With Alta products not being readily available in stores I began looking for an alternative to be able to easily get my hands on in just about any store! And so the use of blue painters tape began! Follow along to see how I use it! This post may contain affiliate links. These links support this blog but never costs you anything extra to purchase thru. By using these links this helps us keep all of our information free for your use!

So all you need to do this is blue painters tape I use the Duck brand quick release tape so my platform stays clean. You can purchase it on Amazon typically with Prime shipping or even locally at Wal-Mart or any lumber store typically around the paint sections of either store.  I use 1.5″ wide tape and find it fits the platform nicely in 4 strips with very little excess.

Please excuse my well used platform! We have seen some struggles that have made me scratch the acrylic some!

When I start applying the painters tape I start from one side of the the little gap on the platform. I leave a little overhang on the top and bottom and later trim with scissors.

After that I place to the right of this strip. When lining them up you don’t want to overlap or leave any gap.

There are two things that can hurt your print if not lined up properly. If there is a gap in between the tape the filament will fill in that area and leave a ridge of material when removed from the platform. This is fixable with sanding the back of your print but to prevent having to do that remember you want as little to no gap as possible. The other thing that could happen is if you overlap the tape that you will have an indent in the back of your finished product. This to me is worse because you will have more sanding to do to even out the back. So the goal is to have no overlap and as small of a gap as you possibly can.

Now apply the last two pieces again trying to keep the gap and overlap to a minimum.

Once that is completed I use scissors to trim off the excess tape from around the edges. I don’t worry about being to neat and fold down anything that sticks up from the sides slightly. And that is it! You are ready to print without having to order and wait for platform tape since these products are not readily available in stores. So if you use this exclusively like I do or just when you are waiting for a replacement pack of platform tape this will help you print successfully with easy to find products!