The Blue Polyester Heat Resistant Adhesive Tape for electrical insulation 3D Printer?

The 3D printing technology has become, it’s not beyond simple solutions to its inherent issues. From DIY enclosures to safety pins as nozzle-cleaning implements, everyday items have proven to be valuable in the practice of 3D printing.
3D Printing has rapidly grown in popularity and accessibility. What used to only be possible in advanced laboratories is now possible in the comfort of the home!

Whatever your purpose for 3D printing, whether professionally or just for fun, there are many components that play into the quality of the final product. One of the most important is bed adhesion.

One of the more useful tools in the arsenal of a 3D printing professional is adhesive tape. Granted, you can’t use just any tape for 3D printing, but you also don’t need to look beyond your standard hardware aisle. What kind of situation calls for adhesive tape and how should it be used?

What kind of adhesives tape are used for 3D printing?

Options for 3D Printing Bed Adhesion

PEI sheets, or Polyetherimide sheets, are adhesive plastic sheets designed to withstand the cycles of heat in 3D printing. On one side, they adhere to the build plate, and on the other they allow you to build your 3D prints.

While are supposed to be reusable for up to a month, the soft plastic can be dented and damaged very easily. A build plate that isn’t perfectly level can ruin a print. Investing in a PEI sheet can be risky because if it is damaged during an early print, the sheet can become unusable.

Adhesive Spray

Another option for bed adhesion is adhesive sprays. You simply spray the adhesive onto the plate and start printing. This route is easy and allows you to maintain a level bed. Plus, cleaning up is simple too, as most sprays are soluble in water.

Even though this is certainly a convenient method of getting your prints to stick, it is not the most effective. Getting an even stickiness to the bed with a spray can be difficult, and often it can be hard to get the bed to be sticky enough.

Blue Polyester Heat Resistant Adhesive Tape

Blue Polyester Heat Resistant Adhesive Tape’ tape is the classic tape used in 3D printing. Designed specifically to not leave an adhesive residue after removal, this tape is appropriately used mostly when painting walls and furniture. This very same characteristic lends itself well to 3D printing.

Painters’ tape is cheap because it’s basically paper with adhesive. It’s cheap, can be bought anywhere, and is very easy to apply. There are also smoother varieties of standard painters’ tape, which would be ideal for reduced post-processing work.

Ideally, Blue Polyester Heat Resistant Adhesive Tape’ tape should peel off your print bed without leaving residue. The only problem is that painters’ tape is not exactly designed for high-temperature applications. If you’re printing with a heated bed, the heat may end up mobilizing some of the adhesive in the tape and transferring them to the bed.

Another drawback of painter’s tape is that it peels off a bit too easily. Thus, you’re likely to end up with a finished print that has a stubborn layer of painter’s tape at the bottom.

High Temperature Polyimide Tape

In technical terms, Yousan tape is made of a polyimide material. It is generally used as insulation for electrical wires and circuits. With this in mind, we can expect Yousan tape to better handle heavy-duty situations.

In the field of 3D printing, the main advantage that yousan tape brings to the table is its heat stability. Standard Yousan tape can withstand temperatures of up to 270 degrees C without its adhesive breaking down. This makes Yousan tape the ideal choice for printing in heated beds.

On the flip side, applying yousan tape is a lot harder than painters’ tape. yousan tape has this stubborn consistency that makes it more prone to having trapped bubbles. For this reason, we recommend buying yousan tape that is as thick as possible. Trust us, this is going to save you a lot of headaches.

Another problem with Yousan tape is that it sticks a little too well to the print bed. Removing the finished print from the print bed is not an issue. However, when the tape gets damaged, it’s very hard for the tape strips to come off cleanly. You’re more likely to end up tearing away at the residual Yousan strips with frustration.

Yousan tape is only a little more expensive than masking tape or Blue Polyester Heat Resistant Adhesive Tape’ tape, so the price isn’t really an issue. You might have problems finding Yousan tape in nearby stores, though, so it’s best to just buy them online.

High Temperature Polyimide Tape for 3D Printing of ABS Plastic

Yousan Tape manufactures a wide range of polyimide tapes, each with different backing thicknesses, adhesive types, release liners and treatment layers. When doing 3D printing of ABS however, what you should be concerned about with your polyimide tape is:

Make sure it is thick enough. 2 mil is a perfect thickness for the heat cycles and to ensure a smooth working surface.
Make sure it can withstand high temperatures
Make sure it doesn’t bubble when applied
Make sure that it removes easily and that residues come off easily with rubbing alcohol
With these criteria in mind, these are the products that are recommended for the 3D printer platform when printing ABS plastic. Each of them are available 508mm (20 inches) wide.