Hello,

My Wanhao came with Kapton Tape on the print bed. Now I want to put on a BuildTak mat to solve some of the adhesion issues I have been having. Should I remove the Kapton Tape? Or can I keep it on?

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I would remove the kapton tape for multiple reasons:

a) the kapton tape might be slightly uneven, that offset gets greater when using BuildTAK on top of it

b) the BulidTAK might not stick to the kapton tape that well or will stick too strong on it, so that it will be very difficult to get it off

c) although this is a minor issue, the actual print surface will be a bit further away from the heat source of the bed, this might cause a tiny bit more unstable temperatures on the print surface.

Kapton Tape is not that expensive anyways so go ahead and remove it, if you have issues with BuildTAK you can switch back to Kapton tape at any time.

Cheers,

Marius Breuer

Thanks for the reply. Since the mat was too big and I decided to cut off a piece and mount that onto the glass plate for testing with small objects. Initially after it worked (PLA) I wanted to put the buildtak on the glass but after reading your comment I’m not sure. Do you think this would cause heat issues for ABS? And if I remove the buildtak can I reapply it?

With regards.

BuildTAK is especially made for stuff like ABS or PET (both materials can warp with other adhesives), so there won’t be an issue with that. The fact that i told in “c)” should just advise you to not stack adhesives like kapton tape, BuildTAK, blue painters tape and more on your heated bed, at some point your bed will just be too uneven and will have issues with heat transfer, but just one layer of buildTAK on your heated glass plate will be fine.

I don’t think, that BulidTAK is made to be reapplied, but you can test it out of course, as long as the bottom side is still sticky enough, so that it will hold on to your glass bed, everything should be OK. I would prefer a new sheet of BuildTAK, but due to BuildTAK being expensive, I guess it would be worth it to find out, if you can apply BuildTAK multiple times.

BuildTAK is made to provide a good printing surface for ALL materials, so don’t be afraid when switching from PLA to ABS etc., BuildTAK will handle the adhesion part, if the bed is leveled correctly.

However you still have to check for a perfectly clean (unclogged) nozzle, as residue from other materials can cause issues during the print. For example some left over PLA can “burn” down to small black particles in your hotend, if you print ABS (at 230C or similar), those particles are very difficult to remove and will stop your ABS from extruding smoothly.

PS: if you use 1,75mm filament you can try to push an 1,5mm allen key down the hotend, to push out all left over material, this is no perfect, yet very good method to clean out the hotend, otherwise use cleaning filament, if you have to change the material very often.

Cheers,

Marius Breuer

you could also try and print direct on glass (without any funny sprays etc)

Buildtak cannot be re-applied (at least when used on kapton). In my experience it doesnt matter if you keep the kapton on or off…results are the same. Maybe it is easily removable directly from the glass or alu…i dont have expiriences with that