Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate

jens55

@theruttmeister said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

I seem to remember that you can get granite surface plates fairly cheaply these days though.

Get's expensive once you add the cost of the hydraulic lift to raise and lower the plate
On the bright side, it would be a real solid printer approaching a ton .....

... and you are right, I had forgotten that we want to stick a heater on the bottom so carving things out to reduce weight is not an option.

Michael Hathaway

MIC 6 aluminium cast tool & jig plate [theruttmeister]. I am building 650 x 1000mm x 13mm. However I am removing some of the mass with a grid of 12mm holes underneath which will hold neodymium magnets. The bed surface will be supported at multiple points using Peek insulators.

Michael Hathaway

@jens55

Get's expensive once you add the cost of the hydraulic lift to raise and lower the plate

alt text

deckingman

@jens55 said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

@theruttmeister said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

I seem to remember that you can get granite surface plates fairly cheaply these days though.

Get's expensive once you add the cost of the hydraulic lift to raise and lower the plate
On the bright side, it would be a real solid printer approaching a ton .....

... and you are right, I had forgotten that we want to stick a heater on the bottom so carving things out to reduce weight is not an option.

Just out of interest, I checked the cost of granite surface plates here in the UK. 1,000mm x 1,000mm comes at a thickness of 150mm, cost is about £1,850 and it weighs in at 450 Kgs.

jens55

Pocket change .....

jens55

@tinken said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

@jens55

Get's expensive once you add the cost of the hydraulic lift to raise and lower the plate

That's cheating if you leave the bed plate stationary .....

jens55

@deckingman said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

Just out of interest, I checked the cost of granite surface plates here in the UK. 1,000mm x 1,000mm comes at a thickness of 150mm, cost is about £1,850 and it weighs in at 450 Kgs.

Ot of curiosity, how long does something like that take to heat up with ummmm a 3KW heater ?

Phaedrux

@jens55 About 1 and a half hours. Source: https://www.warmlyyours.com/en-CA/countertop-heater

You didn't specify the temperature.

jens55

I get impatient after a couple of minutes

deckingman

@jens55 that's 11/2 hrs to gain 20 deg F. So to go from say 20 deg C to 60 deg C would take about 6 hrs assuming that heater would go that far. But then counter tops aren't normally 150mm thick like a granite surface plate so I'd say multiple that by 5 giving around 30 hours (and probably about the same amount of time to cool again).

Michael Hathaway

@jens55 said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

I get impatient after a couple of minutes

My configs were set to F6000 [Phaedrux cringed]

o_lampe

@deckingman said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

Just out of interest, I checked the cost of granite surface plates here in the UK. 1,000mm x 1,000mm comes at a thickness of 150mm, cost is about £1,850 and it weighs in at 450 Kgs.

Maybe you can find a cheaper one at your local tombstone makers? They often have 2nd hand stones

vistalert

@slimshader hey thanks for the insights. I'm not a first time builder, and all of these "safety" aspects are built into my current (pardon the pun) 525x525x8.5mm build plate.

8.5mm? Yep it was an extruded aluminium plate milled down from 10mm to until had <= 0.1mm deviation across the surface. This is kinematically mounted, so expansion is taken into account. Mains powered/SSR, of course, fuse, of course.

Weight is easy to calculate once I know a thickness that is required to reduce the bowing to an acceptable level.

Thanks again.

vistalert

@theruttmeister yep much of what you've said on aluminium I've either done on previous build (525x525 + kinematic mounts). The granite is a fascinating idea too.

Here in Perth, Western Australia, we focus on getting iron ore out of the ground. So buying a tipping tray for a 250tonne capacity hail pack is easier than getting MIC6. Typically we have to wait weeks. Also shipping interstate at rates where shipping doesn't rise above material cost, can take weeks, if needed the thing you want is available in country.

So sometimes we have to get creative

vistalert

@jens55 I do like the look of that. Reminds of the Jubille. Very clean build.

Cheating? Who made the rules?

vistalert

@o_lampe I did contact one tombstone supplier, but they were a dead loss!

I don't know if it was CoVid invoked, but the guy couldn't stop coffin. (ouch)

I think if anybody could make a printer lift a monolithic build plate, it would be @deckingman

vistalert

@jens55 we are kindred spirits.

vistalert

So the best answer to the question sounds like ~22mm

jens55

@vistalert said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

@jens55 I do like the look of that. Reminds of the Jubille. Very clean build.

Cheating? Who made the rules?

I am glad you like that build .... alas, it isn't my build. I seem to think that @Tinken posted the picture.

theruttmeister

@deckingman said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

Just out of interest, I checked the cost of granite surface plates here in the UK. 1,000mm x 1,000mm comes at a thickness of 150mm, cost is about £1,850 and it weighs in at 450 Kgs.

Talk to a a supplier out of china. You can get just about any thickness and size. Getting something from a supplier like Starret requires you convincing them to violate all their company values.

Heck, I'd probably start by going to my local kitchen granite store with a straight edge. You'd be shocked how flat just regular granite slabs are once they polish them.

And the 305x305mm granite bed I built back in the day took 4-8 times longer to heat up and probably even longer to cool down, compared to MIC6.

@vistalert said in Requirements to have a 1000x1000 aluminium build plate:

@theruttmeister

Here in Perth, Western Australia

we live in the most remote city in the world

So sometimes we have to get creative

I lived in the Other Perth once, long ago. Not as much sun, but much more convenient... for just about everything!