Ive been trying to print some really large parts of a tricopter (thingiverse.com/thing:149762) and even in PLA it would warp badly enough that it was unusable. When I printed on blue tape, the edges would bend upwards. I tried increasing the bed temperature but that makes the glue of the tape less effective and the print would actually pull the tape off the glass bed. I know some people are successful printing PLA directly on the glass, but that never worked for me.
In a desperate attempt, and because I had run out of blue tape, I decided to try something I read once upon a time: ordinary paper. Now paper doesnt stick obviously, so even when taped to the bed it will allow bulging. But here is the thing, it will allow bulging in the center of the bed, not at the ends where its taped to the glass. And the model will curl up at the edges, not the center. TO further reduce any chance of warping, I increased my bed temperature to 70C, hoping it would keep the PLA flexible enough to not bulge.
With the exception of one small flaw, the first layer was put down better than any first layer Ive ever seen on my printer. The layer has lot of tiny holes, and it looked like it came out of a laser printer instead of an extrusion printer. The timelapse is still processing, but here you can see my printer laying down the second layer on top of the first one:
youtube.com/watch?v=alGU2cBL … e=youtu.be
Look at that smooth finish.
When the print completed, I wont lie, the front ends of the print (right top and bottom in the video) were still curled up ever so slightly, but its perfectly usable this time
The biggest surprise: the print came off the paper with no trouble at all. I had feared I would have to somehow dissolve the paper as I expected the PLA to fuse with it, I thought I might even need to sand the model, but nope, it popped off without leaving any traces! In fact it came off so easily I wonder how well it really stuck to it in the first place.
Anyway, thought Id share. Ill post some pics of the object later.
