Issues printing onto aluminum build plate with adhesive
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@jens55 Yes, I've used glue stick before. It works well, but not for some materials. Print parameters are just fine. What is recommended for high temp use >150C? What do commercial printers use for a build surface?
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@Surgikill, sorry, no clue what is used > 150C. Heck I wouldn't even know how you would keep the heater attached to the bed as the normal adhesive that is commonly used will fail at those temperatures.
I have never seen a pad heater that is good beyond 150C. All the printing materials you list use less than 150C for bed temperature. Looking at PC, borosilicate glass with a layer of gluestick glue as a seperation layer is recommended. PEI might be a suitable surface. FR4 might work. I think it all depends on the material you are printing with. -
@Surgikill said in Issues printing onto aluminum build plate with adhesive:
@fcwilt Unfortunately, that won't really work for the temperatures and materials I am looking to print.
Interesting. What temps and materials are incompatible with their system?
Frederick
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@fcwilt PEI and other high temp engineering grade thermoplastics. I don't want to go spending 100$ on a system that is 1) Incompatible with my bed and 2) Will be damaged by the materials and heat from the bed.
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@Surgikill said in Issues printing onto aluminum build plate with adhesive:
@fcwilt PEI and other high temp engineering grade thermoplastics. I don't want to go spending 100$ on a system that is 1) Incompatible with my bed and 2) Will be damaged by the materials and heat from the bed.
You can print PEI using BuildTak - unless you are using temps way beyond the norm.
Thanks.
Frederick
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I think I might have found my problem. Build plate is way below setpoint. I assumed that thermal transfer would be better than glass, but I'm guessing the heatmass is preventing that. Setpoint of 60c and build plate surface is only reading 43C. Bumped setpoint up to 80C and build plate was at 59c. Seems to be printing fine now.
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@Surgikill yup, that would do it ..... I have a larger printer with a glass plate and I had to introduce a lengthy delay when starting up to account for the delay of the glass plate heating up. The sensor is right next to the heater so it shows a reasonably quick heat-up but the thermal resistance between aluminum bed and fairly thick glass plate requires much longer to get up to temperature.
An aluminum plate also makes for a nice heat sink (not too many heat sinks are made of glass
) which could further complicate life.
You might want to verify that, with the much higher temperature setpoint, your aluminum build plate does not overheat 10 or 15 minutes after the print starts up. -
@jens55 Well, at 60C setpoint it stabilized at 43C. I monitored it for an hour and noticed no upward trend, so I'd say it's steady state at that point.
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@Surgikill yes, sounds like you have things covered.
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Have you tried kapton tape (which is extremely heat resistant), or the off-brand Koptan that comes from China (and is MUCH cheaper). They are an absolutely marvelous print surface. The only trick is the initial application of the tape, to get it smooth an bubble-free. Once you have a nice layer, it lasts a very long time. The silicone adhesive on it sticks nicely to aluminum, and works fine up to beyond 300C. I bought a roll of 9" wide tape (the Koptan from China), I think a pound of it, a few years ago for maybe $40. It is a lifetime supply.
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@mendenmh I'll have to try that if I have issues. Right now the goop that I'm using is working perfectly
