Noob question and did I just damage my heatbed?

noobmaker

Hi everyone, just got my A5 as a gift.

Assembled everything and I already have a question: my model arrived with blue tape all over the heatbed, is that just for protection, or is it needed for adhesion? As I asked on reddit the question because I didn't find this forum earlier, I was advised to leave the tape on, and so I did my first test print.

The print worked, but it was a struggle to get it off the tape, so much that I tore a little piece of it, and I'm afraid I may have damaged the bed underneath.

Here's a couple of pictures, can anyone tell me if that is actual damage, or just something that needs to be removed with a solvent of some kind?

Any hint would be appreciated, thanks!

<img src="https://jgmakerforum.com/uploads/editor/34/gu27qwmnidk6.jpg" alt="" title="Image: https://jgmakerforum.com/uploads/editor/34/gu27qwmnidk6.jpg"><img alt="" src="https://jgmakerforum.com/uploads/editor/tr/wenhrkskrn02.jpg" title="Image: https://jgmakerforum.com/uploads/editor/tr/wenhrkskrn02.jpg">

rhaub101

Hard to tell from the pic. Try to clean it off with isopropyl alcohol. Could just be adhesive from the tape.

Samuel Pinches

Welcome @noobmaker!

I don’t worry too much about minor marks on the bed... everyone ends up making mistakes now and then, and they won’t significantly affect the bed adhesion. 

noobmaker

I thought that the bed should be pretty resistent, but I just wasn't sure.

I'll try cleaning with isopropyl alcohol and see how it goes, don't I have to do it anyway after each print?

So, I'm guessing the tape has to go then, right?

Samuel Pinches

Its more important to do it if you touch it with fingers, as the oils may make the next print stick. I probably wipe it down every 5-15 prints? The tape is there as "training wheels" to help you get your first layer levelling process down pat. A lot of users don't level the bed, and then watch as their nozzle grinds a nice brass coloured line into the bed on their first print....

noobmaker

For bed leveling there is also a sheet of transparent paper which is provided explicitly for that purpose.

Can you confirm the blue tape has to be removed then, leaving the black dotted bed underneath?

Samuel Pinches

Yes, you should remove the blue tape on the bed.

I don't recommend using the transparent paper.

For a first time, I recommend strictly following the bed adhesion tips on the wiki.

http://jgaurorawiki.com/a5/bed-adhesion

They are conservative to result in a fool proof first layer.

Once you get that working, feel free to change the recipe as you find works.

Best of luck!