Has anyone installed HBP on a Z18?

[Brew3D]

Hi guys, just signed up to the forums but have been lurking for a little while now. I have two PowerSpec Pro 3D printers and print almost exclusively with ABS on glass.

I have an opportunity to purchase a Z18 at a ridiculously low price. It's a company I do work for and they could not successfully use it. After using the PowerSpec for a year and working with ABS I am intimately familiar with my machines, LOL!

I initially wanted to jump on the z18 deal until I discovered they advertise it for PLA but never mention ABS. At that point I started doing a lot of research and discovered the heated chamber. I also discovered that for a $6k machine it sounds like a piece of crap. While a few people praise it, many more seem to hate it. I am aware these are not plug-n-play machines and require patience and knowledge to work with. However, regardless of the price I don't want to sign up for continued frustration! If it's something I know others have been able to conquer I will accept the challenge, but if everyone before me has tried and failed, I would look to pass on the deal.

Anyone familiar with this machine I don't want to revisit all the issues but I have a few questions. 1) Has anyone worked through the issues to the point where you can print effectively? 2) Has anyone attempted to install a Heated Bed Platform on the Z18 for printing ABS? 3) Has anyone been able to produce non-warping ABS prints utilizing the heated chamber instead of adding an HBP?

Of course I have tried google searching the HBP questions and tried searching on these forums. Unfortunately, "z18" is too short of a term and the search engine on these forums.

If anyone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. Thank you!

[Roberto]

Howdy
Shortly said: one can use ABS on Z18, but with a lot of patience and knowledge of course.
Heated chamber can heat up to 55dc. This alone is obviously not enough for successful preventing warp at ABS.
I was successful with non-MB filaments of special ABS.

There is third party heated bed on market with proper size (30cmx30cm). Can be installed as add-on. Then you get much easyer way to print ABS all together.
Therefore, If you stick with ABS then i would strongly recommend this heated bed.

Otherwise, Z18 is great machine.
With new extruder even better

[Brew3D]

Have you tried the Smart extruder+? If so, what is the cost and was it as good as MB claims it is?

[Roberto]

SE+ is definitely the must.
I have Z18 for 1.5years so far. SE was kind of weak point of it, but managable.
SE+ is much better, we produced great prints with no efforts compared to previous SE.

[Brew3D]

The SE+ states it fits Replicator and Mini on MB website but does not state it fits z18. Is that the same unit?

[Roberto]

Of course.
There is only one SE and it is the same for all units.

[pa9k]

Howdy
There is third party heated bed on market with proper size (30cmx30cm). Can be installed as add-on. Then you get much easyer way to print ABS all together.
Therefore, If you stick with ABS then i would strongly recommend this heated bed.

Can you please provide me a link to this bed? Ive been searching for a couple days now and haven't come across anything that would fit.

[Roberto]

Try this one:
http://makemendel.com/mechanical-par...d-300-x-300-mm