One popular option when 3D printing is to have the printer draw a loop or two around the print before starting. This serves several purposes: it clears the print head for one thing. It also marks the area of the print bed in use and many people use it to adjust the leveling if necessary. However, the little scraps of plastic do add up. [Makers Mashup] decided to try something different and now uses what he dubs the landing strip and kisses method.
The landing strip turns out to be a piece of blue tape and the kiss in question is like the chocolate kind and does not involve pressing your lips against the nozzle. There’s a wizard that generates startup code for you that has the style of purge if you like.
Is it better? That’s probably a matter of opinion. You still get little drops of plastic to recycle or dispose of. If you use the skirt for other purposes, you might not find this as useful. But maybe it is just your cup of tea and it costs nothing to try — assuming you have a roll of blue tape hanging around.
You may not care about the bed-level aspect of a skirt if you have a really flat bed or really good autolevelling. If skirts hanging around your shop really bother you, maybe just automate their disposal.