1 Topic by dpotthast

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Topic: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

Wanted to toss this one out there since I have been having great luck with prints using this method.  I have printed ABS on just about everything recommended... kapton, painters tape, glass, glass plus hairspray, buildtak... but the best surface so far has been good 'ol lexan.

One problem... you have a thin margin of error with temperature and print head distance and voila, you waste 4 bucks of lexan and have a print permanently fused to the bed...

I stumbled on this solution after a failed print that would have left me with another ruined piece of lexan.  I simply sanded off the plastic that had fused to the lexan, leaving a frosted surface.  I tried printing on it and it works great! 

If you dial in the temperature and height off the bed for the first layer, frosted lexan has proven to be almost fool proof.  I have been printing on frosted lexan for almost a year now and I don't think I'll go anywhere else for ABS printing. 

Note that I have had less luck with laywood, nylon, and ninja flex... Some don't stick at all, others make a permanent fusing to the plastic.  Fortunately, if you mess up, just sand it down and you are back in business.

ABS+frosted lexan == success!

First layer temp 203C then 198C for remainder of print
Bed temperature 95C
2-3mm brim is still a good idea.
use a metal scraper to get under print and they pop off with ease.

Card paper calibration for print head height is a little too close, dial back just a bit and the first layers are great! Too close and you have a permanent fixture on your lexan bed.


See attached image...   E3D print head, M5 lead screw, .1mm layer height.  The image is a print in progress of back up Y axis idler mounts for SD3

http://soliforum.com/i/?S9VzweD.jpg

2 Reply by carl_m1968 (edited by carl_m1968 2015-10-02 00:40:18)

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

If you try PLA with this you may be doing some sanding again. I know with Acrylic which is usually the generic name for Lexan that PLA will bond aggressively to it. Still might be worth it for those who don't want to use stuff when printing ABS.

Personally I use Elmers purple glue sticks on glass and have never had an issue with sticking and the glue wipes right off with a damp cloth.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

3 Reply by grob (edited by grob 2015-10-02 03:16:28)

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

Lexan is not acrylic, it's polycarbonate (which while visually very similar has quite different properties). While it might work the same I'd be suspicious that in the area of plastic fusing / melting / etc, it could be very different. Don't know, haven't tried either!

dpot, sounds promising, could be worth a try!

Plexiglass = Acrylic

SD3. Mk2b + glass, heated enclosure, GT2 belts, direct drive y shaft, linear bearings, bowden-feed E3D v5 w/ 0.9° stepper
Smoothieboard via Octoprint on RPi

4 Reply by mdrVB6

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

I'm glad its working for you but I know I could print that on glass with glue stick without a brim and zero warping.  Perhaps you could too, have you tried it without the brim?  And I've never had to sand my glass, it just wipes clean.

SD4 w/ RUMBA, E3D Volcano, all bearings, glass bed

5 Reply by heartless

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

I also print on glass, with hairspray, no brim and rarely have a problem with warping - if I do, it means i need to readjust bed level.

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

6 Reply by dpotthast

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

I am just referring to pure fool-proof factor... I can indeed print on glass, or kapton etc... I find hairspray smelly and messy though.... But occasionally the print still curls up on the edges... for larger objects it is almost inevitable that this will happen.  Using lexan I can go about my business pretty much worry free... no sprays or smearing of anything.  Large objects are not a problem with this method for me.

7 Reply by heartless

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

if it is working for you, keep using it.
Most of the different methods are personal preference anyway. smile

as for the hairspray being messy - yeah, maybe a little, but I can spray once and get multiple prints from it, so not a huge deal to me. Plus, I have access to the red shop rags and use those to protect the moving parts & smooth rods so they don't get gummed up - it works for me.
Windex takes hairspray off quite easily when it is time for a fresh application.

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

8 Reply by dpotthast

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

Exactly!  I'm not trying to dictate anything here.  Just saying that I have gone through several different bed materials and this one is my preference for ABS plastic.  I have benefited much from the community here, so maybe someone out there might find this information useful as well!  I, for one, am interested in finding something equally fool-proof for other materials... might try the elmers and glass for PLA, laywood, ninjaflex etc.  Thanks for the tips!

9 Reply by carl_m1968

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

There are some printers that are being sold now that use perfboard for a bed. It is made from the the same material as a circuit board and is covered with a grid of holes that have a 1mm spacing or less. The idea is that the filament anchors in the holes on the first layer and stays. You then break it loose when done and sand down the nubs left bu the holes.

Printing since 2009 and still love it!
Anycubic 4MAX best $225 ever invested.
Voxelabs Proxima SLA. 6 inch 2k Mono LCD.
Anycubic Predator, massive Delta machine. 450 x 370 print envelope.

10 Reply by heartless

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

dpotthast wrote:

Exactly!  I'm not trying to dictate anything here.  Just saying that I have gone through several different bed materials and this one is my preference for ABS plastic.  I have benefited much from the community here, so maybe someone out there might find this information useful as well!  I, for one, am interested in finding something equally fool-proof for other materials... might try the elmers and glass for PLA, laywood, ninjaflex etc.  Thanks for the tips!

Glass at 60C and a light coating of hairspray is pretty much foolproof for me and PLA, but I have had good success on just bare glass as well, it just needs to be squeaky clean - no fingerprints! the little alcohol wipes work great for that.

Havent tried laywood or ninjaflex yet. Have run a little bit of PETG and the hairspray on glass seems to work for it as well. Havent really run enough of it to get it fully dialed in yet, tho - have only printed one small item, aside from basic calibration boxes.

SD4 #1 & #2 - Lawsy carriages, E3D v6, Rumba controller board, mirror bed plate, X motor fan, upgraded PSU & Mica bed heater
SD4 #3 - in the works ~ Folgertech FT-5, rev 1
Printit Industries Beta Tester - Horizon H1

11 Reply by Albertatinker

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Re: Frosted Lexan Print Bed

I use lexan too. Except, I use glue stick to prevent permanent adhesion. I can print a piece 7.5"x7.5" without any lift. I heat the print bed to 110c for the first layer, and then drop to 90c for additional layers. At 110C the bed surface is around 80C. The temp drop after the first layers purposely contracts the lower layers to remove tension. The only negative is my 1/4" lexan takes a while to heat thoroughly. The only thing I'd change would be gluing the lexan to the aluminum plate. Need to make a plate with threaded holes to elimnate the top side screw heads that would be trapped after gluing.