MakerBot Industries

Charles Pax and I were up late and explored the world of sanding down the kapton tape on the MakerBot heated build platform. Charles found that sanding added a lot of “tooth” to surface which increases the amount of surface area and makes the plastic adhere to it with more constancy.

Charles wrote it up on his blog:

After an initial bit of frustration with the heated build platform I sanded the surface with 220 grit sand paper, increasing the surface area significantly, thus increasing the adhesive force. Since doing this I’ve had fewer failed prints, most of which were due to the Kapton being too cool.

The heated build platform greatly reduces warping of prints and so if you’ve been wanting to make bigger things on your MakerBot you should get it!