<p>It really depends on the tape. In my case, I've used various types of blue painters tape in bed adhesion situations and have only had one occasion where it sticks to the part. (All experience is with PLA) Best advice I can give is give it a shot, and be sure to wait for the part to cool before removing it from the bed for the best chance at not having tape stuck to the part. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-10T23:16:23.793Z
2019-07-10T23:16:23.793Z
dracotdragon
<p>Leading on from Darth Pixel's <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/9981/why-does-the-painters-tape-have-to-be-blue#answer-9983">photographically informative answer</a> to <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/9981/why-does-the-painters-tape-have-to-be-blue">Why does the painters tape have to be blue?</a>, which showed <em>close up</em> the plastic fibers of cheaper versions of painters tape... as Darth Pixel himself questions:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>is such tape melted in any way in contact with extruded filament?</p>
</blockquote>

<p>In other words, does such cheap, low quality, tape use fibres made from a plastic which has a melting point <em>lower</em> than that of PLA or ABS? If so, does this cause the tape to stick to the 3D print?</p>

<p>Obviously the higher quality (manila/paper) based tapes would not suffer from this potential melting issue.</p>

<p>Does anyone have real-world experience of this? Any photos showing melting would be great.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-07-11T08:15:20.600Z
IMO, even if there would be some melting, it has not very much to do with anything. The importance is that the friction between the tape and the melted plastic is high enough to stick, but low enough so you can get it off when cold. Blue masking tape is (relatively) cheap, abundant, and does the job, that's why it's so popular!
Valmond
<masking-tape>
Does cheap "plasticy" blue painter tape actually melt when printed upon?
Greenonline
# Does cheap "plasticy" blue painter tape actually melt when printed upon?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-10)

Leading on from Darth Pixel's [photographically informative answer](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/9981/why-does-the-painters-tape-have-to-be-blue#answer-9983) to [Why does the painters tape have to be blue?](https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/9981/why-does-the-painters-tape-have-to-be-blue), which showed *close up* the plastic fibers of cheaper versions of painters tape... as Darth Pixel himself questions:

> is such tape melted in any way in contact with extruded filament?

In other words, does such cheap, low quality, tape use fibres made from a plastic which has a melting point *lower* than that of PLA or ABS? If so, does this cause the tape to stick to the 3D print?

Obviously the higher quality (manila/paper) based tapes would not suffer from this potential melting issue.

Does anyone have real-world experience of this? Any photos showing melting would be great.

**Tags:** masking-tape
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: IMO, even if there would be some melting, it has not very much to do with anything. The importance is that the friction between the tape and the melted plastic is high enough to stick, but low enough so you can get it off when cold. Blue masking tape is (relatively) cheap, abundant, and does the job, that's why it's so popular!  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2019-07-10. Score: 1

It really depends on the tape. In my case, I've used various types of blue painters tape in bed adhesion situations and have only had one occasion where it sticks to the part. (All experience is with PLA) Best advice I can give is give it a shot, and be sure to wait for the part to cool before removing it from the bed for the best chance at not having tape stuck to the part.


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