There are a lot of sellers out there offering “flexible” beds and the like that they advertise as improving the adhesion of prints.
99% of the time, the actual culprit is that the blue painter’s tape is not clean. When you put down the tape on your bed, you’re most likely affirming it to the bed by moving your fingers on it. Well, your hands contain oil and other invisible contaminants and this is most likely why the first layer is not sticking to the tape. Other than this, you obviously have to have good auto-bed leveling before deciding this is the culprit.
What we’ve been testing lately is using Isopropyl Alcohol, available anywhere (this isn’t a new trick). Simply put just a slight bit of alcohol on a paper towel by holding the towel directly to the opening of the bottle and flipping it over quickly and then wipe the top of the blue painter’s tape gently a few times. Wait a few minutes for the alcohol to evaporate before starting a print.
DO NOT pour the alcohol directly onto the bed. Also note that alcohol is flammable.
I tried this exactly once, and the tape ended up as a permanent part of the print. I’ve always found that the adhesion of PLA to blue tape was at least as good as the adhesion of blue tape to whatever’s under it, and that when they do lift, they do so by pulling the tape up with them.
The only obvious difference is that I’m printing the first layer of all my prints with wide lines like the bottom layer of a raft. I’ve had to individually convince the developer of each slicer I’ve used to implement this, but it makes printing so much easier.
We also applied alcohol onto the aluminum bed of our new printer so the tape sticks well. Otherwise the tape will lift with the print if it tries to warp
i just put either some glue stick (uhu, 3m, elmers - all work) or some white children’s glue (both are made of PVA) in some water and mix, then brush with a smal painter’s brush on the painters tape just before heating the bed.
after that for about 3-5 prints i don’t need any to do anything, everything i’ve printed (petg, tpu, pla, etc… except abs - i don’t print that stuff, but it should work as well) just sticks like crazy, and if any was removed during a print, it’s one brush stroke away from being cleaned…
And when the print sticks well, sometimes too well, there is a tool on Amazon for about $5.00 that is awesome. Its flexible so you cant use it to pry up the print, but if you slide it under, then move it side to side, it will remove even the most stubborn print.
@PrintinAddiction That’s a good way to ruin your print surface. I always use a pocket knife to remove prints. You want one with a significant bevel on the end of the blade so that you can slide it under without dragging the sharp edge against your print surface. Doing it this way, I usually go several months without needing to replace my blue tape.
I’ve been using 3M blue tape wiped down with alcohol (I have the alcohol in a small mister bottle next to the printer) for awhile now and it has been fantastic.
It has superb auto-leveling - very precise.