Print Hot Bed Issues

I first used Borosilicate glass plates that came with the machine. I am printing in ABS so the glass needed to be at 110 degree C.

They lasted for only a few prints and then chipped like crazy.

I tried a multitude of attempts to prevent chipping. I cleaned the glass with Acetone, used only a little bit of Aquanet hair spray, all sorts of tests. I went through 2 sheets of glass until I figured out that this was crazy.

Maybe the glass is made in China and if so that's probably part of the problem.

I work with aircraft fabrication and found a piece of 1/8" aluminium laying around the shop. This size is almost exact to the thickness of the 3 mm glass so no modifications to the bed are necessary.


  

Couple of caveats however. Aluminium is metal and conducts electricity and I'm installing it on a PC hot bed. Just in case any of the traces may be bare, I put a piece of parchment paper under the aluminium pate. On the led end I put a piece of kapton tape over the led and the open PC board traces.






  Now for choosing the goop to help it stick to the aluminium. Tried ABS juice and nothing stuck at all. Hair spray did not work either, a large print warped at both ends.

  I searched the Internet and found 3D-eez. Amazing stuff. I spread it on the surface as per the instructions and it worked out well. So good was the adhesion that I couldn't get my print off the plate. I froze it, heated it and to no avail. Back to the drawing board.

  

OK, then I told the slicer to print a raft, and wow what a difference. I can now say I am getting great print results.

 




  

  Here is the final hot bed setup after printing 4 replacement patio chair feet.

  I also cut out another aluminum plate, so I can take a print off the printer and then start printing again right away.

I still had the curling problem on long flat prints, so I wrapped cellophane around the bottom of the printer rails. The result was a great improvement. Now to design and build an enclosure for the printer.