1 Topic by JustSomeGuyTN

  • JustSomeGuyTN
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Topic: Cleaning the Kapton, pure Acetone or Nail Polish remover?

Just wondering if it was ok to use generic nail polish remover to clean the kapton on the print bed or if it needs to be pure acetone from the hardware store.  I've been using nail polish remover and it's worked up until recently.  I've been getting some bad areas of no stick with some black SD brand ABS.  Some spots are where there is a hole in the kapton which makes sense.  But some spots are on kapton.  It almost looks like the line is pulling away from where it's supposed to stop.  So I was wondering if using the nail polish remover added some sort of a film to the kapton that's making it too slick in some areas.

2 Reply by lawsy

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Re: Cleaning the Kapton, pure Acetone or Nail Polish remover?

Lots of talk about dodgy Solidoodle black lately. Test another colour and see.

I don't know much about nail polish remover but I assume it's just acetone. Probably not though.

lawsy's Website

3 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: Cleaning the Kapton, pure Acetone or Nail Polish remover?

Solidoodle was backordered on filament for a bit, and started shipping it again in the last couple of weeks.  For everyone who is having trouble with the black, did you just get it recently or have you had it awhile?   If they start using that batch for production, they may be in for some trouble.

4 Reply by pretenda

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Re: Cleaning the Kapton, pure Acetone or Nail Polish remover?

Mine was shipped on the 14th of October. The first half of the roll seemed to be alright, but now its just giving me grief.

5 Reply by HelmutK

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Re: Cleaning the Kapton, pure Acetone or Nail Polish remover?

Read the label of nail polish remover. It has a ton of extra ingredients in it.
Like Glycerin, Gelatin, fragrance, etc... I would not use it to clean kapton tape. I could very easily see it leaving a slick non-stick residue on it, especially if the bed is hot. If you do not want to use pure Acetone use what I use...Isopropyl Alchohol. I use a 70% solution, with water being the inactive ingredient, and it works great for cleaning my kapton tape and keeping it sticky for printing. It actually almost works too well and for larger prints I have to let the bed cool below 70C to remove the print without wacking out the bed adjustments trying to pry the prints off. I bought the Isopropyl Alcohol at my local grocery store.  Also know as rubbing alcohol.

6 Reply by JustSomeGuyTN

  • JustSomeGuyTN
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Re: Cleaning the Kapton, pure Acetone or Nail Polish remover?

Thanks helmut, I will try the alcohol.