BuildTak 3D Printing Build Surface, 8" x 8" Square, Black (Pack of 3)

I have tried so many different ways to fix the issues I have been having with adhesion to the bed of my printer. I tried the blue tape with glue, the other "specialty tape" with and without glue, wet blasted my aluminum bed to make it rougher so it adheres, acetone and abs slurry which did ok but is quite the hassle and not to mention toxic and horrific smell with lots of prep with little to no success for abs and only slightly better with PLA. I figured I would give this a try at recommendation from a friend who has been researching different methods since he was having the same issues. I have a heated bed and nothing I found was working and it was almost enough for me to sell the printer and buy a much more expensive one with heated enclosure and many more higher end features. I figured that for less than $30 this was a more viable option before spending over $1500 and potentially having the same issues. I was skeptical despite all the videos and reviews showing how well it worked. I sat and watched the entire first 3 prints I did since usually about halfway through a print I had severe issues with warping and adhesion which caused it to get stuck to the nozzle and make a blob. I tested the first 2 with PLA and it was very hard to get off the print surface but came out dimensionally perfect. Then I got brave and tried a large 80% infill part with ABS expecting the same issues I had before to ruin my print but after 6 hours of checking it every 20-30 min to make sure nothing went catastrophically bad I ended up with a perfect print to my surprise. Buildtak has taken me from udder and complete frustration and 0% confidence in 3d printing to starting a 17 hour print and walking away before even the extruder has started to heat up. I have run 2 spools of abs and one spool of pla at this point and am on my first sheet yet and only minor damage from trying to get my pla print off which was my fault cause I used a flat exacto blade to pry it which left a mark in my buildtak(yes I know they say not to pry it like that but I had no other way to get it off it was 7.5"x7.5"x6" and an enclosed printer) even with the small mark in the buildtak it is working perfectly and yes I did print over that mark with no issues. I want to try the magnetic system they developed so I can take it out of my printer and bend it to remove it(supposed to be much nicer for large prints) but am going to wait until this sheet becomes unusable which from what I have read and experienced will be quite a while until that happens. I am a firm believer in this product and while I am still very new to 3D printing I guarantee I will not be attempting a 3D print without this product ever again. I am officially a customer for life!!!!

After inconsistent results with kapton, and getting really tiered of using glue sick and hairspray (and all the constant cleanup) to get my prints to stick, I gave BuildTak a try. Totally worth it!Once I got my bed height dialed in and found a good temperature, this works like magic. I can hit print and walk away, the first layer always sticks. I've been using it on my DaVinci 1.0 and Solidoodle 3 for more than a month, hundreds of prints and and over 5 spools of ABS filament without a single failed print due a print coming loose from the bed. I've run very large ABS prints that have problems with warping and popping off the bed, but the large prints stay stuck down on the BuildTak. (See picture of a 20 hour print with ABS)You will need to adjust your bed height and play with temps. With the print head too close or the bed too hot the print is nearly impossible to remove. I found lowering the heated print bed 5 degrees and slowing down the first layer speed gave good results.I would recommend picking up a print removal tool like 3D Print Removal Tool to avoid gouging the BuildTak and letting the bed cool down to at least 45C before trying to remove the print.The only downside is that printing a fist layer height of 0.1mm is difficult because the textured surface causes the first layer to be really messy at that height. I end up printing on a raft for 0.1mm prints. 0.2mm and up is just fine.

This has worked great compared to any other method I've used for holding a print to the build surface. I've gotten some rather large square parts in ABS to come out with very little warpage using this. Don't expect to be able to get a part that doesn't warp at all when you are going large and square just by switching to this for your build surface, that's just not feasible, but do expect them to come out much better. You'll probably still want to use brims on those parts too.It's strength is also its weakness. It can be almost impossible to get parts to come off. Expect to destroy the first couple of sheets while you try to figure out how to print using this surface. After you get it right, this will last you up to 20-30 prints before you have to replace a sheet, depending on your prints. You'll start to get some bubbles in it after a bit from pulling the prints off. Nothing hugely noticeable, but worth noting.In the end, you might not be able to justify the cost of this material. I personally rated it down a star for price. It works well, but is pricey, and there are alternatives out there that may not work quite as well, but are substantially cheaper. This material works wonderfully for me because I am able to recoup the cost of the material and then some from my prints. Your mileage may vary. If you are going to go for this, I'd suggest ordering two packages and being prepared to fiddle with it. Start your print head high and adjust down. You don't want to mash the print into the build plate like you might when using other methods, that is a recipe for disaster. You'll probably go a bit higher than you normally would when using this.