 40C).

The temp of 100C is mostly so the ABS sticks well so you could probably do the whole thing at 60C.  Is it possible you never tried to print ABS at 100C?  It's also important that the bottom layer is pushed well into the glass so it sticks well with the glass (covered with very thin layer of hair spray).  Sometimes all you have to do is turn the 3 screws counter clockwise a half turn and suddenly everything sticks better.  Using "brim" feature (or raft I suppose) helps quite a bit also with sticking to bed.

2) Switching between PLA and ABS is often problematic.  In the short term going from ABS to PLA often causes clogs of bits of ABS and ruins your print.  In the long term printing at ABS temps often wears out the teflon part faster but ABS doesn't care as much - then switching to PLA often you suddenly get major underextrusion.  This is probably irrelevant to this technique though.

3) The black PLA lines aren't straight - they are curvy - why is that?  Was it like that when it was first laid down?  Or only did it happen when ABS was added?  Or did it happen only when removing from glass?

 

Hi I had the printer set for PLA table at 60deg to start and when I changed to ABS changed the temperatures for ABS using defaults 260 for the head and 90 for the table.

The lines are wavy from me messing them when I removed it.

I dont know how much ABS I will print the project I have demands it but the consumable parts for the printer are not expensive.

I dont think its a perfect solution but for a weekend fix using what I have to hand it works just fine

[Getting ABS to stay on the print table without Acetone]

I have had good success with adhesion of parts on the print table with PLA...........not hard you may say but going over to ABS proved very difficult to get a print at all as it would peel off after a few layers.

I tried using glue stick and then clean glass and also hairspray but was unsuccessful each time I also had a problem in obtaining Pure acetone so was unable to try that.

I then wondered what would happen if I got a layer of PLA onto the table an then lay some ABS on top of that making a raft to build the part on as the PLA sticks to the bed OK and the ABS may stick to the PLA ...worth a try I thought.

Well I had one or two goes and I managed to get it to work successfully on a tube 26mm dia and around 80mm High and it all stayed in place the removal of the part from the raft was easy as was the raft from the table.

I have probably reinvented something already done but to be honest after searching for ages I couldn't see where anyone else has tried this.

The first thing was to load the part into Cura 15.04.3 then select platform adhesion ...RAFT with the settings below

I then enabled the Pause at height plugin with the settings below

Then I saved my part Gcode file to my SD card and started up my Ultimaker 2

I sprayed some hairspray onto my table and started printing with black Ultimaker PLA and when the printer paused I then changed material to white ABS and printed the rest of the part

Part on raft

part detached from the raft

the underside of the raft showing the Black PLA and the white ABS

I hope someone finds this useful it may not be as easy as the acetone method I don't know but it works .