Dang it! That was supposed to be a surprise! ROFL!
Since I mostly print on PETg on a borosilicate bed I use glue stick (otherwise it sticks so well it tears shards of glass off the bed) and for just PLA or Nylon 910 I use wolfbite on my E3D BigBox, and on my Taz6 which has a PEI bed I use gluestick for nGen since otherwise it sticks too well also.
If you donāt want to mess with the gluestick a PEI sheet works really well for PETG. (No more cleaning off the boro.)
I have a stack of beds because I print so much that I will prep a batch of beds, and once the glue gets ratty (maybe 10-15 jobs) swap it out, wash and reprep and put a new one on. They eventually crack anyway from the repeated high heat/cool down cycles (when I use real high temp plastics like BluPrint they fail after about 10 jobs). I print a lot (multiple Kg a week) per printer for work.
Iāve thought about the aluminum PEI bed mod for my printer, but since I often swap between Nylon and PETg it easier to swap glass plates out
I also have a rotating round robin of PETg and Nylons sitting in my PrintDry so I keep swapping to a super dry spool each job. Super awesome layer adhesion.
Have any of you tried strong magnets? I have meant to try it, but havenāt. I saw this really awesome video (she has quite a few showing her whole laser process that those without laser experience might really enjoy watching) where she is using them when cutting leather! https://youtu.be/wQj29tEKjsM
I did use some 10mm neodymium magnets when I did the leather luggage tags last week since they were slightly curled. Worked fine.
In the video she is using the fairly thick bar magnets. I have a set of those but found out the hard way that if you use material 1/4" thick with the magnets on top that the air assist port under the gantry will impact the magnets. Also if you use magnets that are too weak on thicker material they have a tendency jump off the material onto the head mounting plate as the head moves overhead.
I use magnets on almost all projects. Usually strong thin rare earth magnets for holding down warped wood and much less strong magnets for paper and other thin materials.
Great tips! I could also see needing to run your design first to make sure that if you were using thick ones like that with thin material that it wouldnāt bang into it
Thatās why I like the thinner 3mm & less neodymium magnets. They come in larger discs and bars too so you can get the strength you need without the extra height that causes the head bumping. I also try to put them out of the path of the head travel so they really canāt smack it (or jump).
Since we have morphed this convo into one on sticky things, I have to put another product out there that is kind of a bridge between buying expensive sticky sheets and glue sticks. I use Aleeneās Tack-It Over and Over to make mats for my vinyl cutter - you can reuse the sticky again and again. The thicker the layer you put on something the stronger the hold. Once it is dry, you can stick things to that surfaceā¦ as it saysā¦ over and over. lol If it gets dirty you can simply wash it to bring back the tack. I put this on my daugters miniatures so they stick and donāt fall over and just give them a wash when they arenāt sticking anymore. Once I have my Glowforge I will have to mess with how I can use it since I doubt the space wants me doing trials on theirs. haha JUST in case anyone has a use for something like thatā¦ itās cheap and great for so many things that I had to share because I love itā¦ ALMOST as much as my Gorilla Wood glue. lol http://www.michaels.com/aleenes-tack-it-over-and-over/10550020.html
Iāve used that for cutting mats for the digital cutters.
Thereās another one thatās even easier - Krylon Easy-Tack Repositionable Spray Adhesive #7020.
(And Iāve run through a quarter of a large bottle of the Gorilla Wood glue this monthā¦stuffās awesome.)
I have a spray glue phobia for some reasonā¦ I really need to get over it. lol It would be good for large surfaces for sure and the brush good for all the little things I use it on
Great idea.