Aluminium for Print Bed - 1050, 5083 & 6082
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Looking to replace my aluminium bed with one a bit larger to avoid the hot end touching the clips, but I noticed that there is three main type of aluminium available - 1050, 5083 & 6082. There is very little in the price between them, so the question is does anyone know if one is better than the others. In this use case, I guess the two main properties is that it's flat and that the plasma cutter they use to cut out the discs would cause the least warping.
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I once asked the same question. You are looking for aluminum tooling plate (Mic6 Alca5)
Check out this thread.
https://www.duet3d.com/forum/thread.php?id=3622#p31824Hope it helps
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Well just to follow up on this, I went with the 6082 as it appears to be the most heat resistant of the three, purchased from Lakeland Steel at 380mm dia and 6mm thick, it was cut and delivered quickly but has a 1.5mm bow/bend in the plate in one direction and rough freshly cut edges. They have offered to replace or refund it but certainly its been very disappointing. So far in my experience, if the supplier uses plasma to cut it I think its best avoided.
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yep I agree I had one from there that was also bowed since then I have always used Cast Tool plate (ECOCAST) from Aluminium Warehouse https://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/aluminium-plate-cut-to-order it is guaranteed to be flat (it is milled on both sides) and is relatively easy to cut with a domestic Jigsaw with a decent Metal blade in it or if you can find a water jetting company they should be able to cut it nicely for you.
HTH
Doug
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yep I agree I had one from there that was also bowed since then I have always used Cast Tool plate (ECOCAST) from Aluminium Warehouse https://www.aluminiumwarehouse.co.uk/aluminium-plate-cut-to-order it is guaranteed to be flat (it is milled on both sides) and is relatively easy to cut with a domestic Jigsaw with a decent Metal blade in it or if you can find a water jetting company they should be able to cut it nicely for you.
HTH
Doug
Interesting, that ECOCAST is half the price of the 6082 I got from Lakeland, and its supposed to be easy to machine, probably could have cut this on my CNC machine. Damn.
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I have had several from them now (ECOCAST that is) as have a few friends and non of us have ever had any issues with it not being flat or distorting when heated
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Same here. I bought 400 x 400 x 10mm thick (should have just used 8mm) from Aluminium warehouse. No probs at all.
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Hi!
I wanted to buy a tooling plate from clickmetal, but they only chip to UK… Any idea where I can get such tooling plate to France?
Thanks.
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Same here. I bought 400 x 400 x 10mm thick (should have just used 8mm) from Aluminium warehouse. No probs at all.
wow that`s a heavy plate , my 6mm one is a heavy plate.
I got my 6mm 440 x 420 from clickmetal.co.uk and not sure if that has a bow .
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Speaking as a machninist/journeyman tool & die maker/mechianical and manufacturing engineer (yes, I'm old), what you want is commonly known as aluminum "jig plate". It's more formally known as MIC6. https://www.mcmaster.com/#=1c9j1n4
Jig plate is normally very flat on the top/bottom so it will make a decent heat bed. 5000 series aluminum is generally used in fabrication (punching/forming) applications, and as such, can be flat, but is usually sheared which can leave the sheet twisted. I used .25" (~6mm) 5000 series for my 12" X 12" (300mm square) printer and it's fairly decent when it comes to flatness. I should have used jig plate, but it was a bit more expensive and we had the 5052 here in stock.
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I got 450x480 8mm here, https://www.clickmetal.co.uk/click-by-category/plate/aluminium-tooling-plate , I must say it was impressively flat, but I haven't had a chance to cut it to final dimensions and use it in anger yet as I'm still mulling over design details.
