I think I’ve got this figured out. Since upgrading the build platform I’ve been trying to figure out how to stick prints to it. My goal is to have something that will stick as well with ABS or PLA so I don’t have to relevel the build platform if I switch materials. Mind you it’s still a problem because I don’t have aluminum build plate arms. I’ll be fixing that soon.
Jumping to the end for you all, hair spray works alarmingly well (for ABS, PLA testing is still in the future, but it looks good). Here’s the rules:
- Get the cheap stuff.
- Spray liberally on the glass.
- Allow the print the cool completely before removing the print and it will pop off in a most alarming way. You’ll think it must have not been stuck during printing but believe me it did. If you remove while still hot you might have to reapply too soon because you’re taking the hairspray off.
The prevailing theory is that hairspray on glass will stick the prints. So I gave it a try first thing when I switched to a glass build plate and the result was okay, but I found myself having to reapply a little more frequently than I wanted. So I switched to ABS slurry on the glass to see if it would last longer. It didn’t. In fact removing the print removed the slurry down to the glass every time meaning if I didn’t reapply after every print the next one didn’t stick. However that led me to the thought that maybe I was removing the hairspray by not waiting for the plate to cool. So I did and I have yet to need to reapply hairspray after a day. That means my prints take longer because now they have a cool down period, but it’s worth it. Besides, I got the extra build plate so I’ll just start switching them out between prints. Easy.
