Hi! Now that my second printer runs really well, I tried some different materials (just printed with ABS everytime), so I ordered PETG and PP. The PETG works flawlessly, but I cant get the PP stick to anything. What should I use on my MK2A heatbed? I have some glass plate lying around, on which I could put different bed materials. Things I tried: Kapton Tape, BuildTak.
PP has a relatively low surface energy, and as such generally doesn’t like to stick to things other than itself. There are not a whole lot of folks that are successfully printing PP (iirc @nop_head is one of them).
Using a raft or brim might improved things with any surface, and my gut tells me glue stick as a surface coating might be worth a try.
@Thomas_Sanladerer Yes, I found a lot about PP not sticking to anything, so tomorrow I will try some things, I read about brown package tape and I have some PP 2 mm plate somewhere. I tried using a brim, but while printing the brim it will just curl up from the edges. I managed to print one downscaled treefrog and like the physikal attributes of PP, it’s quite flexible with extreme good layer bonding.
I have printed HDPE onto HDPE and PP chopping boards, see http://hydraraptor.blogspot.co.uk/2007/12/chopping-up-chopping-boards.html. So I expect PP could be printed on HDPE or PP but I have never printed it myself.
PP is going to warp a lot because it’s semi-crystalline, and doesn’t stick to much as @Thomas_Sanladerer mentioned. It’s an extremely difficult filament to print and practically nobody does it. I would recommend a raft on perfboard or fibrous surfaces like painter’s tape, cardboard, etc and really mash down the first layer.
Let us know if you find something that works!
@Mark_Ellison PETG is from ‘extrudr’, bought via Amazon and printing at 230°C and up to 90mm/s.