Looking for a ready to use printbed

bartolomeus

I am looking for a new print surface. I know about pei, but I really do not like the way you have to apply it. I always mess up with adhesive sheets.

Is there anything out there that is ready to use, with pre-applied pei or anything else? Or should I just go back to glass bed with hairspray?

dragonn

In my opinion glass is the best but I don't use hairspray. I prefer dedicated adhesive sprays (dimafix works fine) or eventual hegron spary (this is even sometimes to strong).

If you need really something ready to use I would check out BuildTak FlexPlate

carlosspr

I had a good experience with Anycubic Ultrabase. It is a tempered glass coated with some surface that provides good adhesion and prints will "pop" after the bed has cooled down. This last is the main problem, because you have to wait for the bed plate to cool down to remote the print (very easy removal). I tried to remove one print before cooling down and it took some of the coating. I am using it with PETG and ABS without any chemicals or extra adherents.

bartolomeus

@carlosspr said in Looking for a ready to use printbed:

I had a good experience with Anycubic Ultrabase. It is a tempered glass coated with some surface that provides good adhesion and prints will "pop" after the bed has cooled down. This last is the main problem, because you have to wait for the bed plate to cool down to remote the print (very easy removal). I tried to remove one print before cooling down and it took some of the coating. I am using it with PETG and ABS without any chemicals or extra adherents.

Thanks, I have the ultrabase on my Anycubic i3 Mega and on my Hevo. Funny enough it works better on the anycubic than on my Hevo. The first layer on the i3 Mega goes down a lot easier than on my hevo
That' why I want to try something else.

Mike

I've converted to PEI-coated aluminum. I get mine from clever3d.de, but I'm fairly sure you can find someone who does those wherever you're at.

They cut you a flat tooling plate to size and dip it (I think) into some PEI. The resulting coating in very robust (although you can damage it if you try) and extremely convenient. I now use glue-based adhesive aides only for some exotics. It's also a bit less sticky than your usual PEI sheet, so I don't bother with release agents for TPU or PETG.

bartolomeus

@mike said in Looking for a ready to use printbed:

I've converted to PEI-coated aluminum. I get mine from clever3d.de, but I'm fairly sure you can find someone who does those wherever you're at.

They cut you a flat tooling plate to size and dip it (I think) into some PEI. The resulting coating in very robust (although you can damage it if you try) and extremely convenient. I now use glue-based adhesive aides only for some exotics. It's also a bit less sticky than your usual PEI sheet, so I don't bother with release agents for TPU or PETG.

I have been looking at their plates. How durable is the coating? And how flat is the alu plate?

deckingman

Nowt wrong with glass IMO. This was an earlier iteration of my printer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U733PMTou7M

Or if you watch this later one, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HhxSiv5ajs&t=318s, you'll see that with a squirt of 3DLac, you'll be able to print straight onto the bed at up to 300mm/sec (well almost)

look here

bartolomeus

Thanks for the tips everyone. Think I am going for a precision plate from filafarm and use a mirror as print surface.

percar

I have been using PVA Glue (white carpenters glue) Water Mixture and have had no problems. I have a large build plate 300mm x 600mm and prior to using PVA had many problems with the part lifting off the build plate. I now can print large items with no problems....I do have a heated plate. The PVA is also easy to repair. I use 25% PVA the rest water

jmjcoke

@deckingman Yep! 3DLac ended my seemingly endless search for adhesion.

deckingman

@jmjcoke said in Looking for a ready to use printbed:

@deckingman Yep! 3DLac ended my seemingly endless search for adhesion.

Me too. I'd prefer to use nothing at all but a quick squirt of 3DLac just works every time, with every filament. Oh, I forgot to add this little video clip to my first post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG1WqijJ634&t=44s. A 300 mm long tool rack printed on it's end, so very little contact area with the bed.

@deckingman said in Looking for a ready to use printbed:

@jmjcoke said in Looking for a ready to use printbed:

@deckingman Yep! 3DLac ended my seemingly endless search for adhesion.

Me too. I'd prefer to use nothing at all but a quick squirt of 3DLac just works every time, with every filament. Oh, I forgot to add this little video clip to my first post https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG1WqijJ634&t=44s. A 300 mm long tool rack printed on it's end, so very little contact area with the bed.

only issue with 3dlac is that unless you are in the UK or mainland EU no-one will ship it by air as its an aerosol it is considered dangerous goods in our H&S gone mad world, and trying to get even a box of 12 shipped by sea freight makes it uneconomical...

deckingman

@calvinx

Yes that's a bu**er. I just checked the tin and it has stickers to say that it's highly inflammable (as well as being an aerosol). At the TCT show, RepRap World were giving away 100ml sample bottles of 3D Lac that were in a sort of pump action spray. Never seen them advertised for sale anywhere though.

peter247

I'm using 3dlac , but found now I`m using a heated bed and glass the problem is not getting it to stick , but getting it off the bed without breaking it.
So using bare glass and using 3dlac for the part which left.

fma

Strange, I always use 3DLac (a lot, I hate when it doesn't stick) on heated glass bed, and I don't have any problem to remove parts. I just remove the glass, put it on the floor for a quick cool down, and the part unstick by itself.

Before you ask, the mirror is a cheap one, and it never broke, even during winter when I put it in the garage (2-3°C).

deckingman

Yes likewise. I have 3 sheets of glass that I swap between so when one print is finished, I just swap out the glass , give it a quick squirt, and start another print. When the first piece has cooled, the part simply falls off, or at worst, require a slight tap. In fact with large parts, I sometimes hear an audible "crack" as the part contracts and then falls off of it's own accord.

fma

I have the exact same process ;o)

jmjcoke

@calvinx not now, https://designbox3d.com/products/3dlac-3d-printer-bed-adhesive.

Mike

@bartolomeus You have to try quite hard to scratch the coating off - I've never damaged it during 2 years of regular use. The one dent I've made was on a delta when I messed up my probe.

As for flatness... The same as with all the other tooling plate - within 0.1 mm on my 300x200 bed at least. I suspect it'll stay the same with larger plates.

bartolomeus

@mike said in Looking for a ready to use printbed:

@bartolomeus You have to try quite hard to scratch the coating off - I've never damaged it during 2 years of regular use. The one dent I've made was on a delta when I messed up my probe.

As for flatness... The same as with all the other tooling plate - within 0.1 mm on my 300x200 bed at least. I suspect it'll stay the same with larger plates.

Thanks Mike, thats good info, I like the aio solution of a PEI coated plate and no clips to keep the print surface in place.

Mike

@bartolomeus Yeah, the lack of any maintenance needed apart from the occasional wipe is what sold it for me. But ideally I'd prefer something like the Prusa MK3 solution - a permanent PEI coating on a detachable surface. This way it's not that big of a problem if you do scratch or mess it up and it lowers the downtime between prints a great deal. All while enjoying the maintenance-free 3D print adhesion wonder that is PEI.