Quick tip for my Kapton brethren

[tigerprinter]

For all the people out there who put kapton tape down on their print bed, I just discovered a little thing you can do when preparing the bed for a print.

Okay, so you know how there are always little bubbles that form when the bed heats up as a result of little tiny pockets of air you can't see when you first put the tape down? These can make the bottom of your print come out with lumps/indents which is obviously not ideal. So what I did before my last print was heat up my bed to 110 (which is the temp I use when printing) to make those bubbles show up. Then I took an exacto knife and just poked each bubble. A needle would probably work best, but I had the knife on hand. When you poke it, you'll feel a little click from the blade piercing the tape. Once you've poked all the bubbles, take a credit card and flatten out the tape (like you probably normally do when putting the kapton on). The air in the bubbles should come out of the microscopic holes you made. Sometimes some bubbles stay somewhat intact, but you can just repeat the process. Took me like 2 minutes and my print bed looks much better than it usually does.

[AussiePhil]

Got a further tip that effectively eliminates the bubbles in the first place and requires only three pinpricks afterwards.

• Step1: watch a number of tutorials on applying window film to windows.
• Step2: buy a 3M Hard Card like http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Professio...item234e2f4709 as these are far better than the usual credit card.
• Step3: cut section of Kapton tape to size, use some water solution on the sticky side same as window film
• Step4: put some clothes around the bed to soak up the expelled water solution, won't be much though.
• Step5: place Kapton tape on bed, use hard card to squeegee flat as per window film tutorials
• Step6: Important: take sharp knife or needle and prick the tape above each of the bed screws not on the other edge, 3 from memory.
• Step7: remove clothes and ensure all is dry, trim excess tape if needed.

This works really well providing you remember to prick above the screws, I've never had the edge screws bubble.
Best to let dry for a few hours but I'm normally impatient and just start the next print.

Cheers

[tigerprinter]

Yeah I've seen the wet taping stuff which is super cool I just haven't had the patience for it...does it really work that well? Also, I have a print that's been going for about 17 hrs and even though there were no bubbles under my tape and I had ABS juice on it for sticking, the tape itself came unstuck from the bed at the corners so now my corners are curled up despite having good adhesion. Do you ever get this problem with Kapton and specifically does wet taping avoid this?