Wiring a Solid State Relay to Ramps

[longjohn119]

I should have mentioned I did order a heat sink also. That has not arrived yet.

I tried the hair spray & used that for the 1st year, but occasionally something would lift up on a corner. I do not print ABS though. The only problems I have with blue tape & glue is if the bed is not level or I did not adhere the tape down well.

I have mine heatsinked but if you have a V-slot framed printer you could probably get away with attaching it to the aluminum frame and use that as your heatsink for up to 10" heatbed. A 12" would probably be pushing it and need a regular heatsink. I attached my heatsink to the v-slot (Pegasus 10, full metal) and found a printed cover for the SSR on Thingieverse and it actually looks pretty cool, almost a Steam Punk look with that heatsink

My first printer didn't have a heated bed so I used the painter's tape for about a year and a half but I prefer the heated bed once I started using one. I do occasionally use the blue tape for 'effect' when I want a matte rather than a shiny surface. I make a lot of electronics project enclosures and on many projects it just looks more professional. Large flat pieces I usually include a brim which helps considerably. Also the auto bed leveling helped getting an more consistent 1st layer height which seems to help noticeably with adhesion and warping.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

The need for a heatsink varies a *lot* depending on which one you get. A 100A relay will heat up less at 20A than a 20A relay will. Since P = I^2 x R (most modern relays are resistive) the difference can be anywhere from 5X (straight voltage drop) to 25X (resistive). Indeed the 100A relay might dump more power at 100A than the 20A relay does, but it isn't more than 2X in most cases.(yes that messes up the numbers even more).

Bob