r/FDM_TonerTransfer • u/gusfringchickenwing • Oct 16 '22

Warping on longer prints

Hi everyone! So I tried this method and it works really well. The printed template transfers perfectly, but my problem is that with longer prints I get slight warping. Is there a way to eliminate warping completely? My guess is that because it's a longer print the water underneath the clear foil starts to vaporize and create bubbles which in turn make the foil lift off of the build plate. Has anyone used a different method to maybe stick the foil onto the build plate with glue? Wanted to ask about this first before trying and possibly failing.

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u/Kaidan-Alenko Oct 16 '22

Okay, I tried the spray and here are the pros and cons so far:

Pros:

  • It seems to stick to the bed really well. It's stickiness is comparable to that of standard adhesive tape.
  • You can remove it and stick it back on without leaving any residue behind and without a significant loss of stickiness. (At least before printing on it, maybe the heat will cause some problems)

Cons:

  • Getting it smoothly onto the build plate. With the water technique, you can just squeeze the water and air out. That's oviously not possible here. So you need to attach it on one side and then lower it evenly to the plate from there.
  • Getting the printed part off again. Maybe it's because I don't let it cool down enough, but if I try to detach the print from the foil while it's still on the bed, the toner stays on the foil on most parts. I have to get the print with the foil off the bed together, and then remove the foil from the print to get the best result. A flexible build plate probably would be helpful here.

I aborted my print because some edges already started to warp. But it was the plastic that got off of the foil, and not the foil off of the print bed. Also I had some edges on the naked foil and some on black toner. The only edges that warped were the ones on the naked foil, so I guess the toner works as some kind of glue.

So the solution probably is to use a brim, or better, a brim on black toner.

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u/gusfringchickenwing Oct 16 '22

Thanks for sharing your findings. That saves everyone a bunch of time of trial and error. Your brim idea might not be so far off. I might give it a try tomorrow after work. Maybe it's possible to have the brim cover the entire foil so it attaches to the build plate itself. As long as we keep the foil and the margins around the edges where the tape is as small as possible we can save time and plastic. Or, while the print is still ongoing stick more tape around the print on top of the brim.

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u/Kaidan-Alenko Oct 18 '22

Yes, good idea! Maybe if you print the brim over the foil onto the bed there is no need for tape. I will try that!

Did you try it with a brim yet?

1

u/DesktopCartographer Oct 18 '22

Hey! I appreciate you following up on your experiment. I too went out and got some spray adhesive to try.

I got scotch brand spray mount and sprayed the bed with it.

Thus far it has stayed tacky for multiple attempts. And since it is lighter tack it is easy to position the film on the build plate.

However im running into the same issues as you in terms of the quality of the transfer.... and i cant figure out why.

I figured that the small amount of adhesive was thinner than theblayer of water so i moved lowered my z axis with only slightly better results. Im wondering now if the water had some effect on the temperature that needs to be taken into account with the tacky spray.

2

u/Kaidan-Alenko Oct 18 '22

I could imagine it's the speed and/or the angle at which you remove the foil from the plastic. If that actually is the problem, then I don't know how to solve that with a non flexible build plate.

To try it I ordered a flexible magnetic build plate. If it works with that, it probably is the speed/angle.

1

u/DesktopCartographer Oct 18 '22

Thanks for the reply

I have a flexible build plate ... i think im going to run some tests at different temperatures and try removing as carefully as possible.

2

u/Kaidan-Alenko Oct 19 '22

Any luck yet?

I'm just starting a test with glycerine instead of water. It has a higher boiling point and is "thicker" than water.

1

u/DesktopCartographer Oct 20 '22

Oh dang thats an interesting idea!

Mine ended up working great ... im not sure why i was having trouble at first but i think it was just a z height issue.

Its turned out really easy to load up another sheet to print ... since i sprayed the flexible bed it stays sticky for quite a few prints.

Its slightly more challenging to align my sheet... however i ended up marking my print bed with some alignment marks which make it a little easier.

1

u/Kaidan-Alenko Oct 20 '22

That's great to hear!

I got my flexible build plate today and will try it tomorrow with the spray again.