Please help me choose a 3D printer

[BoozeKashi]

It's interesting you mention that. FLUX just sent us all a Buildtak build plate as part of an upgrade kit for the original Delta to bring it to equivalency with the Delta+ But they took a different route, since the printer already has a metal build plate, they attached the Buildtak to a magnetic sheet that is about 2mm thick. When you want to print you slap the mag sheet on the plate and print, sticks like mad just like you both said, but then removing the print is super easy. Since it's a magnetic sheet, just take it off the plate and it can flex and the print pops right off.

In the case where you have Buildtak pre-applied and the bed doesn't come out easily or flex, another trick is to use a can of compressed air. The 'Air Dusters' that you find in Office Depot, Office Max, etc. for cleaning keyboards. The trick is to hold the can upside down and give the print a VERY QUICK spray at the base. The propellant used in those sprays evaporates and freezes at room temp, so that quick blast will super chill your part and make it a lot easier to remove.

[Jeff B]

So far the Buildtak is working very well for me. But I'm presently printing my biggest piece yet - we'll see how much trouble I have getting it off the bed.

But I'm using ABS, not polycarbonate.

Boozekashi, I love the idea of the magnetic backing. I've been toying with the idea of trying magnets on my bed, but I was worried the magnetic field might somehow interfere with the machine.

The compressed air idea is also interesting. I have been using a wipe-down of isopropyl alcohol the achieve the same cooling effect. But recently I haven't even had to do that.

Overall report - it took 6 tries, but I have successfully printed my first N scale building with all the surface detail I need. Shingle patterns, siding grooves, doors, windows, even hinges on a barn door. It's really rather amazing.

My big tradeoff to get this quality has been print speed. At the default speed I was getting lots of "ringing" (aka "ghosting", so I'm told) - vertical bands in vertical surfaces following anywhere where the printer had to make some hard turn. They were bad enough in areas to make the print unacceptable. I fist tried moving the printer to a more stable surface - made no difference at all. I then tried tightening the belts and lubricating - made no difference at all. I then reduced the print speed to 80% of default - then around 60% - at 50% the problem went away enough to be acceptable. 1800 mm/min. Increased the print time from around 2 hours 10 minutes to around 3 1/2 hours - but it is what it is. I guess.

The one thing I haven't tried is to to change the acceleration values in Sailfish. Frankly, I'm scared to play with the firmware. I'm afraid I'll screw thing up. Sp far I haven't even attached the printer to my computer or even installed Flashprint - I'm using Simplify3D.

As for Simplify3D - I am not 100% impressed. I had some issues with the preview making it look like my shingle patterns would come out hollow, when in fact it printed fine. I also had a problem yesterday when I tried to manually add supports to a bridged area on a small piece - it wouldn't let me do it, and seemed to have trouble representing the geometry of that piece, although it sliced and printed fine. (I did get sag in the bridged areas and had to trim them with an Xacto knife).

But hey - learning curve and all that.

So at this point, I definitely think I made the right choice to use 3D printing for this project. I'm getting a level of detail that would be an utter pain in the ass to accomplish in any other way I'm aware of. Let's hope things continue to go well and the machine remains reliable - I still have a long way to go!