Since they stick so well do you think it is good for polycarbonate?
Edited by GuestPolyMaker has their PC-Plus polycarbonate. It does, or used to ship with Buildtak included. So, I think Buildtak can work well for polycarbonate. I have not tried it myself yet though.
Edited by GuestOkay, I will be one the try.
- 1 month later...
luisito is right Buildtak is hopeless... and with both PC-Max and PC-Plus. It does stick well enough for your first print but after that it just comes away and if that's not bad enough you can't even get it off the Buildtak surface without damaging the Buildtak and sometimes the print too... very lucky if you don't.
Not a good product in my opinion... it offers false hope. PC-Max/Plus both really warp very badly too... and especially on long and large prints.
I use a urethane bonding glue which I paint onto the glass 30 minutes before printing... works extremely well sometimes and then occasionally not very well at all... I haven't worked out why yet but I am currently trying to find out. It's still a poor solution though.
Edited by Guest1+ on BuildTak being not the magical solution that it is put out to be...
I tried it and pretty much the first large print I made stuck so well, the BuildTak got destroyed in the attempt to remove the piece (and salvage the glass plate that it was stuck to).
I had some discussions about it in a FB group, and the consensus seemed to be that it worked really well once you nailed the leveling...
TBH, I think that requirement makes it not worth its pricetag, especially when failing to level in the magic distance required for a good BuildTak print, means you ruin the (pretty expensive) sheet, your print, and possibly the surface the BuildTak was attached to.
I have had pretty good results with water-diluted PVA glue (wood glue) on glass, heat up the bed and let it vaporize the water, leaving just a thin coat of glue.
However, if you make the glue solution too strong, you end up in pretty much the same scenario as with the BuildTak, where you can't get the print off.
I destroyed a few glass plates, where the print actually took pieces of glass with, it once it finally let go (this happed both with me prying the print, AND with it popping off by itself in the freezer).
I have now gone onto something I bought from a guy in the previously mentioned FB group, that he called "fiberplade" (fibre plate), from what I can tell it is (or at least is very similar to) the material you use to make PCBs with... That is, the epoxy based material that the etched copper sits on, however it just came without any copper and cut to size.
After sanding it lightly, it is so far the best print surface I have used, and also has some flex in it, so you can pop off prints easier than with eg. a glass plate.
Edited by Guest1+ on BuildTak being not the magical solution that it is put out to be...
I tried it and pretty much the first large print I made stuck so well, the BuildTak got destroyed in the attempt to remove the piece (and salvage the glass plate that it was stuck to).
I had some discussions about it in a FB group, and the consensus seemed to be that it worked really well once you nailed the leveling...
TBH, I think that requirement makes it not worth its pricetag, especially when failing to level in the magic distance required for a good BuildTak print, means you ruin the (pretty expensive) sheet, your print, and possibly the surface the BuildTak was attached to.
I have had pretty good results with water-diluted PVA glue (wood glue) on glass, heat up the bed and let it vaporize the water, leaving just a thin coat of glue.
However, if you make the glue solution too strong, you end up in pretty much the same scenario as with the BuildTak, where you can't get the print off.
I destroyed a few glass plates, where the print actually took pieces of glass with, it once it finally let go (this happed both with me prying the print, AND with it popping off by itself in the freezer).
I have now gone onto something I bought from a guy in the previously mentioned FB group, that he called "fiberplade" (fibre plate), from what I can tell it is (or at least is very similar to) the material you use to make PCBs with... That is, the epoxy based material that the etched copper sits on, however it just came without any copper and cut to size.
After sanding it lightly, it is so far the best print surface I have used, and also has some flex in it, so you can pop off prints easier than with eg. a glass plate.
great tip Tommy much thanks... my glass has just shattered with a Polymaker PC-plus print so I know exactly what you are talking about.
Any chance of a link to the fiberplate you are using... there seems to be a few different types...
P.S. I've also just ordered some Wolfbite Mega to give it a try.
Edited by Guest
1+ on BuildTak being not the magical solution that it is put out to be...
I tried it and pretty much the first large print I made stuck so well, the BuildTak got destroyed in the attempt to remove the piece (and salvage the glass plate that it was stuck to).
I had some discussions about it in a FB group, and the consensus seemed to be that it worked really well once you nailed the leveling...
TBH, I think that requirement makes it not worth its pricetag, especially when failing to level in the magic distance required for a good BuildTak print, means you ruin the (pretty expensive) sheet, your print, and possibly the surface the BuildTak was attached to.
I have had pretty good results with water-diluted PVA glue (wood glue) on glass, heat up the bed and let it vaporize the water, leaving just a thin coat of glue.
However, if you make the glue solution too strong, you end up in pretty much the same scenario as with the BuildTak, where you can't get the print off.
I destroyed a few glass plates, where the print actually took pieces of glass with, it once it finally let go (this happed both with me prying the print, AND with it popping off by itself in the freezer).
I have now gone onto something I bought from a guy in the previously mentioned FB group, that he called "fiberplade" (fibre plate), from what I can tell it is (or at least is very similar to) the material you use to make PCBs with... That is, the epoxy based material that the etched copper sits on, however it just came without any copper and cut to size.
After sanding it lightly, it is so far the best print surface I have used, and also has some flex in it, so you can pop off prints easier than with eg. a glass plate.
great tip Tommy much thanks... my glass has just shattered with a Polymaker PC-plus print so I know exactly what you are talking about.
Any chance of a link to the fiberplate you are using... there seems to be a few different types...
P.S. I've also just ordered some Wolfbite Mega to give it a try.
I don't have a link no... It was sold to me by a private person in a FB group... My impression is that they used the stuff at where the guy worked, so he got it from there...
They've released a new product @ BuildTak
Check out this trailer :
I've ordered it and I'll post my experiences as soon as it arrives.
copied from Wolfbite thread
I am currently trying Wolfbite MEGA with polycarbonate (Polymaker's PC-Max) and initially it did not perform well.
However after putting up the bed temp to 100C and putting at least 3 layers on it seems to be working at last. I also tried a couple of prints without a raft and that definitely does not work well. It is still extremely expensive for the amount you get (£20 for 60ml-delivered UK)... particularly regarding the amount you have to use to get it to work.
Having said that as you can see from the image below there is clearly no lift or warping of the Raft or indeed regarding this very large print itself... impressive so far but the real acid test will be the removal from the glass build plate after I have annealed the print... it's a 2 piece handle for a speargun by the way.
Edited by Guest
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luisito 12
My experience with Buildtak is awful. Sometimes parts stick so well to the Buildtak surface that is very easy to damage the surface when removing parts. I prefer to used glue when necessary, instead of using special surfaces.
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