Quick question, what are people’s experiences with Buildtak? I ask as I have a few adhesion issues. Sharp corners on the first layer a lifting slightly, I’ve gone from anywhere from loose to only just being able to move a sheet of paper under the nozzle. Are there any tips or tricks that I could use?
A quick overview, it’s on the FB2020 and it’s using Marlin 1.1 RC4 with Mesh levelling as the aluminium plate that the Buildtak is stuck to isn’t perfectly flat (it’s off of a Migbot which come with cheap unlevel plates), but all the points are as close as I can get them but I still get some lift. I’m guessing the only way to stop it is to slow the first layer down or use a raft…
What filament? Temperatures?
@Jan_de_Jager - Colorfabb NGEN at 230c
That seems way too high for NGEN, the recommended bed temp is 75-85c…
I gave Buildtak sheets a really good go but just didn’t get on with them. Yeah they worked but it wasn’t great (I also had adhesion issues) and they would get damaged really easily. After accidentally damaging my third sheet I gave up.
I’ve spent a lot of time and cash evaluating BuildTak and I have mixed views on its effectiveness. My experience is with PLA only but I can offer the following:
I was unable to print using an unheated bed. Where I normally heat my bed to 70C I had to raise it to 75C. I attribute the extra heat requirement being due to a small insulating effect caused by the BuildTak and its self-adhesive film.
The manufacturer states you should raise your nozzle height a little more than normal and not squash the first layer. I don’t normally squash my first layer but I set my Z height zero at 0.15mm to allow for nozzle expansion at my 185C printing temperature. I found that increasing my Z height above my normal would result in filament just wrapping around the nozzle and not sticking to the heated bed.
Keep solvents away from BuildTak. The manufacturer claims that 70% and lower strength Isopropanol is OK to use but I found that it does affect the surface after a while. I now use Pure White Vinegar to remove greasy fingerprints as I do when printing on plain glass.
Keep sharp objects away from the BuildTak surface. Any scraping action smoothes the surface and reduces its effectiveness. If you get your Z height and temperature right you should be able to lift part of your print by hand and slide a smooth-edged spatula under the print to ease it off the bed. Any removal technique that marks the surface at all will reduce its effectiveness. You should aim to keep the BuildTak surface pristine.
We expend considerable effort in creating flat print beds and ensure they are level. Another consideration is that maintaining that flatness after applying BuildTak is very difficult. I believe that it really needs to be applied under pressure with a roller rather than manually with smoothing achieved with a credit card or similar. Small air pockets will result and your print surface will not be uniformly flat.
Reading the BuildTak support forum shows many people are having issues with using the product in respect of its adhesion properties. Its effectiveness seems highly dependant on the material used even amongst PLA brands. What bothers me most about BuildTak is that is doesn’t appear to be characterized. I get the impression that it was developed by empirical methods rather than scientific ones. I also believe that its effectiveness is due to surface texture rather than chemical composition and as the surface texture is easily affected during repeated use I can’t determine its longevity.
Considering BuildTak’s high selling price I would like to see more concrete data presented on its working methodology and properties. At the moment it seems very hit-and-miss to me - at least in the over 100GBP I have spent evaluating it.
@Neil_Darlow - Thanks, it does seem very hit and miss to me as well., hence me asking. I’ve found a way to make it work by using a thin 1 layer raft with NGEN. Even with PLA I’m having issues, if I don’t get the paper tight, it doesn’t stick at all, but I run the risk of killing the surface if I get it too tight.
after reading a lot of bad reviews of buildtak with exactly these types of problems, i looked into pei - that seemed to come with it’s own set of problems though for abs and pla it’s definitely a better solution than buildtak (i have a friend who has both).
after extensive research and testing i ended up with mostly using pva based glue directly on my aluminum bed (i currently use a very cheap local made type, but i tried elmers before that and it was great). i mix it with water - depending on what material i print but it’s mostly somewhere between 7:3 (pva:water) to 5:5 (pva:water).
it has completely solved any problems i was having with adhesion. i no longer use any rafts/brims/etc…
i’ve never printed ngen (it costs more than 2 times it’s price in the u.s over here), but i’ve printed petg (same family of copolymers if i’m not mistaken), pla, flex stuff (like ninja flex and tfu i think it was called), and some non-toxic nylon polymer i won at conference which i used to print some gears/bearings/pulleys for a friend building a corexy.
a close second to that was uhu gluestick on painters tape, but my chinese cheap petg didn’t like that as much as the watered down pva.
@Tom_Keidar I got the Buildtak as an experiment, I usually use Insette Hairspray (Cheap UK brand) on glass and that works well, I hardly have to top it up at work these days, it’s built up a good layer and it just sticks, although it’s a cooler environment than the printers I have here, it’s about 10-15c cooler at my work unit. I just wanted to see if Buildtak worked, and frankly I’m none too impressed.
Glue or glue stick, I’ve not had much success with either, so I think I’ll be going back to hairspray.
almost forgot - in my research i also came across fleks3d, it was a kickstarter, but now is a product that gets pretty good reviews. i was going to buy it - but shipping cost was almost twice the price of the product. if you live in the states it should be easy and relatively cheap to acquire.
your migbot z probe probably won’t work with it (unless it’s the 8mm one and not the 4mm one), but if you have a bltouch it will. though for a leveled corexy with point leveling instead of 4, you shouldn’t have to level the bed at all (or so i’ve been told 
)
@Tom_Keidar Looks interesting, but am in the UK and $35 shipping even for the system at $50 is a bit on the high side shame it’s not over here in Europe 
yup, i wrote to them about it - i think shipping was calculated at about 45$ for me
never heard back… i guess they just don’t want to sell globally…
@Ax_Smith-Laffin I have revisited using BuildTak and produced a little write-up on my experiments and resulting success on my website at: http://www.darlow.co.uk/node/3
After experimenting with lots of build surfaces I have to say once you PEI you will never use anything else. Its virtually indestructible and you can adjust your adhesion level by adjusting the first layer temp.
@Daniel_Bull I have some PrintBite on order which should accommodate a greater variety of materials.
I just wanted to put this to bed. I’m like a dog with a bone when something doesn’t work as expected and I had to find a way of making it work even if only for the benefit of others.