1

Topic: Glass Bed?

Given that glass has 5-6x the thermal transfer of acrylic, has anyone considered replacing the bed acrylic with glass to help the heated bed work better? I know some printers offer glass beds already. How easy would it be to remove the acrylic on the S2 for this purpose?

2

Re: Glass Bed?

The acrylic is only on the unheated bed.  I hope no one is ordering those, the $50 saved will buy a lot of frustration with warping.  I would consider printing only PLA on one of those.  The heated beds are aluminum.

The glass is mostly people printing PLA on heated beds.  PLA will stick to unheated acrylic, but acrylic tends to warp (unless its 10mm thick like the Solidoodle bed).  Glass won't warp, but PLA won't stick to it unless it's hot.  It also won't stick to Kapton unless the Kapton is heated as well.  I don't think ABS will stick to glass at all unless you spread ABS glue on it first.

If you decide to stick with PLA, you could put a piece of glass on the aluminum and hold it down with binder clips.  You would have to take it off to get at the leveling screws however.

3

Re: Glass Bed?

I've never been a big fan of the glass idea - I've heard horror stories of cracking. Heat can be stressful to glass.

Former Solidoodle employee, no longer associated with the company.

4

Re: Glass Bed?

I think there is such a thing as heat tempered glass, but I have no idea how well it would work here.

I don't think I want glass shards to deal with if the heating cooling caused it to break.

5

Re: Glass Bed?

The tempered glass seems to be becoming more popular on some repraps. Should break because it is designed not to when heated.