Made a new bed out of aluminum for my 12"

Just wanted to mention an upgrade that is well worth the time and cost. I ordered a 12"x12" sheet of .125" 6061 Aluminum from amazon and used it to make a new bed for my 12" printer. The stock wood bed would warp uncontrollably especially when printing ABS at 110° bed temps. I used the existing bed and transfer punches to mark the holes on the new bed. The only thing I did different was that I replaced the Y axis belt holder assembly with one from Thingiverse that I modified to use round holes instead of the rectangular ones in the stock bed. The other issue is that 12"x12" is borderline too small and I had to drill out the bolt holes in the heat bed just a bit so that the bolts would catch the corners of the bed. I ended up tapping the bed hold down bolt holes in the AL plate.

.125" is more than stiff enough for the replacement bed and it is working great.

How is the flatness?

Is this just generic stuff or high tolerance milled?

Just generic milled.

IMO it doesn't need to be super flat, you have springs and bed leveling screws to adjust the levelness of the printing surface. Whatever you are printing on is what needs to be flat, you need the base plate to be stable and not warp with heat.

I think I paid under $15 for the aluminum.

Cool! I'm having one crack at a fix for the wood bed, but if that doesn't work out, this was exactly what I was thinking of trying. Thx!

Oh you mean you werent printing on this surface? I misunderstood.

You can get just about any width 6061 aluminum in 1/16" increments from this place & thickness up to .19 https://www.midweststeelsupply.com/s...1aluminumsheet
This is probably what I will buy one of these days for my 10"machine & buy a 12" for future use if I ever have major issues with my plastic build plate.
I would make a little plastic drill guide for the holes, so they would line up well.

Having it cut to the correct size makes it very appealing to me.
The shipping more than doubles the cost, so cheaper to buy 2 in case you mess one up.
.19 Thick 6061 10.375" square for $12.21 & $13.64 shipping
$13.64 shipping for 1
$17.07 shipping for 2
.19 Thick 6061 x 12.375" square for $15.26 & $13.64 shipping
$16.26 shipping for 1
$17.90 shipping for 2
Not much difference in cost from 1/8" to 3/16" when you consider shipping cost.
.125 Thick 6061 x 10.375" square is $9.75
.125 Thick 6061 x12.375" square is $11.75
I have also been thinking about making a CNC machine for such projects as this.
I just do not have a really good space to cut the metal.
This DIY project looks quite interesting & fairly reasonable price to build.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:724999

I ordered mine from amazon so I got it with free prime shipping. I don't think you will gain anything by going from 1/8' to 3/16" other than adding additional weight. Again I just used a set of transfer punches and used the original bed to mark the new on. It worked out fine. It only took me ~ 1hr from start to finish.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PyramidDave

You can get just about any width 6061 aluminum in 1/16" increments from this place & thickness up to .19 https://www.midweststeelsupply.com/s...1aluminumsheet
This is probably what I will buy one of these days for my 10"machine & buy a 12" for future use if I ever have major issues with my plastic build plate.
I would make a little plastic drill guide for the holes, so they would line up well.

Having it cut to the correct size makes it very appealing to me.
The shipping more than doubles the cost, so cheaper to buy 2 in case you mess one up.
.19 Thick 6061 10.375" square for $12.21 & $13.64 shipping
$13.64 shipping for 1
$17.07 shipping for 2
.19 Thick 6061 x 12.375" square for $15.26 & $13.64 shipping
$16.26 shipping for 1
$17.90 shipping for 2
Not much difference in cost from 1/8" to 3/16" when you consider shipping cost.
.125 Thick 6061 x 10.375" square is $9.75
.125 Thick 6061 x12.375" square is $11.75
I have also been thinking about making a CNC machine for such projects as this.
I just do not have a really good space to cut the metal.
This DIY project looks quite interesting & fairly reasonable price to build.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:724999

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Cool. I will keep that in mind if I decide to upgrade to that.

thx.

do you mind sharing the Y axis belt clamp? I actually have a sheet of aluminium sitting at home, I have a bunch to print but i am having trouble right now... it might just be time to shut the printer down for a day to get this done...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by sniffle

do you mind sharing the Y axis belt clamp? I actually have a sheet of aluminium sitting at home, I have a bunch to print but i am having trouble right now... it might just be time to shut the printer down for a day to get this done...

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Here ya go

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:880755

In case you want another option, here is a clamp that I designed to use with my 2 part plastic y-bed & only uses 2 drill holes in the bed.
Just print the clamp part only from this thing: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:824227
It looks like this.
Attachment 6316
Here is also one that will use 2 of the square holes and the center hole on the wooden build plate.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:824458