MakerGear Forum

I'm hoping to have some discussion on bed heat and how it effects warping.

Currently I am running into some problems with a particular model that likes to lift off the plate. The effect is increased when I print more than one of these items at a time, and therefore to me there is additional cooling time between each layer. I'm running a MIC 6 plate and heated bed at 60c.

I have an IR thermometer on the way that I am going to use to check the surface temp of the MIC 6 plate in relation to what the printer is registering.

As part of my testing I am going to bump the heat up to 70c and see the effects on the warping.

Just looking for some thoughts to kick around.

What filament are you printing, PLA? Does your Mic6 have PEI on it?

If you've got PEI, you'll do better with sanding the surface of the PEI a little bit with fine-grade sandpaper ( >1000 grit) or a damp Magic Eraser to rough it up a little and give it some tooth. Clean it off really well after (spritz of alcohol) to remove oils and all of the sanding residue.

If it's just a plain plate, you could try either hairspray or gluestick.

(Might work out better than just increasing the temp, but you could give that a try first. I sometimes have to up the temp a bit for certain filaments....particularly white or light colored ones.)

PLA.

I'm using just a plate, no PEI.

Using it with hairspray. Many successes, but at the same point, a high rate of failure.

Wondering that if the heat is measured at the HBP is it significantly different (lower) at the top of the MIC 6.

3dPrintingMD wrote:check the surface temp of the MIC 6 plate

IR thermometers assume a surface emissivity around 0.95 that's completely wrong for bare metals: bare aluminum can be well under 0.20. Stick masking tape on the plate as a target.

http://www.infrared-thermography.com/material.htm

Also, the laser dot gives you a general idea of what the IR sensor "sees", but the target area is about an inch in diameter half a foot from the snout and increases from there: 2 inches at a foot, 4 inches at two feet, and so on. It's definitely not a pinpoint sensor!

Make sure the tape on the platform completely fills the target area.

significantly different (lower) at the top of the MIC 6

Aluminum's thermal conductivity ensures the plate will be pretty much a uniform temperature. The thermistor isn't in contact with that plate, so you'll definitely see an offset.

Even the original glass isn't all that bad:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3532
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3141

Also, IR thermometers don't work for hot ends:
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3312

I have had good luck reducing warping by reducing the cooling fan speed. With ABS, which is all I print with anymore, I only use the fan if the area being printed doesn't have time to cool i.e. small cross sections.

Hope this helps,
Jim