Experience with Bed Adhesion Agents[edit | edit source]

Adhesion scale:

  1. Hopeless - didn't adhere at all
  2. Evidence of adhesion, but parts come loose too easily
  3. Blue tape-like adhesion - sticks well but some issues with warping and/or occasional parts coming loose from bed
  4. Superior to blue tape - stays flat, very few issues with parts loosening
  5. Kryptonite bond - parts almost never come loose

Finish scale:

  1. Blue tape-like mottled finish or adhesion agent sticks to part on removal from platform
  2. Intermediate - glassy and mottled or some adhesion agent comes off with part
  3. Glassy smooth

Ambient bed temperature indicates the bed was unheated.

PLA Adhesion[edit | edit source]

Platform Material Bed T, °C Adhesive Adhesive UPC Adhesion Finish Comments
Glass mirror 50 None NA 3-4 3 First layer distance from nozzle to bed is critical.
Glass mirror Ambient None NA 2-4 3 First layer distance from nozzle to bed is critical.
Glass mirror Ambient Scotch® purple glue stick Cat. 6115 5113159109 TBD TBD TBD
PET tape Ambient Scholastic® glue stick TBD 4 2 Required occasional reapplication, gentle wipe with wet towel refreshed surface nicely.
Glass mirror Ambient Scholastic® glue stick TBD 4 2 More frequent reapplication than with PET tape, didn't respond as well to wet towel.
Window glass Ambient Elmers® spray adhesive TBD 5 1 Sharpened putty knife needed for removal and readily stuck to part.
Glass mirror Ambient Scotch® purple glue stick Cat. 6115 5113159109 4 2
Glass mirror Ambient Elmers® Washable Disappearing Purple School Glue Stick E523 2600000523 TBD TBD TBD
Glass mirror Ambient Suave® extreme hold hairspray 7940018158 2 3 Unreliable adhesion
Window glass Ambient Tresemme® TBD hairspray TBD 1 NA No evidence of adhesion.
Window glass Ambient Pritt Stick 96010242 4 2
Granite Tile Ambient School Smart Purple Glue Stick 078692 4 2 Light application each time, remove buildup with razor blade, no wet towel

ABS Adhesion[edit | edit source]

Platform Material Bed T, °C Adhesive Adhesive UPC Adhesion Finish Comments
Window glass 100 Blue tape TBD 4 2 Required occasional reapplication, gentle wipe with wet towel refreshed surface nicely.
Window glass Ambient PLA raft on blue tape NA 3 1 Worked well with small part, need testing with larger parts.
Window glass 110 ABS and acetone slurry NA 4 1 Part comes off easily when bed returns to room temp

Silicone Adhesion[edit | edit source]

Silicone sticks to almost everything, so adhesion can actually be a problem when it comes to separating the part from the print surface. The following table follows the same format as previous tables, but in this case poor adhesion is a good outcome.

Platform Material Bed T, °C Adhesive Adhesive UPC Adhesion Finish Comments
Window glass ambient Wax paper NA 5 NA Once cured, there is no separating the part from the wax paper. If attended to before completely cured, it can be separated.
Window glass ambient HDPE NA 1 NA The HDPE was cut from a milk jug and was not flat, which presents a different problem. The cured part separated beautifully.

Other resources for bed adhesion[edit | edit source]

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Authors Jerry Anzalone
License CC-BY-SA-3.0
Language English (en)
Related 0 subpages, 1 pages link here
Impact 700 page views
Created May 3, 2014 by Jerry Anzalone
Modified May 21, 2023 by Irene Delgado
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