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I saw this posted on another forum, and was wondering if you guys think using an etched glass print bed would work better than the normal print beds. To me it would seem as though you would get a better grip using etched glass. Has anyone tried this, or know of anyone that has?
my printer comes with a glass bed. i do know one or two guys that have had their bed etched or bought etched glass and they say it works better but it still depends on what your printing. it wont bond abs alone or anything like that but if you like glass and you want a little more bite then yes. i removed mine and replace it with a piece of mic6 aluminum which i glass beaded on one side. i like that much better. the heat is more even and a few coats of hairspray fills the etching and i can just keep printing and printing on the same surface.
I'm wondering if having glass on the print bed may be one of the causes of prints lifting. On my printer, the thermocouple that monitors the print bed temperature is attached to the heater pad. I wonder if the surface temperature of the upper surface of the glass sheet is the same as the temperature of the heater pad. I'm getting "corner lift" despite all attempts to keep the glass clean and the use of good quality hairspray. I wonder if there is a significant temperature difference between the pad and glass, and that is what is causing the problem. The people who use Kapon tape directly onto the heater pad don't seem to be getting this "corner lift" as much.
The area where my printer is working is draught free, and the ambient air temperature has been around 30C.
Old Man Emu
Ome, what kind of plastic are you printing
3mm ABS, colour: blue
As I write this, I have my print bed heating to 115C and I am going to wait for about 30 minutes before I go out to start a print job. Current ambient air temp is 27C
OME
Ome some things will bond abs better than others but in the end and depending on the shape of the part abs will lift. Its a force of nature. You can try to control it best you can but if you do manage to get it bonded then you will end up with cracks. If you have a box with tall sides you always want to model some mouse ears on the corners. I never print in pla. Always abs and it can be a pia to control sometimes. I have a trash can full of failed prints from curling. I recently found a filament however that has the best of both worlds of abs and pla. Heat resistance close to abs but ease of printing easier than pla. No warping or curling. My failed prints have dropped to almost zero with it which brings the cost down in line with abs. Goto www.madesolid.com. Its their pet+. Awesome stuff. I still have a half dozen rolls of abs here but when thats gone the pet+ is all im going to use.
This attempt was a monumental FAIL. I got corner left on a rectangular 30mm x 45mm x 6mm block , and for some reason, the gear that I was trying to print at the same time just came out as a rough edged column of ABS squiggles.Quote:
Originally Posted by old man emu
I read some stuff on the madesolid site. They suggest a coating of PVA glue on the glass. I'll give that a try.
Can you run 1.75mm filament through a 3mm extruder? It seems that 3mm filament is going the way of the Dodo.
OME
no your filament has to be matched to your extruder. for abs the strongest bond i have ever gotten is kapton tape coated with the abs juice/glue. for a decent sized box i will use that with mouse ears modeled on the box corners. i printed my electronics box which is around 6"x6"x2.5". was done in black abs and i got no warping with the ears on the corners and bed temp at 95deg. it was tricky but i got it. now with the pet+ from madesolid i can print a box 8"x8"x8" all day long and go over without a hitch.
I think I have found the cause of my problems. My heated pad dips down in the middle, so that when the extruder tried to lay down filament where it thinks Z = 0.2mm is, the bed is actually at Z = -0.5mm. The filament has cooled before it hist the bed. I can fix the problem by propping up the middle of the pad by putting some 1/4/ x 1/4 balsawood sticks between the carriage plate and the pad.
I tried the trick of laying down a wash of PVA and water on the glass. It seems to provide good adhesion.
OME