1 (edited by RavensCrest 2013-09-12 15:50:09)

Topic: My Ceramic tile heated bed

tile heat bed is not new at all..  Anyway... here is my build.
I purchased some porcelain tiles from home depot. 6in x 6in. they were less than a dollar each.  using my diamond drill bit and dremel to punch 3 holes for Z platform. and counter sink those holes.   After that I circled 40inches(20x2) of 30 gauge nichrome wire around that tile... the marking is from my original design. but figure that is not long* enough.. so i just wire it free stile.
NOTE: it's very hard to tape nichrome wire onto tile. they don't want to stick.
Image1http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p798/kevin_chao1/IMG_1606_zpsff9bcdff.jpg

After that, I used furnace cement to hold down nichrome wire.
Image2 http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p798/kevin_chao1/IMG_1605_zps24415c91.jpg
Image3 http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p798/kevin_chao1/IMG_1604_zps4d5d296a.jpg
I have to use cement to hold my censor... b/c kapton tape just doesn't work on tile...
Image4http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p798/kevin_chao1/IMG_1608_zpsc338e621.jpg
Image5http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p798/kevin_chao1/IMG_1607_zps9ff25506.jpg
so... after hooking up everything trying to print.. i realized... 8.3v going into that bed... :-(

lesson learned...
1. tile doesn't like any type of tape (i also tried masking and duct tape)
2. Always check your Valtage
3. tiles got glossy surface... I might sand it a little

Update, a new power source and thicker wire was able to make the voltage to 12v.

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Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

2

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

BTW, I have to "bake" the tile and nichrome wire at 450F to harden it.

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

3

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Thinking out loud here ... I built a brick oven and embedded thermocouples in the firebrick.  They were mortared together with fireclay.  Internal temps got close to 1000F.

I wonder about making a fireclay plate with the nichrome embedded in it.  A sheet of glass could be used to lay the form out on, providing a nice smooth surface for the clay.

Matt

4

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

why not just use glass? you can tape nichrome wire with kapton tape.  i doubt cement will have good contact with glass, since glass is very smooth.  plus i tried thin glass... and that didn't work out... that is why i am using tile now.

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

5

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Have you noticed any improved heat retention with the ceramic bed? I have a glass bed clip mod, and the temp drops fast if I ever have to stop a print.

Grand Rapids, Michigan
SD2 with Sanguinololu board, glass bed mod, E3d_v5 bowden version hotend (currently direct drive), Lawsy Mk5 jigsaw replacement, octopi printserver, drv8825(tiny troubles)

6

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

The retention of heat is great!  after i turn it off.. i have to wait a long time until it cools :-( (around 10 min)
i only heat it up to 60c, when applying hair spray in between print, will make it drop to 55c and it went back up with in a min. it went back up before hot end heats up  :-(
I am upgrading my power supply to make my heated bed heat up even faster.... maybe i will do a screen shot of the temp graph when i get the chance over the weekend.

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

7

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Here is the temp drop from 60c in 10 minutes.

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p798/kevin_chao1/TEMP_DROP_zpsf7711b56.jpg

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

8

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Yeah, you gotta love thermal mass... thats why I highly recommended ceramic tiles in the thermal images thread ...

9

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

right now, i start to print at 60c... I haven't try to make the bed reach for 100c... since i don't have insulation.
I was able to get 12v from my recent power supply upgrade, it speeds up faster now.

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

10

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

something I've been meaning to ask.

What thermistor are you using?  I am buying the parts to do this mod since my print bed with tile binderclipped on only gets to 60c and I want to run it up higher then that.

11 (edited by RavensCrest 2013-09-07 01:57:28)

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

i got it from two places, this is the one in the picture. ebay,
http://www.ebay.com/itm/100K-High-Stabi … OC:US:3160


and amazon 10 for about $10 dollars when i purchased it, now it's $12 and bad reviews.. :-( so i can't really recommend it...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BS5 … &psc=1
good luck!

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

12

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Thank you!

Also, do you know of how much current the solidoodle board can handle before needing an external switching mosfet?

Also, what on earth that thermal insulation they use is called..  the white patchy stuff on the bottom of the bed.

13

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

i don't really know the limit... but here is some mod to pass the current to heater instead of going thru the board.
http://www.soliforum.com/topic/1819/hea … isonsstls/
btw this is for sanguinololu,

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

14

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

The mosfet can handle in excess of 70 amps if I recall.... the problem is the pc board it is mounted to it burns traces at much less than that, the quick fix is to increase the trace handling capacity of the stock board by jumping wires to parallel the traces... there are posts about it on most all the forums.

15

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Does that issue come into play on the new printrboard clone or just the old board? (I have the new clone board)

16

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

yes it does - although it is less of an issue as they are *slightly* fatter traces.. but not much.
So instead of being a 100% concern, its down to say an 80% concern.

17

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Ah, okay.  So I'm still better off using an external solid state relay, or fattening up the traces, since I think I calculated the current winding up somewhere around 12-14  amps.

18

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

how did you get 12-14 amp?
2 amp is more like it... (also that's why i didn't do the by pass mod)

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

19

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

I found a nichrome wire calculator and told it the lengths I was going to use.  I want to make a similar power level to the QU-BD silicone bed.

20

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

ITman496 wrote:

I found a nichrome wire calculator and told it the lengths I was going to use.  I want to make a similar power level to the QU-BD silicone bed.

must be a very low gage nichrome wire right? :-( good luck with that.

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

21

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

Yeah, 20 gauge.  How fast does your bed heat up with only ~30w of power?

22

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

it gets warm pretty fast, i didn't time it, but it's less than 15 minutes. i guess i accidentally saved money lol.
even with 2 amp, i have to use this very thick wire... and barely made it to the crimp that i got from spare computer part.

I will try to take a screen shot next time i use it.

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

23

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

I'm using a new power supply I ripped from a server (35a @ 12v) so power shouldn't be an issue haha.

Looking forward to that screenshot.

24 (edited by RavensCrest 2013-09-14 23:10:27)

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

today was pretty cold.. took 35 minutes to get from 20c 60c..
:-(

oh and "winter is coming"

Solidoodle2 with Ceramic tile heated bed http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2544/my- … eated-bed/
"1kg should last for an while" is a lie!

25

Re: My Ceramic tile heated bed

That is the other reason I want to use some high power heating in my version of this.  I want my bed to be hot in a few minutes big_smile