The Laminator

thingiverse

So, what is the laminator? ... And what can you do with it? ... And what can you get? - It's exactly this: The laminator is a simple bonding agent for fixing a hot-laminate film as a removable printing underlay. The preparation of a hot-laminate film to be used as a well-adherent and low-cost object support for problematic PLA filaments (...or special filaments with a similar temperature range.). By creating a very first layer on the laminate film, the film and a carrier plate can be very well connected. Air pockets can be reduced in advance, or at best, they are totally eliminated. In addition, with this first printing process, by observing and adjusting the temperature and motion settings, a later big waste of material due to material warping can be avoided. If the recommendations are correctly implemented, printed surfaces achieve the same gloss level as if they had been printed directly on heated glass (...without adhesive additives.). Once optimally applied, it can be easily printed on the laminate film many times. It lasts for half an eternity until the foil becomes unusable... I have made many other attempts to apply laminate film bubble free, but this method is currently the best for my concerns. - Introduction: The laminator is a simple but reliable bonding agent for fixing a ordinary hot-laminate (PP / PE / film 0.08 - 0.12mm) on a build platform as a easy replaceable print underlay for poor adhesion PLA and (experimentally) other filaments. The main purpose of object named: the laminator ;is a good print preparation. In addition to the fixation of the laminate film, the formation of air pockets between the carrier plate and the film to be applied should be avoided as a precaution. For this, the printhead drives at best over the entire base area and creates a first layer, already with the desired material. In the template, almost 100% of the footprint of the Ultimaker 2 is covered, but of course you can make adjustments with the zoom function of the slicer of your choice. A parallel line structure is created, which must of course be removed before the actual printing process. Already during and after this first step you can determine if the material adhesion and the selected temperatures are optimal for the following printing process. The advantages / disadvantages: - Exemplary example: PLA-HT (by Multec) adheres good to hot-laminate foil. This filament sticks very badly on most common construction surfaces. But it also has many advantages during processing. Because there are almost no lint by retractions and driving without material. Objects with large overhangs succeed better. With this material can be produced very detailed replicas that require very little post-processing. Special filaments or PLA grades with poor adhesion may better adhere to laminate films. No expensive BlueTape, hair spray, or other questionable bonding agent required. Hot-laminate film can be removed at room temperature from many surfaces absolutely residue-free, I have tested it on aluminum with PEI coating. A well-aligned print bed does not need to be re-aligned because the laminate films are very thin (0.08 - 0.12mm). Generally reduce the initial layer thickness by about 33%. So reduce 0.3mm to 0.2mm or just 100% to 66% material flow. Important: This method is NOT suitable for filaments printed at very high temperatures above 195...210 degrees in the first layer, or when material generally needs to be kept extremely warm throughout the entire printing time. Printing with very high starting temperature, this leads to distortions of the hot-laminate film. Generally, a platform that is kept too hot leads to distortions of the printed objects in the transition area. - Have fun experimenting with hot-laminated films...I give no guarantee at this point for success!