Solved Suggestions for printing with damaged print bed

I would like some suggestions from you guys about a problem that has bitten me. I’ve been printing for 2 ½ years on my Robo 3D 1+ and disaster has finally struck. I was printing with PETG and forgot to coat the bed with hairspray. The print took some chunks of glass out of my print bed. The print bed for the 1+ is out of stock at Partsbuilt. I’ve registered to be notified when it is back in stock. But I would like to find a workaround that would allow me to continue printing while I wait for the replacement print bed to become available. I am thinking along two lines…

Option one is to go to a glazer (or maybe just Home Depot) and have a glass piece cut to the size of the current print bed, buy a set of replacement magnets from Partsbuilt, and put them together to make an unheated replacement print bed. Take the damaged bed out, put the “cold” bed in, and just use adhesive techniques like hair spray to get successful prints on the cold bed. I’ve never printed on a cold bed before. Is this approach feasible? What are your experiences printing on a cold bed?

Option two is to cover the existing damaged bed with some surface like a PEI sheet or a flexible print bed sheet to bridge over the craters. I'm thinking possibly attaching a flex cover to the existing bed with binder clips. Then I’d have to adjust the z height (with a G-code command in MatterHacker?). I’m not familiar with these products beyond what little research I’ve done on them since I fragged my print bed a couple days ago. Would this work? Which would product would you guys recommend?

Any other approaches you guys might suggest that would get me back into the game while I wait for the print bed to be restocked?

 

Thanks for the suggestion! It seems like a simple solution that maintains a heated bed.

By float glass I assume that includes the stock stuff offered at Home Depot. I have stained glass tools (cutters, breakers, edge grinder) so I could take a stock sheet at HD, cut it to match the existing print bed, and soften the edges enough to make it safe.

Then I think I would need to adjust the z level by the thickness of the added glass plate. I am venturing into new territory here. I am using MatterControl 2.20 for control. I think I would need to add a command to the starting G code (after the bed leveling command) to position the head upwards along the z axis by the thickness of the added glass panel. Am I correct?

 

Thanks for the help! I’ll make a Home Depot run tomorrow, cut it down, and try it out.

 

I found a 10" x 12" x 3/32" pre-cut sheet of glass at Home Depot that would cover the print area (so I could skip the cutting and buffing of the edges). I had to use 3 binder clips on the right side of the print bed only one in the middle of the bed on the left side. The left side is too close to the printer's plastic covering shell. If I leave the ears on the binder clips sticking out on the left side, they hook on the printer's covering shell except unless the clip is smack in the middle of the bed. And if I fold the ears down, they bang into the undercarriage during homing operations. But this clip layout anchored it securely enough

My first attempt to print Benchy failed because I didn't wait long enough for the new glass plate to heat up... the first layer wouldn't adhere. I added some hairspray, waited a couple more minutes until the new glass plate felt at the right temp to the touch and made a second print attempt which was successful. The underside of the prow drooped a bit, but that has nothing to do with the glass plate. It is due to my lack of skill in fine tuning the print parameters for PLA.

The glass plate was $2.97. At that price, it is a consumable. If future PETG prints crater it, I can just buy another one.

So resurfacing a cratered print bed by laying a glass plate on top of it is a success. I am back in the game! I just need to change my workflow/timing a little during the heat-up of the bed. Thanks for the suggestion.