1 Topic by heychris

  • heychris
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  • Registered: 2012-11-28
  • Posts: 20

Topic: PCB bed

All,

I really like the sound of the silicone heating element, but the cost/power sitution is a bit of a bother.   I threw this together last night to send up to my pcb guy.  I'm curious if anyone else has gone this route.  He knew exactly what I was talking about and has done a few 3d printer bed heaters.  It's always nice to have him give me the requirements before I have the chance to tell him.

I found the bolt holes on the stock bed by moving the print head in Repetier.  It gives you coordinates, which seems like it should be good enough.  Do these coordinates sound right?

1. 75.2, 142
2. 9.8, 28.20
3. 9.8, 122.90

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2 Reply by Tomek

  • Tomek
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  • Registered: 2012-10-01
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Re: PCB bed

1) if you use Kicad (I like it, switched after 10 hrs of eagle, and was much further along in the program after 10 hrs of Kicad), I think there are some PCB-heater scripts.  With pcb heaters you need some good tolerance on the copper/oz for calculating the expected resistance, or just accept whatever it ends up being (if you're purchasing from a lower cost place and/or china.)

2) I think there's a reprap wiki on this. http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Heatbed

3) Make sure to think about expansion. For instance, you might eventually want a slightly wider build plate, since the carriage can move a couple mm in the y and several in the x.   Also, it might be helpful to include the holes for the leveling screw in your design.

4) I'm not sure you will get accurate coordinates by using repetier.  You would probably be better served to check with calipers. It depends on how well you have set your y-home and y-max cordinates.

3 Reply by heychris

  • heychris
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Re: PCB bed

I appreciate the feedback.  I read through all the info online, but you make some good points.  In the end I pulled the makerbot 2's heated bed and modified it to have the same 3 leveling screws at the solidoodle.  Also modified the dimensions.

I've used Kicad in the past, but not nearly as much as others.  I use eagle when it's simple.  This board exceeds the limits of most of eagle's normal pricing.  I ended up editing it with Altium.  Not the easiest to use, but highly capable.