Alternate print surface for ABS - no slurry

DaveOB · 2015-09-01T20:54:47.000Z

I tested this idea today and the results seemed to be ideal. I would be interested to know if anyone else had experienced this.

I printed an ABS part, +50 layers, 85C bed, and no lifting on the corners - and it was clean.

After print, it was easy to remove and the bottom of the print was completely clean.

How ? Simple. I found some plastic sheet left over after covering the kids school books.

It’s like vinyl - just thinner and is marked as Removable Self Adhesive Book Cover. Cost was around $2 for a 5m roll.

I cleaned the print bed with Acetone, then laid a piece of the adhesive plastic just larger than the print area I was to print.

I then wiped the plastic with clear plain acetone with the intention to make sure it was clean from finger print oils, etc. The surface of the plastic turned very tacky.

The first layer of the print went down so well, and consistent - far better than I had ever achieved on ABS slurry on the aluminium bed.

After the print, the plastic lifted easily from the print bed - reminded me of those large thin very stretchy wide area plasters used in hospitals when you have an IV inserted. It peeled off the bottom of the print with minimal effort.

Here’s a pic of my first layer print in progress : http://i.imgur.com/e5KVRw9.jpg

Update : googled the plastic book cover, and it’s PVC.

And PVC glues well to ABS using acetone, so explains why it turns tacky and accepts the first layer so well.

Update 2 :

as good as this sounds, it has been pointed out that the C in PVC is Chloride and when heated gives off Chloride Gas which is EXTREMELY BAD. I do not recommend using this method.

I will, however, keep looking for alternatives that work as well as this.

Pot8oSH3D · 2015-09-01T22:05:07.000Z

Nice one, Durban Dave!!

Wouldn’t go much higher than 85 for the bed though. The C stands for Chloride. Don’t want to step into your workshop and take a big whiff of Chlorine gas! :-0

I’d like to give this a go. Are you printing in an enclosed printer?

Funny thing - I’ve seen MEK soften the surface of PVC but not Acetone. :-/

Keep up the good work!

Cheers,

AndyL

DaveOB · 2015-09-02T04:42:30.000Z

Hi AndyL

Yes, my i3 printer is outside and also in a case.

Someone showed me a spec sheet for PVC a few days ago and acetone was listed on that. I also found ABS listed on a tube of plumbers PVC Weld. I had joined an ABS printed female thread to the inside of a 50mm PVC pipe with acetone with great success.

ekaggrat · 2015-09-02T07:27:30.000Z

the simplest solution for abs is to use abs cement ( mostly acetone with some additives ) and apply it on the kypton tape. prints stick like hell and come off easily on cooling … of course on a heated glass surface

zx81 · 2015-09-02T12:26:44.000Z

Neat idea! I’ve tried hairspray then moved to abs juice/slurry which worked much better. I was in the store the other day and I purchased a large tube of PVA glue from the kids section of a supermarket . its really good just squeeze some on the bed I use a Stanley blade to move it around and coat the whole heated bed … When the bed is at 90 degrees or above it grips the abs tightly with no lifting when it cools to around 80 the party’s just lift right off and you don’t need to keep applying it once you have your bed nice and covered it lasts for ages!

Pot8oSH3D · 2015-09-02T14:39:52.000Z

WELL! Ya live and learn!!

Reminds me of the summer of about 1980 when I spent, sticking clear 1mm PVC sheets together into 2 Metre oval bubbles for a stage set for the Royal Opera Company, in an old barn! Literally hundreds of half-segments! Masked off the outer 10mm along each edge, Cleaned and softened with MEK. Contact adhesive, rip off the masking tape, put 'em together and rolled the seams with a wallpaper roller to make 'em air-tight. Should have seen it, once they were all stuck together and blown up! they were 15M tall at both sides of the stage! We were high as kites most of that summer, breathing in MEK all day long! LOL

Only ever saw the model of the set. Would be great to see a pic of the actual thing. :-/

Cheers!

AndyL

Filemon · 2015-09-02T15:37:13.000Z

Sweet! I’m going to check this out asap

ekaggrat · 2015-09-03T00:01:59.000Z

Pva only works for pla not abs. Abs wont stick to pva

Pot8oSH3D · 2015-09-03T01:23:25.000Z

Well, @zx81 just said it does for him.

Don’t knock it 'till ya tried it!

Cheers!

AndyL

Pot8oSH3D

Haters gonna hate - Pot8ers gotta Pot8!

zx81 · 2015-09-03T08:08:28.000Z

I got the idea from this article which is specifically for abs bed adheston: ABS Bed Adhesion Tips & Tricks | MatterHackers It was saying to use a glue stick or any glu PVA based I had also seen a video where someone diluted PVA and was using that, I tried diluted PVA first that did not work at all.