Build Tak printing surface claims to replace hair spray and tape

It works better for PLA. ABS and Buildtak can be a hit or miss, but works wonders for PLA.

As far as replacing hairspray, let me put it like this. We have a Dremel printer at work which comes with a BT-like surface and while it worked well, I am currently printing on hair spray and mirror with 2 year old PLA with no issues. The BT is worthless the second it tears whereas painters tape for and hair spray are far more abundant and affordable.
I like BT for PLA, but I'm not made of money

I wouldn't say it tears easy, but I will say the prints stick too well which leads to impatience.
Again, I must specify that it works best with PLA in my experience.

personally have never tired buildtak - i see no need to since the hairspray works fine for me. If something is being unusually difficult (wont stay down) then I break out the glue stick, but that is pretty rare these days. If that doesnt work, then there is always ABS slurry...

proper bed leveling and good 1st layer are far more important - IMHO

PrintinZ sent me a prototype to test and while it was not perforated, it did have some ridges in the surface just enough to "catch and bond" the first layer. The benefit to their material was that you could flex the surface to pop the part off. I want to say they have since changed it up a little so their product is more competitive with the likes of BT, but I haven't gotten the "official" surface to test and report on.

Sometimes BT works too well and it ends up shooting you in the foot, huh?

That's the one. PrintinZ makes the Zebra.
Like I said, the surface I got from them was when they were still Alpha testing. The end result is different from what I understand, but the benefit of that over BT is that it doesn't tear in a week or two of average use.

i haven't used my buildtak for many prints. i printed a replacement quadcopter arm in ABS on buildtak at 230C/100C. my experience was that the print was stuck solid to the surface when hot, but came off easily after cooling. which is exactly how it is supposed to work no?

Hi All,

This is Wayne from PRINTinZ. We make the Zebra Plate that Azerate mentioned above.

http://www.printinz.com/zebra-plates/

He tested an earlier version of it quite a while back. The current version was launched this past July (2015) and has been well received. It is a higher priced option than BuildTak, and certainly more than hairspray or painter's tape, but it is an entirely different material and the value is there. The outer layers are a thin fiberglass construction and are very durable. You can see in some of the videos on our site they can handle a good bit of scraping. They can also be sanded to clean up the surface.

We are going to launch a peel and stick version of the material very soon, called the Zebra Skin. It is the black or white outer layer of the plate with an adhesive backing. We've been selling this in beta for several months now and have been very happy with the results. It isn't flexible, of course, but we have found that many people buy our plates for the adhesion properties, the surface finish and the durability, and the flex feature is secondary anyway. The Skin is a great option for heated beds. ABS sticks well with the surface at 90C. Nylons will stick with some help from glue stick, just like many other print surfaces.

We don't have the skins on the website yet (as of Feb 2016) but if you will email me I can give you a price for one. Just as a reference, a 10" x 10" is $19 and we price them by area. Free shipping in the US.

Below I uploaded a photo of a 140mm x 140mm test square of ABS printed on a skin on a Da Vinci Pro with the bed at 90C. There was no lifting and the part removed cleanly. Right after that I printed a 100mm square of PETG and it also stayed put, then it self released when it cooled.

Wayne Huthmaker
PRINTinZ