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Combination Flexplate and Micro Porous Glass for R2

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by Lance Weston, Feb 5, 2020.

  1. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    After finding that my prints were coming out slightly curved on the Flexplate face, I purchased Micro Porous Glass for an Ender3 from Amazon. The glass comes with an adhesive on the back and is $12.99. The Glass is 235mm x 235mm x 4mm thick. I purchased an addition flexplate plate that is 235mm x 235mm. I put the glass on the plate. It is slightly oversized but works fine. It gives me nice flat prints. The plate must be slid on and off because the magnets are too powerful to lift it off.

    20200325 I just tested the auto level with the Partsbuilt board. It worked very well. I use circles when setting the offset and never got real good leveling before. The glass plate gave me perfect circles. The auto level went from useless to a very useful tool.
     

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    #1 Lance Weston, Feb 5, 2020
    Last edited: Mar 25, 2020
    tkoco and mark tomlinson like this.
  2. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Very nice. Thank you for the update @Lance Weston

    Update:
    Reference this article: http://community.robo3d.com/index.php?threads/micro-porous-glass-bed-install.23727/
     
    #2 tkoco, Feb 8, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2020
  3. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Was the Buildtak removed before attaching the glass plate to the Flexplate?

    Answering my own question:
    Additional Flexplates ordered from https://www.partsbuilt.com/ come without Buildtak. So no need to remove the Buildtak.
     
    #3 tkoco, Feb 9, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2020
  4. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    A tip for anyone considering having both a regular Flexplate and a Glass-topped Flexplate:

    Record the Z Offset value for each. That way should you swap between two different Flexplate setups, you can "dial in" the Z offset to speed up any leveling of the print bed which might need touching up.
     
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  5. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    A follow up to this thread:

    1) I did not encounter the yellow substance while cleaning the glass plate. However, the PLA stubbornly did not properly stick to the glass. Then I washed it with acetone - available at most retail store in the cosmetic section as "nail polish remover". When shopping for this item, be careful to get the product which is 100% acetone. Nail polish remover products can have extra stuff mixed in which would leave a residue on the print surface.
    After finishing with the acetone wash, I followed it up with a wash of 91% isopropyl alcohol. So far the PLA is adhering to the glass surface nicely.
    2) In Cura, I bumped the overall line width from 0.4 mm to 0.42 mm and the line width setting for brim and the first layer from 0.4 mm to 0.5 mm
    line.jpg

    In the Octoprint scripts, the auto-level routine was disabled. In the official Robo Marlin firmware, the auto-level routine has a flaw in that if the 9 point level measurement is below a certain point, it will adversely affect the print job. Meaning that with a properly leveled glass print bed, the auto-level routine will fail miserably.

    3) I raised the print bed temperature from 40 C to 50 C.

    And @Lance Weston is correct. The magnetic pull between the Flexplate and the magnetic matrix is stronger than the print bed to foundation magnetic pull. If you attempt to lift the glass Flexplate from the magnetic matrix, the entire print bed will lift off instead. So, you definitely need to slide the glass Flexplate from the print bed.

    Also, you should reduce the overall print volume ( Z axis ) in the slicing program by 5 mm to account for the extra height of the glass plate with it's adhesive backing and the Flexplate. ( from the default of 250 mm to 245 mm )

    So far, so good!
     
    #5 tkoco, Feb 15, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 15, 2020
  6. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    I was still having problems getting models to adhere to the print bed. I measured the priming noodle and discovered that the noodle was too thick ( print bed too low ). So I went to the Eprom editor though the LCD screen menus and adjusted the print bed higher. It took two tries to get the noodle thickness to normal.

    Trying another print and see what happens.
     
  7. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Further update:

    I adjusted the Z offset to give me an average 0.3 mm height for the priming noodle. So far the model is not lifting from the print bed. More to follow!
     
  8. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Last report:

    The flatness of bottom of the model was near perfect. Here is a video explaining flatness:
     
  9. Warp Norman

    Warp Norman Member

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    interesting fix. I have two beds. The original with the pogo pins and the second one with direct connection. While playing with the beds, i notice the beds have a dip down in the middle from front to back. I took a high grade square and a feeler gauge. Both beds dipped down in the middle about 400 microns. Just another example of the garbage manufacturing that went into the R2. I took the bed off and placed it upside down with the edges on pieces of wood. I proceeded to stand on the bed with the heel of my foot and bounced up and down. I did this several times while checking it with a feeler gauge. I used my feeler gauge until I flattened it out. It's now within .051mm. I can now get a consistent first layer on lard prints.

    I wasn't surprised to find this problem as the R2 has many problems. Worst machine I've ever used and I've use many.
     
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  10. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    The only issue which I can think of would be the potential damage to the heating element and/or the thermistor or both. The glass plate method gives a flatter surface and does not damage the print bed. By laying down test strips and measuring with a digital micrometer, a glass surface is easily within +/- 10 microns of flatness deviation. My modified print bed shows a difference in flatness of only 10 microns. However, one must keep in mind the measuring tolerance of the digital micrometer.
     
    #10 tkoco, Feb 20, 2020
    Last edited: Feb 20, 2020
  11. Warp Norman

    Warp Norman Member

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    I do like printing on glass but have been moving to pei on flexplate. I have no doubt how flat the glass is.
    Typically glass takes more time to heat up. I'd imaging that I would have lost complete contact do to the dip in the middle of the plate adding to the heat time. Still a nice option for the R2.
    I didn't have any damage to the heating plate. When it was installed, it flexed to the bow in the bed. All I did was straighten it out.
     
  12. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
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    Glad to hear that everything is working out for you. Anytime a heated bed is important for the model being printed, I use the preheat option to get the bed up to temperature before starting the print job.
     

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