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Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 11:44 am
by hghowe
I've printed a set of boxes on my Rostock Max v2, and I can't get them off the plate!

I used the enclosed purple elmer's glue stick that came with the printer - it was well dried. The boxes are about 4" x 4". I have tried heating the plates, cooling to room temperature, putting ice in the boxes, putting ice under the plate, putting ice over the plate, applying a palette knife to try to wedge in between the boxes and the plate (nothin' doin'!), and lots of brute force pulling and twisting on the boxes. I can't get the darn things to budge!

Any thoughts on what to do next?

I've always used masking tape or Kapton tape on my other printers, so this is a new one for me.

Thanks in advance...

<*> Harlan

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:00 pm
by Polygonhell
How tall are the boxes.
What I usually do (and you do it at your own risk), is apply a sharp force to the print.
i.e. I take the glass plates, hold it at 90 degrees to the edge of my bench and briskly bring it down so that the plate misses the bench and the part hits it.
Now there is obvious risk here, I wear gloves when I do it, but I've yet to break a glass plate or print, but I rarely have to do this and just because I've been lucky doesn't mean you'll be.

The reason I believe this works is that you just need to break the seal between the print and the glass, and it will pretty much fall off.

You can also try soaking the plate in warm water, to dissolve the glue, but IME this doesn't release the print.

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 12:45 pm
by hghowe
Oh, it was PLA, by the way.

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 2:07 pm
by DavidF
brake plate, remove print. :mrgreen:

I use razor blades to slide under the print in various locations to loosen it up ;) the square single edged ones, not the ones for razor knives...

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 2:08 pm
by Outsider
soak the plate in warm water to dissolve the Elmers glue

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 5:34 pm
by hghowe
Well, I wound up using a variation on the Desk-edge trick from polygonhell. It worked, but destroyed the print. I'll try David F's (second) suggestion and Outsiders next time.

Thanks, all!

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 5:38 pm
by Glacian22
I've had good luck with putting the plate in the freezer, PLA prints pop off on their own and I haven't had the glass break yet.

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 7:54 pm
by thedoble
Strongly suggest against using force to remove the print from the plate. Eventually you will pull chunks of glass out of the plate and then you'll need a new one.

What always works for me is putting the plate in the freezer for 10 mins. It should pop off with almost no force. Sometimes I open the freezer and the print has fallen off on its own.

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Tue Jan 19, 2016 9:53 pm
by DavidF
thedoble wrote:Strongly suggest against using force to remove the print from the plate. Eventually you will pull chunks of glass out of the plate and then you'll need a new one.

What always works for me is putting the plate in the freezer for 10 mins. It should pop off with almost no force. Sometimes I open the freezer and the print has fallen off on its own.
Ive had a print or two that did not respond to any sort of thermal removal efforts. I did a spoof thread on here somewhere awhile ago, ill have to link it here....

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 10:29 pm
by hghowe
I'd tried suspending the plate over a batch of ice, but I hadn't actually put it in the freezer.... I may need to eat some ice cream to make room.

Had a batch of short, flat objects get a little bit stuck today, but the razor blade did the trick on that one. I feel a lot better about that than the hammer! I'll try the freezer next.

I may also switch from glue stick to Aqua Net....

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Wed Jan 20, 2016 11:26 pm
by Windshadow
Try a can of electronic diagnostic freeze spray shoot it at all he part and it pops off. Just needs a short spritz

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 12:01 am
by nitewatchman
+1

I use this on stubborn parts, nothing like a little -60F persuasion.

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Thu Jan 21, 2016 9:00 am
by mhackney
I suggest doing a test print of a single layer object (you can find one in the link in my signature) to make sure you are not printing with too low of a Z. If your layer hight is .20mm then the test print should be .20mm. If it is lower than that you are going to continue to have problems getting the part off the plate. Another tell tale indication of the nozzle being too close is the top surface of that first layer is going to look ratty and not nice and smooth.

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Fri Jan 22, 2016 11:49 am
by Eaglezsoar
hghowe wrote:I'd tried suspending the plate over a batch of ice, but I hadn't actually put it in the freezer.... I may need to eat some ice cream to make room.

Had a batch of short, flat objects get a little bit stuck today, but the razor blade did the trick on that one. I feel a lot better about that than the hammer! I'll try the freezer next.

I may also switch from glue stick to Aqua Net....

Send the ice cream to me the next time you need to make room in the freezer! ;)

Re: Removing print from plate!

Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2024 6:49 pm
by paulb
soaking in warm water doesn't work, although the plate did break when I was trying to work it loose.