Part Pulled Chip Out of Glass

[hybridprinter]

Interesting, sounds like you should sell them.

[pyronaught]

I've often wondered if sand blasting glass would create a similar surface to improve adhesion without having to apply anything to the surface. The Build-Tak surface is roughed up like that. I would think sand blasting the aluminum would have the same effect, but I guess you still need to use hair spray?

[pyronaught]

1/4" mic6 tooling plate. its cast, stress relieved and milled flat on both sides. of course how its stored by the distributor can affect flatness. mcmaster has been good so far.

With the aluminum you could also cut the sheet about .5" wider around the perimeter and then drill counter-sunk bolt holes that align with the corner brackets, allowing you to bolt to the spider and eliminate the hold-down clamps while keeping the plate from ever lifting up. As long as the thermal expansion of the plate and the spider were not different enough to cause a warping issue.

[jimc]

Yes you could but i dont know about you but i dont want to have to unbolt the bed every time i do a print to remove it or clean it the plate. The adjustable corner brackets i made work super without needing any clamps. Zero movement and you can just lift the bed off

[pyronaught]

Yes you could but i dont know about you but i dont want to have to unbolt the bed every time i do a print to remove it or clean it the plate. The adjustable corner brackets i made work super without needing any clamps. Zero movement and you can just lift the bed off

I guess I just don't remove my plate much. I leave it on the machine when cleaning it, which only involves squirting some water from a bottle on it and wiping it up with a paper towel.

[pyronaught]

I think as long as parts are removed by shearing them off the plate then you can't pull a chip out of the glass. When parts are just allowed to cool and pop off on their own, the shrinking forces actually pull the part off with the pulling force being directly perpendicular to the glass surface. I use a metal paint scraper from Wal-Mart to shear off parts while the plate is still warm by sliding it into the base to create a small impact force that knocks the part sideways and shears it from the glue bond. The down side is you can't allow prints to run overnight without risk of pulling chunks out of your glass when it cools to room temp. If the rate of cooling played some kind of role in lowering the risk of glass damage, and I'm guessing it does, then maybe a post-print G-code script could be added that steps the platform temp down over a period of time.

[insta]

This whole thread is another selling point for a layer of Kapton over the bed.

[pyronaught]

I haven't played much with kapton tape. Can you print ABS right on it without having to do anything else, and does the print come off easily once it cools? My issue with it would be the trouble of having to remove it and then reapply it, depending on how often that is required.

[insta]

The first ABS print on Kapton doesn't require anything to stick. After that you'll want ABS juice, but with Kapton you can dilute it pretty heavily. The parts don't just "ka-pink" themselves off when cool, you generally have to kind of flex the edges. With the right ABS juice mixture, it's very rare that I have to actually go prying though, I usually just sorta flex the edges of the part and once one piece pops loose I can chase it around the part until the whole thing pops off.

I only have to reapply Kapton when I've hamfistedly ruined it by overzealous scraping (usually before the bed is cool because I'm in a hurry). Applying it is quite the event though so I really try to keep my beds in good shape. Fortunately I have a deep freeze 10 feet from my printer, that makes short work of the bed adhesion.

[pyronaught]

Do you have to clean the ABS juice off between prints, or can you just keep piling on top of the old... or is it like hair spray where one application of ABS juice is good for many prints without reapplying it each time?