We’ve received a sample of the Magigoo 3D printing adhesive and were eager to try it out. Magigoo is supposed to work with both ABS and PLA materials as well as others and has been specifically designed to keep the 3D print firmly stuck to the bed while printing thus resolving the “first layer not sticking” problem. The idea of this product is to help the 3D printed part to stick while the build plate is hot and to allow the easily removed when the build plate gets cold. The 3D printing adhesive is intended to be used on surfaces such as glass or Kapton tape for example that usually do have some trouble with prints sticking to them well if you do not have a heated build plate. Magigoo is originally designed to be used with heated build plates, but it will also work on cold beds, though the effect might not be not be as good when you have a HBP available. We have tested it with a glass build plate and with glass with BuildTak on top of it with both cold and hot build plate using PLA and ABS filaments and we do plan to continue with ome more exotic filaments as well. Before starting the test we were actually most interested in the effect of Magigoo on BuildTak as this is so far the surface we have found to work best for our 3D printing needs.

The Magigoo 3D printing adhesive is very easily applied and you need to wait a bit for it to dry out on the surface before you start printing, if you are using a heated build plate it can dry even faster than on cold bed. On glass it works great with both PLA and ABS, even printing multiple times without reapplying more Magigoo after each print and you still get good results. The 3D printing adhesive works great for PLA on cold build plate – sticks well and is easily removed, but using ABS on cold plate still leads to warping of our test prints, although the prints have a bit less warping. The temperatures we used for the heated build platform was 50 degrees Celsius for PLA and 100C for ABS and with these settings Magigoo worked great – the printed parts stick very well and are then very easy to be removed.

With BuildTak covering the glass surface we have experienced interesting results. Magigoo works well in general, but not as good on glass. When we try to remove the 3D printed model it detaches with all of the Magigoo that was applied on the BuildTak surface and is not so easily removed as from glass, but it is still easier to remove as compared to when using BuildTak without Magigoo. Still the good thing is that using Magigoo on BuildTak still helps a bit to make removal easier and to reduce the wear level of the surface, one of the biggest issues it has due to the too good sticking properties that the BuildTak has.

In short, we are happy with the results that the Magigoo 3D printing adhesive provides in helping 3D printed parts to stick better on surfaces such as glass where they may have trouble sticking well on and then making it easier to remove the finalized parts from the build plate. If you are using BuildTak as a print surface you already should have great adhesion, so Magigoo won’t help in that, and due to the good adhesion the removal of 3D printed parts from BuildTak even with Magigoo is still not that easy as when using glass. The greatest problem we still have with BuildTak surfaces is that they wear off and can be easily damaged while trying to remove larger objects that stick too well on the surface and thus you end up having to buy more often new build surfaces. So if you are using BuildTak, the Magigoo is probably not going to be very useful for you, but if you use glass or Kapton tape then the 3D printing adhesive might be a great addition to your 3D printing tools, making your life easier.

Magigoo is already available for order and you can purchase an applicator bottle containing the 3D printing adhesive that should last for over 100 prints for a price of 15 Euro without VAT and get it shipped Worldwide to you for additional 5 Euro. There is also an option for a more expensive express shipping within the European Union available.

– For more details about the newly released Magigoo 3D printing adhesive…

• First Impressions from the Smooth-On XTC-3D 3D Printed Parts Coating
• MakerBot Replicator 2 Extruder Thermal Image
• Our Impressions from Using the M3D Printer
• First Impressions from the BuildTak 3D Printing Surface
• Trying out the Magigoo 3D Printing Adhesive
• Experimenting with Unusual Tape for 3D Printer Build Plate and ABS
• Experimenting with Unusual Tape for 3D Printer Build Plate and PLA
• More Experience With the Smooth-On XTC-3D 3D Printed Parts Coating
• Trying to 3D Print with Larger 0.8 mm Nozzle
• First Impressions from the XYZprinting Nobel 1.0 3D Printer