1 Topic by op7ical

  • op7ical
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Topic: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

Hello everyone, I'm a relatively new Solidoodler here.  I just first wanted to say thanks to everyone for contributing so many great ideas for augmenting the Solidoodle. 

I have been using a glass bed / hairspray for the last week or so.  It has great adhesion, but recently I had some issues with gouging and cracking (gouging meaning chunks ripped out of the glass surface when I pried a part off).  So I wanted to look for an alternative that was more durable (tempered and borosilicate glass are other alternatives too but I do not have them on hand).

Seeing as the hairspray seems to be mainly responsible for the adhesive quality of the glass bed (since frosting doesn't work apparently from what I've read), I figured, why not just try a metal surface? 

I picked up some 5x7" aluminum flashing sheets from Home Depot to use as swappable sheets.  I sprayed "Salon Grafix" hairspray thoroughly on a sheet and clamped it with alligator clamps to the bed, but I found that the sheet warped grossly when heated. 

To fix the warping issue, I laminated four of them together with superglue.  This time, there was no heat-induced warping, just a tiny bit in the middle from the clamps pushing the sides down more.  It is maybe about 100 microns or so.

The results were very surprising.  I tried a half-scale Yoda Bust a couple times and got a great result each time.  I noticed that the adhesion of the base was as good or better than when I used glass, and there was less lifting at the connection of the brim to the part. 

The picture below is a 0.3mm Slic3r/RH print of the 0.5 scale yoda bust on an aluminum plate.  This is a somewhat modified and unoptimized profile (evidenced by his chin-beard and eyebrow) but there was no de-lamination of the base, which is the key element here.

Overall, I found that the aluminum super-bed has some important benefits:

-Fast cooling and heating
-No possibility of fracture or cracking
-Cheap compared to high quality glasses
-Extremely strong adhesion when hot
-Almost no adhesion when warm or cool - very easy to remove parts
-Better thermal conductivity than glass

The ideal approach of course for implementing this is to just buy thicker aluminum (rather than laminating them together), and that way you can snip or slice the sheet to the exact size of your print bed.  Obviously the flashing I used is not optimally sized.  I just wanted to try it out first.

Maybe other people have done something like this before, but I didn't see anything after searching.  Also, I can't say that two positive trials means it's great, but I think it is worth some further investigation.

Anyway, good luck, and happy printing!

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2 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

I would think the aluminum would distort as you tried to pry the print off of it, and be very prone to gouging from any tools you use to remove the print, being that it's very malleable. 

I can't see how you'd take chunks out of the glass, how were you holding it and removing the prints?  That's some extreme bonding right there.

3 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

... and welcome  big_smile

4 Reply by op7ical (edited by op7ical 2013-01-21 23:17:17)

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

That's one of the advantages I found, actually, that it takes no effort to peel off once cool when using aluminum.  Literally you can push it off with your finger, so no tools are required.

Haha and yeah the glass definitely had some great bonding.  Here's a picture of the glass gouging:
I was using a screw driver to pry under the part, and just holding the plate with my other hand.

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5 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

op7ical wrote:

I have been using a glass bed / hairspray for the last week or so.  It has great adhesion, but recently I had some issues with gouging and cracking (gouging meaning chunks ripped out of the glass surface when I pried a part off)..

I think your prying to hard if your pulling chunks of glass out.  How thick was the glass?

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

6 Reply by DePartedPrinter

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

"Salon Grafix" must be like super glue for hair...

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

7 Reply by op7ical

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

I think it was 3/32" glass.  The kind you get in sheets from Home Depot.

8 Reply by jooshs

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

The part pretty much always pops off the glass if you let it cool first, which is part of the beauty of glass sheets. You can have back ups ready for an instant switch and they're so cheap you can buy 10 for $20. I've had a few pieces break on me... Like maybe 1 in 100 prints since I started with glass. I wonder if you go to one thicker sheet of aluminum if you will see the warping again?  It seems like maybe thin sheets glued together will act a little like plywood and avoid warping more than one thick sheet. An interesting experiment might be kapton on aluminum. I know Kendall in google groups is trying ss.

9 Reply by op7ical

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

Just finished a 3D Catan settlers tile to test a large print.  It came out perfect, with exceptional flatness (attached image).

The plate takes about one minute to cool enough for easy part removal.

Josh, I think the next thing I will try is a thicker plate.  I'll see if there's any significant warping.

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10 Reply by pcpoirier

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

I wonder how a copper plate would work.

I use a Cricut spatula to remove prints.  It works sweet on Kapton.

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11 Reply by cmetzel

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

pcpoirier wrote:

I wonder how a copper plate would work.

I use a Cricut spatula to remove prints.  It works sweet on Kapton.

I think someone tried that already here once.

12 Reply by jon_bondy

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

jooshs wrote:

The part pretty much always pops off the glass if you let it cool first.

I totally agree: I never pry anything off.  I just wait until it cools, and it pops right off

13 Reply by cckens (edited by cckens 2013-01-22 16:52:51)

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

I remove the glass plate, set it aside and place a freshy in place.  I can almost hear a crackle when the piece pops from the glass without any external forces on it.  Makes for a wonderful time, and with 3 plates I always have one ready while cleaning off the other two.

Though the Aluminum one may have a better time for pre-heat.  May have to check it out as it wouldn't be too expensive a start up.

14 Reply by nickythegreek

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

I do a decent amount of prying on my glass with the cricut spatula (best thing ever, get one!) and haven't gouged my glass yet.  My binder clips are starting to grind on the glass corners a bit, but I am not to concerned.

15 Reply by devilman2075

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

If you stretch out the binder clips on something fairly big for the opening,  they won't compress so much,  the trick is finding something big enough but will still give you decent bite on the glass

16 Reply by op7ical

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Re: Aluminum Sheet Print Bed

I picked up some 6x18" aluminum sheet metal from HD the other night (not sure what gauge it is, but it is about as thick as four pieces of flashing).  With some tin snips I cut it to 6.5x6" so that the frayed metal from snipping could hang over the edge.

The piece of metal is very flat in printing with the alligator clamps I'm using.  If it is left unclamped, the heated metal bows such that the edges stick up.  However this is not an issue since the clamps hold it down.  When it cools, the metal is flat again.  There is no permanent warping, and my parts always come out flat.

The attached file is a Winterfell print at 0.1mm (from Thingiverse) on the metal bed.  I am very satisfied with the performance, especially the reduced "thermal penalty" from swapping plates, and the general durability.

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