GeckoTek Build Plate - Live on Kickstarter

[jimc]

Ummm you do know aluminum is non magnetic right?

[curious aardvark]

lmao - I was waiting for someone to say that.

There's a number of ways to do it.
I can attach thin steel to the base or side of the aluminium plate. I've got any number of rare earth super magnets I can fit into the existing screw holes in the original plate. Or attach to the side.
And at the end of the day it doesn't need to be a particularly strong attachment. Just enough to stop the plate being moved by the printers vibration.
I've also got some magnetic sheets for 2d printing on. They might be sufficient with magents in the screw holes. Although if I switch back to abs it'd probably melt lol
Basically there's a number of options. The fact that aluminium is non magnetic - is largely irrevelant :-)

Once i've got a working system I can get some more build plates made and have different surface coatings on them.
At the moment it's attached with kapton tape on the corners. Works really well - but not exactly hot swappable.

Sometimes you just need a nudge in the right direction to come up with a practical system that works.

[jimc]

Haha ok just making sure. Even though you seem like a smart cookie you never know someones knowledge level.

[Zerodameaon]

well it certainly looks interesting.
Also they did lie in the video. Claiming that abs doesn't stick to blue tape - hell, it's the only thing I could get it to stick to consistently.

ABS sticks to my blue tape so well that I have issues getting the tape off the print, and if the tape is not well enough adhered to the bed a print will warp and rip the tape off the bed.

[mdharrington]

lmao - I was waiting for someone to say that.

There's a number of ways to do it.
I can attach thin steel to the base or side of the aluminium plate. I've got any number of rare earth super magnets I can fit into the existing screw holes in the original plate. Or attach to the side.
And at the end of the day it doesn't need to be a particularly strong attachment. Just enough to stop the plate being moved by the printers vibration.
I've also got some magnetic sheets for 2d printing on. They might be sufficient with magents in the screw holes. Although if I switch back to abs it'd probably melt lol
Basically there's a number of options. The fact that aluminium is non magnetic - is largely irrevelant :-)

Once i've got a working system I can get some more build plates made and have different surface coatings on them.
At the moment it's attached with kapton tape on the corners. Works really well - but not exactly hot swappable.

Sometimes you just need a nudge in the right direction to come up with a practical system that works.

Just be aware Neodymium magnets start to lose magnetic properties at 80c and will completely lose all magnetism at 310c
Ferrite magnets can take up to 250c before seeing any loss

[-willy-]

It's all good... I deleted the previous thread because the person was here pushing 'awareness' of a commercial product and that was their first post. And on top of that, several other very similar names had already had their newly created threads deleted earlier in the day because they were Spam. But that logic doesn't apply in this case and it makes perfect sense to have this subject available for discussion!

Juat wondering if that is what happened to the thread I had posted (trying to get the word out) about the protocycler from ReDe (ready) Tec? (not trying to change the subject)

[mdharrington]

Ordered mine 9 weeks ago...and now they are not responding to my emails.

On the kickstarter page seems like they are having a lot of problems with ABS....they are saying the plate is now 'PLA' only and will hopefully support ABS in the summer of 2015.

[dtiger1138]

I agree with mdharrington. I recently emailed them asking some questions concerning a printer that had an aluminum heat bed already. It was mainly geared towards how to attach it. This is the response I got:

Thank you for your interest in our Products. Unfortunately, we have run into some set backs in our development. Currently, we are only taking orders for GeckoTek Build plates for 3D Printers with out heated beds.


After comprehensive long term testing the performance of our build plates with ABS has not been up to our standards. We have been forced to remove the build plates for 3D printers with heated beds from our store. However, we are still working towards a build plate that will work for ABS, HIPS, Nylon and more. We estimate that it will be available in 4-6 months.


If you would like to stay up to date on our progress you can sign up for our email list at geckotek3d.com. Let me know if you have any other questions.


Thanks,
Brad Ruff
GeckoTek

So, it's not working with ABS or printers with heat beds. I hope they get it working. It looks really promising.

[JRDM]

I'm tempted to replicate that idea but with Ultem (PEI) on spring steel. I've done ABS, PLA, flex PLA, HIPS and a couple odd blends of ABS on PEI.

[Brian_Krassenstein]

Brad Ruff and Aniket Vyas, the entrepreneurs behind the GeckoTek line of 3D printer build plates, are experiencing some problems with their plates dedicated to ABS plastic applications. While they say the build plates they created to work with PLA are working as advertised, the ABS plates are giving them fits. So many problems, in fact, that they say they're willing to offer customers and Kickstarter backers a full refund. The pair say that while they hope the problems will be solved some time this summer, they want to make sure their supporters are fully informed about the challenges they're facing. You can read the whole story here: http://3dprint.com/37329/geckotek-build-plate-issues