I'm having a new problem on my PrintrBot Simple:

Another vote for the brim and degreasing strategies above, before and after tape application. Burnish the tape down with a credit card (I like the hair dryer idea too). Reduce as much as possible any drafts, and try printing your skirt to the height of the printed part (Slic3r will let you specify a huge number of layers for the skirt. I think mine is set for 500. It will stop at the top of the part).

I’ve given up on blue tape for ABS. I use Kapton on a heated aluminum bed, then I add a thin swipe of 50/50 ABS pipe cement and acetone to the Kapton. Also, suspect cold spots on your bed (assuming it’s heated). My Mk1 Prusa heatbed had 20* C variance. With aluminum, I’m within 2* C, edge to edge, which I believe helps a lot with the curling.

I had that problem some time ago - I got glass surface and put on hairspray, heated bad with 50C (PLA) but it was working also without heated bed. I’ll try soon on other printer without heated bed.
No experience with blue tape

ABS Juice. Dissolve some ABS scrap (light/clear or matching colour) in acetone, then paint on bed (get a wooden handled small paint brush), can also be used to ‘rescue’ a corner that has started to lift (tho kwality suffers then)

Remember @Carlton_Dodd said he is printing with PLA. It can get messy quick if you also use a lot of abs sludge.

@Laine_Walker-Avina you were spot on rubbing the tape with alcohol - I used acetone cos I had it with me, but it did the trick! I noticed this roll of painters tape is different to my last roll too, its lighter in color, the last lot of (darker) tape stuck without preparation but this new stuff seems to have a wax or residue of sorts on it. It felt different to touch after the prep. Thanks again, saved me a stack of filament!

To summarise the above suggestions and add a few more :
-Use a brim (available in slic3r and cura)
-Increased your bottom layer thickness.
-Increase your bottom layer extrusion temperature by 5-10 degrees.
-Keep fan off for first few mm of Z
-Clean the surface thoroughly with a degreasing solvent.
-calibrate your Z axis
-level your bed
-slow down first layer
-minimise drafts or put a box over the printer

Don’t forget print in a warm room whenever possible. I did the same print in the same room with a 8deg c change, one warped, the other was fine…(12 c 20 c)

brim, low heating of bed, enclosure, 67% layer height on 1st layer, 50% speed on 1st layer, Aquanet super extreme hold hairspray on borosilicate glass works for me.

Remember he is close to maxing out on the simple…brim might not even fit. I print 95*95mm on my simple without curling issues.

Just fixed this on my rig. The model is cooling to fast due to the metal print bed. You need to slow down the heat transfer from the metal. My solution: go back to using wood, it works perfect. The metal is good because it is flat, but will cause peeling. I just clamped a piece of 1/4 inch plywood with painters tape to the metal bed and I haven’t had any peeling since.

And I use a sheet of glass. Also perfect with blue painters tape

@Ralph_Apgar Just found the same thing - the tape sticks wonderfully, but NOT if the part cools TOO rapidly, and in my case the metal bed was only around 15 degrees © when I was having the curling issue where I had no problem the previous day (which was 35 degrees C) so I turned the heated bed on (and only up to 30 deg) and it worked perfect…

I felt the build platform a while after discovering this and sure enough it was cold (please don’t say ‘duh’), like a heatsink… the conductivity of aluminium means it would draw heat away from the part and cool it very rapidly, probably not a good choice for the bed! (unless you can heat it just slightly, then it’s a great choice :wink:

Enclosure’s are awesome for ABS, I thought they were not so great for PLA parts? Maybe in cold climates, 10 deg C is pretty damn cold where I live!

One other thing @Carlton_Dodd , the fact that the printed part is lifting the TAPE off your bed would point not only to the fact that your parts are cooling and warping… But that your TAPE itself is not adhered to the bed all that strongly. I would investigate that if you’re not having any luck with the tips here, the tape will stick better to a VERY smooth and clean surface, aluminium or glass plate THOROUGHLY cleaned with acetone / degreaser will eliminate this. (I used to stick vinyl decals on cars and would ALWAYS clean the surface area with methylated spirits before applying)

The USUAL complaint is that the ‘corners of the part lift off the tape’ meaning the plastic’s adherence to the TAPE is not good…

Your situation also points out that your TAPE’s adherence to your BUILD PLATE is not strong enough.

@Christopher_Benjamin (tape peeling off the bed), it may depends on the tape you are using. My prints stick very well to uline blue tape but the tape itself peel off the glass. It doesn’t happens with 3M #2090 :slight_smile:

@Carlton_Dodd Your blue tape also looks like Uline tape on the picture. If it is, it may be the problem.

I use Tesa 40mm wide blue paintrers tape. A version where they brag on hos long it can be attached without leaving any marks or adhesive.