Remove [disable] heatbed swap in Perf Board and Rafting

[Kingoddball]

Hi!

Been thinking of ways to improve my i3 printing, by lower the heatbed use.

What I want to do, is try lower the power consumption so I can use a standard laptop PSU (maybe a large powered HP).
Main issue - I want to make it safer, I'm using a 330W PSU hand wired, I'd rather a nice safe PSU with a barrel jack connection. (yeah, I can add another plug connection).

Had a thought of disabling the heatbed and trying to add in perforated board and adding 'rafting' type material to the gcode (or mouse ears as mentioned in another thread - thanks).
With the perf board, the PLA/ABS will sink/bite into the holes on the board and grip well enough to possibly remove the need for the heatbed.

Has anyone tried something like this?

I'm looking at copying the UP! Mini style of printing.
I got an UP! Mini last week and I like the way it works, and thinking of implementing some of this into my i3.

Has anyone tried anything similar?


Edit: I have a few other ideas rolling around - One is "true" headless printing.
When I get my initial prototype made, I'll throw it up here.

[RobH2]

That would be an interesting modification. A plug and play power supply would be nice if you had to replace a power supply.

About a heatless bed, I was reading a forum last night and they were talking about printing on either acrylic sheet or polycarbonate, can't remember which for sure, and that it was working well as an unheated bed. Maybe you can find it in a Google search. If I run across it again I'll come back here and post a link.

[old man emu]

How many amps do you need? I'm running my MakerFarm with a 19 amp ATX power supply. It seems to have plenty of grunt.

OME

[RobH2]

You need a minimum of 11 amps on the 12v supply side. I'm using an old ATX 18 amp supply and it works great.

[KDog]

I have a homemade printrbot that I'm using a 15A radioshack power supply on. I use hairspray on my bed and a temperature of 70C. Seems to work ok. Not sure if you will be able to bring the power requirements down much more. You use the basic ohms law here. Resistance is going to be difficult to modify as it is designed into the design of the bed. Voltage you can probably double, with the correct power supply, and bring the current requirement down but it is still going to be fairly high.

[RobH2]

I don't think there is any need to reinvent the wheel when it comes to PS's unless you need something super small and or want to build one yourself. You can get this (Logisys Corp. 480W 240-Pin Dual Fan 20+4 ATX Power Supply PS480D2) at Amazon for $18.54 USD and it supplies 16A on the +12V rail. And if you are an Amazon Prime member the shipping is 2-day free. Can't beat that.