Eureka! I think I've solved print lifting!

[old man emu]

So what's your objection to blue tape emu ?

I've got nothing against blue tape. Actually, I use purple tape from 3M. I think the difference is in the number of days the various coloured tapes will remain sticky in painting situations. I don't think it makes much difference when used as we do.

The reason I tried the Plasti Dip was simply because it was at hand. When I tried it, it worked, so I thought I'd pass on my finding so others could explore it.

OME

[Marm]

Just sitting on my deck in the summer turns it to rubber.

I'm assuming that's from UV degredation? Most things from plastics (Polystyrene, Kevlar, Nylon, etc) are affected by UV. I know I had to replace my climbing ropes every few years from UV exposure, even if they weren't worn through. Did some tests on one length I retired from climbing use, and found it failed at about 80% rated strength. Still works great for normal rope stuff, just not for trusting my life to it!

But what about normal usage? Ie not constantly exposed to UV? I have a bracket set I going to be producing for sale, and I don't want customers to complain in 2 years that it's falling apart already.

[atoff]

I've been printing on a PEI sheet... no glue, no tape, no spray, nothing, and it's been working fantastically. No mess to clean up either. Just cut the PEI sheet to size, adhere to your plate and you're set. It works well with both PLA and ABS. I do heat the bed with both. About 80-90c for ABS, 55c for PLA. Anyway, might want to give this a try instead of messing with gunk.

You can find the PEI on Amazon: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B...?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Tape used to adhere to glass: http://smile.amazon.com/TapeCase-468...X2GJPF1YTSCQE3

There's a discussion on the SeeMeCNC forum you can check out. I won't link it out of respect for this forum.

[jimc]

No not from uv but i agree that does degrade pla quickly. Its just simply from the heat of the sun. I find pla to be good for nothing other than knick knacks that sit on an inside table. Room temp its fine but nothing more.

[Geoff]

I think I've found the solution to prints lifting at the edge.

There is a product which is generically called "Peel Coat". The product is a spray-on coating originally developed to protect jet plane canopies in storage, or in spray painting booths for easy dust control. Currently it has found a use as a short-term colour change for cars and motorcycles. (Last Sunday my son and I went on a charity motorcycle for beast cancer research, so he sprayed his black bike pink with peel coat.) Here is a picture of one brand of this stuff:

Attachment 3030

You can get it at auto shops. In the US it is about $6 per can. In Australia we pay about $US24 for the same can.

I have tried it on my print bed with the following results: Print bed 90C - the print stuck too well. Print bed 70C - print stuck and was a little easier to remove. Next time I'll try to print at 30C, which is a few degrees above ambient temperature (otherwise the print bed heat control won't work)

Old Man Emu

My mate form work used this on his rims on his XR6, it was black, so he did them in matte black plasti dip. The stuff is really cool, I love how it cuts itself... you just spray away and then peel off the sections you don't want like there is magic masking tape underneath. I've seen entire cars done in it too, like bright green.

Here is a good pic of what its like when you want to take it off and change your car colour... if you had the cash you could do it daily.

how-to-remove-plasti-dip-from-your-car-video-57111_1.jpg