Yet another solution for loose prints is now available: Pioneer Pomade can make your 3D prints stick to the print bed.
There are a variety of homemade and commercial solutions to the terribly annoying problem of unstuck prints. If you own a 3D printer, you will have had this problem many times. Plastic extrusion 3D printers must carefully lay down the first layer of the object in a way that sticks to the print bed for the entire duration of the print. If it curls up enough to become loose, the print fails and plastic spaghetti is sprayed all over.
In the worst loose print scenarios, giant hardened blobs of plastic become stuck to the extruder or surrounding parts and hit something, causing printer damage. We’ve seen that happen more than once.
Pioneer’s Pomade is a liquid solution that is applied to your existing print bed. The chemistry of the liquid, when dried, provides a much stickier surface for prints, thus avoiding loose prints.
Pomade seems to come in two formulations, one for PLA plastic and another for ABS plastic, which is currently not available.
Is this the right solution? It could be, depending on your printer setup. You might also consider a homemade approach, where you apply a solution for ABS stickiness: a mixture of ABS plastic and Acetone, colorfully referred to as “ABS Juice”. This works only for ABS plastic. PLA is usually solved by fresh blue painter’s tape.
Alternate commercial products include an increasing variety of “plates” that are attached to your print bed and become a new print surface.
After experimenting with several approaches, we find there’s a slight issue with these print-sticking solutions: they often work too well. It means it may be quite difficult to remove your print from the surface when done. Some of the special printing plates can overcome this as they are flexible, causing the print to simply fall off, but unless your print bed is flexible, you won’t be able to do that with liquid approaches.
Via Pioneer Pomade
