The last full printing day before Maker Faire Nova, I went to start a print on the Wanhao and the whole machine shut down.  The LCD Panel went black, the steppers turned off, the works.

Anomaly?

I turned the machine off and on and tried again– same result.

I turned the machine off and on and then went to Quick Settings->Preheat PLA— same result, the machine died.

I figured the worse, but I did a quick Google search and the very first link I pulled up was a discussion on Thingiverse about how the motherboard can’t always handle the load of the heated bed.

Hmm….  Worth an experiment.

I turned the machine back on and I tried just heating up the Extruder.  The machine kept running.

Well if the 3D Printing Dieties were trying to stop me from printing on that Wanhao, there is something they don’t know:

I actually kinda like printing on Painter’s Tape!  🙂

I know, I know.  I’m in the vast minority.

• I fancy how fast I can start and remove prints (not waiting for the bed to heat up and cool down).
• I also like how if my first layer is a little too close and the print wants to  be stubborn coming off, I have the freedom of just using the BuildTak Spatula to rip the tape to remove my object.
• Finally, for things were I want the top layer and bottom layer to be similar in appearance (like dice or spinning PokeStops), I find the Painter’s Tape to have a better match than the shiny gloss that comes with a heated bed— particularly a glass heated bed.

The things I wanted to print didn’t need a heated bed, so I resliced with no heat and the show went on!