Printing on the glass I've read all kinds of stuff people do to try

@rubin_kingma well my printer isn’t huge but I’ve printed a cactus pot that was about 6" in diameter and it came out great.

I regularly switch between pla and a abs roll I’m trying to use up, the only safe way I’ve found is a wipe over of PVA glue on blue tape, even with heating the bed. Bigger prints keep lifting on the edge.

I use Aquanet Extra Hold on a heated bed for ABS and reapply every 3-4 prints and clean the bed once in a blue moon.

I bought 2 custom cut panes of picture frame glass at my local hardware store. It cost me less than $6 after tax. The glass is secured with foil tape commonly used for heating and cooling applications. just a thin strip folded over the edge and then wrapped around under the heated bed. This holds it tight and the foil tape really helps with heat transfer. Over the glass I apply several really thick layers of hair spray. I use the cheapest stuff I can find in a pump spray bottle, not aerosol. When the bed looks bad I wipe it down with alcohol and then reapply the hair spray. Hot plastic, both PLA and ABS, sticks really well when the bed is how but when it cools the parts are usually quite easy to remove.

Blue tape on acrylic here; no heated bed. PLA and TPU stick well, PETT is challenging. My printer probes the bed with a heated hot end which is unfriendly to alternate surfaces. I’ve been considering a move to glass or tape-on-glass. Kapton sounds like a good idea. No interest in spreads or sprays, personally.

@Tim_Visible I don’t want to mess with anything if I don’t have to. That’s why I just print right on the glass without anything on it. It’s been working great so far.

Played with glass too. It’s great for glassy bottom surface. However, it’s too sensitive for the gap errors, temperature fluctuations, and ABS doesn’t stick well to bare glass due to the warping. 3M Blue Tape is the king because it’s cheap and allows to print even ABS without the constant heating (turn off after the first layer sticks).

I’ve been printing PLA directly on heated glass for the 6 years I’ve had a printer. Works perfectly fine as long as the glass is clean and z endstop is set correctly. If first layer is too low it sometimes takes a chunk out of the glass.

From my experience watching the community, glass works for some people, but not at all for others. Don’t know why. But I love using it.

ABS needs some abs juice, but TPA prints just as well on my setup.

@Peter_Hertel I’ve only been printing PLA and don’t really have a reason to use anything else at this point. It’s cheap and does what I want.

Sure, nothing wrong with PLA, it’s awesome. I also use it almost exclusively. :slight_smile:

I only use ABS for the odd part which needs to withstand higher temperatures (as some extruder parts etc), and the TPA is for the wheels on my openrc F1.

Every single lad in Spain print over glass. Every one of us do it

By the way, PLA is not good for anything in the car (sun heat is enough to deform almost any part with enough time). In fact, not good for any serious outdoor use either. In direct sunlight or even sitting in the pocket parts are getting out of tolerances (e.g. I almost lost my uSD flashdrive usually sitting tight in the PLA sleeve on a keychain after a prolonged hike in the sun)
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@Alex_Koukarine I could see that. I know it’s a pretty soft plastic and wouldn’t put it in any situation where heat could be an issue.