I have a PLA part stuck to my print surface that I’m not sure how to remove without destroying it.
I have a Printrbot Simple Metal with no heated bed. On top of that I have BuildTak (which is awesome). I can probably get the part off by pulling off the BuildTak, but at $6/sheet I don’t want to make a habit of that.
Normally once I get the brim removed and I can twist and pull to get the part off but in this case I’m having trouble even getting a sharp knife under the edge of the piece.
I have a heat gun and I can get heat on the underside of the bed or on top of the bed without trouble. I have a full ice maker so I can try that. I figured I’d ask for tips before I start involved experimentation.
It solved adhesion and warping like a charm.
Just before this stuck print I had to abort the same print. I didn’t get all the previous brim and first layer scraped off so I think in this case I’m dealing with a doubly-impacted first layer.
@Michael_Johnson http://www.vinland.com/blog/?p=68 suggests this might not work, but I have 99% and an eye-dropper handy so I dropped some around all the perimeter.
Has this worked for you in practice? Any idea how or why?
@Jason_Mansfield dissolving and weakening is very different. Limonene will dissolve hips, but weakens and chaps abs a tiny bit…We are not taking about dissolving here it is about breaking the bond from the substrate
I use a razor blade or small flat head to work around the part.
Razor blade in a metal handle to separate pla from surface all the way around especially where it might break and if still won’t pop off then use thin longer blade like a putty knife and then a thicker blade that can pry up
Put it in the freezer for ten minutes…
@Joar_Taraldsten_Brun I don’t think my Printrbot will fit in my freezer
A can of compressed air turned upside down will chill it quickly and should help pop it off. I just did this today.
Hehe, if it doesn’t have a removable bed I see that point 
@Jason_Mansfield For future prints, you may want to check the distance between the nozzle and the print bed. When testing Buildtak, the only time I had trouble getting a print off the print bed was when the nozzle was too close to the Buildtak sheet. One should try and keep a 0.2mm distance when printing with PLA. If your nozzle pushes into the sheet it will become unusable.
I ended up pulling the BuildTak off. The BuildTak separated from the bed easily enough, except where it was under the part. There it required significant effort to pull up the BT with the part on it. Once free of the bed they separated easily.