Think I found a cure for curling

[PeteD3]

I am fairly new to 3d printing and have done a LOT of reading on how to best deal with curling. Printing with ABS plastic, I have found that masking tape provides a great surface for adhesion... however, when printing a large flat object, the heat of the plastic and the pull of shrinkage will still overcome the abilities of masking tape. At first I tried to simply raise the print above the platform in the software, before printing. I hoped it would add support material to the operation but it did not. It just printed a good raft them started to print my object up in the air.

So, using masking tape and turning the heated bed off, I have added a "rise pin", for lack of a better term, to my design. The pin is attached to nothing and is .2 inches tall by .06 diameter. This now causes the program to add support material between the raft and the real object. The pin I've added is just sacrificial. I find that by getting the flat print off the bed, it prevents curling. Even if the raft should curl slightly, that is absorbed within the support material as it is printed.

Printing the flat object atop of the support material seems to give it room to cool properly and away from the tape and bed, where it would otherwise cause problems and eventually curl.

I've attached a jpg to show what I mean. The pin is colored green for reference.

I hope I've explained this clearly. Feel free to ask any questions or make comments.