Prying prints off blue tape

[LePaul 321]

I have an Ultimaker original and am having a terrible time prying my prints off the 3M Painter's tape. I have to remove the bed from the printer to remove the prints with a thin, metal paint scraper.

A heated build plate would certainly fix this but my job was eliminated in budget cuts a month ago. I'm searching for a new job and hope to land one soon.

Unless Santa brings one!

But seriously, I could use some tips/suggestions. Larger prints are really tough!

 

[gr5 2,170]

Parts don't stick so well to fresh tape so you can go that route (don't clean the tape with isopropyl alcohol) but then your parts might not stick well enough. So I recommend you just tear the blue tape. Whatever it takes. Use a putty knife. Then to remove the tape off the bottom, soak it in a plate of isopropyl alcohol for about 5 minutes. The tape then come right off with no effort.

The thing that sucks about this is then you need to repair the tape before every print. I don't know what to say about that.

 

[LePaul 321]

Nice to hear from you, gr5 :smile:

If I use the alcohol, the tape rips and sticks to the part. A real challenge to clean up

If I don't do anything to the tape, sometimes I run into what looks like under extrusion, or the filament not able to grip the surface. Usually, if using brim, it does go on after a few seconds.

So I am trying to find that happy medium

Or donations for a heated build plate :cool: LOL !

I have my machine working pretty well, though Ultimaker blue pla still makes the bowden tube pop from time to time.

 

[blecheimer 9]

1) Use two layers of blue tape. The second layer will come off with your print.

Then you do not have to remove the bed everytime.

2) I adjusted my bed so that there is a gap of 0.1mm between the nozzle and the blue tape. For me that was the best compromise between sticking and removing.

3) Try using some other kind of tape. I just bought the cheapest I could find. Removal was easy and sticking was ok.

 

[LePaul 321]

I have some no-name blue tape I bought at Lowes when painting a bedroom a while back. I'll try that!

 

[jameshs 42]

Dump the blue tape and print on glass

Even XT I print on glass (except for some really long prints)

I have the blue tape sitting under the glass in case I need it and just remove a small 3mm (glass depth) piece from the end stop.

If I have tricky print or it is cold I pre-heat the glass with a hair dryer for a while to get the whole machine 'warm'.

I rarely print on blue tape now.

UMO - no HB (waiting to install kit but in no hurry )

 

[peggyb 170]

when using the putty knife: try to pry one corner of the knife under the object and lift the handle up. Don't try to get the putty knife under the whole object but use the putty knife as a lever to pop it up. So pry a little and lift. repeat, until the things pops up. This way the tape lasts longer too.

I know…. some pieces are just sitting sooo tight, you will have to go the other way, like above….

 

[rob 0]

I've upgraded to a heated bed now but when I was using tape I would try and lift the tape off the bed with the print (for large prints) and then soak the bottom layer in isopropyl alcohol for a few minutes. After that it peels away quite easily with no marks.

 

[gr5 2,170]

It's true you can print on cold glass. It helps to heat it to about 90F with hairdryer first or print extra hot first layer (250C?). I recommend thin layer of any PVA glue as well. You can get ordinary (but thick) glass at any glass shop. They will cut to any size and grind the corners. I recommend you cut off the corner where homing occurs so that the nozzle does not touch the glass during homing just to make it less messy. It should cost you about $10 to $20 for a custom cut glass with ground edges so it isn't sharp.

Attach with binder clips to existing bed. I recommend that the glass is smaller than existing screw heads so there is no bump. Don't forget to do rough leveling with power off before printing or you might break the glass on the very first homing sequence.

 

[jameshs 42]

I don't have the corner cut off and once forgot to put my little end-stop fooler in and on my 3mm thick picture glass (cheapest they had) the bed spring just took up the plate - no breakage!

maybe I was just lucky!

James

 

[gr5 2,170]

The corner cutoff isn't to prevent breakage - it's so that it doesn't squirt plastic out - then squish it all over the nozzle tip making a mess. When I built my first heated bed I drilled a big hole in the bed to let the plastic through that spot at 0,0. The priming/leakage ends up going through the hole to the area underneath the bed. No harm to the forthcoming print.

 

[jameshs 42]

Ah, Understood - I am there with tweezers after a hand prime - no mess

James

 

[LePaul 321]

The corner cutoff isn't to prevent breakage - it's so that it doesn't squirt plastic out - then squish it all over the nozzle tip making a mess. When I built my first heated bed I drilled a big hole in the bed to let the plastic through that spot at 0,0. The priming/leakage ends up going through the hole to the area underneath the bed. No harm to the forthcoming print.

 

See I have that already with the existing build plate! It gets to temp, oozing, homes to 0,0 and causes a gooey nozzle for a few seconds....which probably explains my under extrusion for those first few seconds

 

[jameshs 42]

To avoid that I run the nozzle to temp, once near temp I manually prime the wheel, as it travels to 0,0 I hold the filament noodle with tweezers - so it hits the glass clean - using S3D it then sets off and primes and I just pull the noodle/thread away so that when it hit for the print there is no gunk and it is fully primed ready to go. (But I don't use skirts which is part of the priming process in Cura).

Maybe I am too anal!

 

[rob 0]

Not essential but I printed one of these: http://www.thingiverse.com/make:39983

It helps when priming the nozzle as you don't have to turn the grear.