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Time for Aluminum bed.

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by KTMDirtFace, Sep 5, 2016.

  1. KTMDirtFace

    KTMDirtFace Well-Known Member

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    How does glue stick work on the bare aluminum?

    I only put painters tape on because I don't have any bed heat right now.

    It seems to be printing well, so i'll tackle adding the bed heater this week.

    [​IMG]
     
  2. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    For me glue stick was too messy, I only ever used it with Nylon filament. Hairspray on plain old float glass works wonders. I haven't found anything that won't stick, even ABS stays put.
     
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  3. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    printing directly on aluminum has issues over time (scratching and staining). I like the idea of adding a cheap piece of glass over the aluminum. Then you can use hairspray/glue/whatever like you do know. It also makes sure your build surface is flat. Some none high end machined aluminum plates will have some imperfections.
     
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  4. KTMDirtFace

    KTMDirtFace Well-Known Member

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    When I get my IR sensor installed, I plan to put my Fleks 3d plate on top of the bed anyway. I was getting annoyed having to wait for the nozzle to cool and pick the boogers off before auto leveling so I wouldn't melt the fleks plate.
     
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  5. KTMDirtFace

    KTMDirtFace Well-Known Member

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    Been printing on the aluminum bed with PLA no bed heat and tape.. it seems pretty dang flat. I don't have a good picture of the first layer, but i'm not using mesh leveling yet. just using the normal auto leveling. Maybe it will get all warped when I heat it up. I bought the bed from onlinemetals.com had it cut to size.

    First layer on these was the same across all. Not something I normally see lol.

    [​IMG]
     
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  6. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    Depending on the thickness and whether or not you bought plate or sheet (they actually differ) can have a factor as well, as being machined. Mine has a very small dip in the front left (~ 0.04 mm), too small to hammer out and I am not sure it isn't the cheap glass I got from Lowes either. One day when I am not too lazy I will flip the glass around to see if it changes anything. One thing I can say for sure, the bed heats much more evenly and does not flex nearly as much as the old glass bed did. I should have done this ages ago.
     
  7. KTMDirtFace

    KTMDirtFace Well-Known Member

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    I bought milled? aluminum from onlinemetals.com cut to the size of the robo bed. I believe I got 1/8" / 3mm thick. Been awhile so I forgot.

    one side of it had plastic on it i had to peel off first. I would give you the exact link to what i ordered but I think I ordered without making an account so I can't find what it was.

    anyway it seems pretty dang flat. I have some other 12x12 sheets of aluminum from amazon that are bowed to all hell... I use them for TIG welding practice.
     
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  8. SPyKER

    SPyKER Active Member

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    Thank you guys for figuring this out for us. As soon as I upgrade to the linear rods instead of slides, this is will be on the agenda. I'll likely wait until there is a need instead of just doing it right away, as I have to print a lot of "dreamworks" first.
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Mine is en route :)
    I am replacing an old beta (part wood/part glass) bed with the 600 mm rails from BangGood and this:

    "1/4" x 24"x 10" ALUMINUM..." has shipped.

    :)
     
    #69 mark tomlinson, Apr 10, 2017
    Last edited: Apr 11, 2017
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  10. SPyKER

    SPyKER Active Member

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  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yep. That is the one
    That will fit width-wise (10") and the length (24") matches the new rods (new rods are 600mm which is just shy of 24" -- 23.622).

    Only thing I might loose is a little speed on the Y axis if is significantly heavier. Even then I might simply swap in a stepper with more torque. <shrug> I am going to see how it works before doing that.
     
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  12. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Just think how many benchies I could print on that in a single pass...:)

    This will end up on the volcano machine which we use for printing larger stuff anyway so really no harm, no foul.
    I may just bump the nozzle a little larger too.
     
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  13. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    you thinkin about this all wrong my friend...its think of how HUGE a benchy you can print lol
     
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  14. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    Are the rails you mention linear rails like these http://a.co/8M7N9fC or something else? How are you planning on attaching them?
     
  15. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    At MRRF I talked to some guys from Google Make and Science division who were using aluminum build plates infused with PEI from http://clever3d.com/. It was infused on both sides and is advertised be permanent. The adhesion was crazy when heated. A small surface area print would rock the printer when you tried taking it off with the bed at temp, but would pop right off once cooled. They swear by it. I thought it was pretty cool. Just food for thought for folks looking for an aluminum bed solution.
     
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  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Did not know about that, thanks :)
     
  17. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  18. SPyKER

    SPyKER Active Member

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    The link goes to the Deepinterface site... I think you wanted https://clever3d.de/en_US
     
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  19. danzca6

    danzca6 Well-Known Member

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    Yes! Yes I did sorry.
     
  20. KTMDirtFace

    KTMDirtFace Well-Known Member

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    Well I guess maybe I do need to install my bed heater..or use rafts for long skinny things.

    Tried to print this tonight, on my lexan on top of the aluminum. new IR sensor works awesome, but the PETG curled up pretty bad on all the ends.

    https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2228928

    Will try with a raft and probably end up installing my 110v 350w heater and SSR soon. see if that helps hold it down.
     

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