Cardboard: Alternative 3D Printer Bed Adhesion

Hi everyone!

Recently, I bought a china-made "come3D" 3d printer, based on the outdated makerbot thing-o-matic. It can only print in a size of 12*12*12 cm! ...But its still ok for me:)

Yesterday, I accidentally lowered the extruder and causing it to tear out the kapton tape from the heatbed. I didnt got the kapton tape on my hand so I have to order it online. But before it arrives, I decided to try other materials for adhesion. I have found that many people use 3m's blue painter's tape and oven glass for adhesion, but I dont have them on my hand neither. After some experiments, I found that the simplest material for adhesion, is CARDBOARD!

In this Instructable, I am going to show u step-by-step of how to use cardboard as adhesion for your 3d printer.

Step 1: Things to Prepare

Below are the things needed:

A cardboard (a smooth and glossy one will be better and it must be bigger than the size of your heatbed)
Tape (a 3m scotch tape will be better)
A ruler
A cutter
A cutting mat (optional)

Lets get started!

Step 2: Cutting the Cardboard

Using a ruler, draw the size of your heatbed on the cardboard. In my printer, the size is 12*12 cm. It might not be the same as yours, so make sure that u got the exact dimension of your heatbed.

Then, pick up your cutter and cut it out. You should now have a piece of cardboard in the same size of your heatbed.

Step 3: Sticking Tape on to the Cardboard

In my experiments, I found that directly printing on to the cardboard will cause the bottom of the finished printing to become white as some of the top layer of the cardboard stuck on it. Sticking some tapes on the cardboard can solve this problem.

Step 4: Adusting the Home Offset of the Z Axis

Depending on the thickness of your cardboard, you may have to adjust the home offset of the z axis by 1-2 mm. It is a must to do so, as you might destroy or harm your nozzle by crashing with the cardboard.