SoliForum - 3D Printing Community — Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (dkeeling728) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 21:07:33 +0000

everyone already covered this pretty well.

i'll just say that i would be careful using the antiglare picture frame glass, or any frosted glass, the hairspray adds all the roughness you need. printing on a "rough" antiglare coating over hairspray as well will probably result in a permanent ABS/glass interface only breakable by hammer. LOL

if your kapton is damaged already, you can pretty much remove it. and just put the glass right on the aluminum bed. kapton is kinda silly anyway, glass is the only way to go, and they should come with 2 glass plates as stock parts. just wrap them in bubble wrap and tape them into the bottom of the printer frame. shouldn't break before the rest of the printer in shipping. lol

and make sure your clips you use to hold the glass on are small enough, or far enough out of the way to avoid contacting any moving parts during a print. i once had an ear of a binder clip flip up (somehow?) in the middle of a 5 hour print, hit the x carriage, and shift the glass. ruined my night

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (ITman496) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 17:48:29 +0000

what I do when prints get stuck to my tile is I get a razor knife and put it under the corner and shove it forward. It starts to peel the part, and then I go to another corner and do the same. Eventually I can work the knife under and the whole thing comes off. That way I don't have to wait for the bed to cool/heat again.

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (mr_tim34) — Sun, 08 Sep 2013 16:26:13 +0000

To level the bed you need to print one of the many bed leveling knobs that are out there. This allows you to turn the leveling screws from the bottom. I bought 3 wing nuts and crazy glued them in place on the under side of the bed. No problems so far.

Good luck and good printing,

TiM

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (foofoodog) — Sun, 01 Sep 2013 17:52:02 +0000

I just use a big old cheap lock back knife I have, slide the blade under an edge and give it a twist. Once you have the "seal" broken the part just pops off.

I have the pyrex glass for the bed too, but I want to figure out how to adjust the starting z in gcode rather than having to mess with the screw when I want to use it.

I just replaced the Kapton on the bed, it was not that hard if you do it like window tint.

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (chuddly) — Fri, 30 Aug 2013 17:28:01 +0000

i went to glass and got MUCH better results with warping and pealing. the glass is flatter. Plus if you take glass off when its still warm and put the glass side in the sink and run lukewarm water on it it shrinks the glass faster than the print and you can get very thin weak prints off quite easy. Then flip it and let the water hit the plastic print and it will wash the hairspray off and release even better if your having problems still. Glass is the ONLY way to go

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (sigiel) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 19:38:14 +0000

I did buy 2 piece of green glass 2mm cut to size 205mm x205mm for 1.45€
fixed the sticking issues, easy to peal off with a blade without damaging kapton...
and easy to swap.

very fast to heat up to.

I have the stock heat bed my solidoodle is less than 1 month old. it goes from 28 to 110 in less than 8m, maybe they upgraded it?

And to level the bed I just slide the glass a bit to get to the screw...

and having removable bed is invaluable. especially for applying hairspray as it totally stink and gave me headache, now I can just spay outside. and if I want to clean them up in the dishwasher...

Seriously it's almost criminal not to do it

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (Hazer) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 16:09:09 +0000

If you mean how do you get to the screws? I first lower the bad down as far as it will go before pinching the heat mat underneath. Then I level it using a feeler gauge (business card works too). I can actually grab the ends of the screws with my fingers and turn them, I dont need to glue knobs underneath.

BTW, the mirror is a good thickness and comes with rounded edges. Its easy to clean (with acetone) and I have no worries about scratching it.

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (cckens) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 15:24:33 +0000

Same way as you do with the kaption/aluminum bed. You just have to lower the z-stop to allow for the increased height of the bed.

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (cod3r) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 15:07:30 +0000

Glass it is.

I forgot to mention that the bed is 100% cold. I kick off the print before bed.. by morning it's long been done and the bed has no heat. I heat it back up thinking I could loosen it a bit. Eventually seems to work. just feel like I'm going to break something.

Going to switch to glass.

Edit how the heck to do you level it with a glass bed though?

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (mr_tim34) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 14:50:15 +0000

Just plain old glass. Usually single pane window glass. Some people have bought glass mirrors and used them. The picture frame glass will probably work, but it's usually pretty thin and might be more prone to breakage.

TiM

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (johnforeman) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 14:29:41 +0000

i know i've seen this question asked several times, but i'll ask it again. is the glass your buying from the hobby store the same glass that would be used for something like a picture frame? or is it s type of tempered glass that would be used for something else?

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (Tomek) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 14:26:55 +0000

I upgraded to glass because of this problem. Felt like I was going to damage my print bed with how hard the prints were occasionally to get off the kaptop.

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (Hazer) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 14:21:27 +0000

And theres the problem. Stock SD3 bed.

Seriously: Go to Joanns craft store and buy a 8" x 8" mirror for $4 and some hairspray for $2. Clip it on your bed, no modding.

The only hard part is waiting 10 minutes after the bed gets to temp to print. The glass needs longer to soak in the heat. After that, its clear sailing. You can use a razor blade on the glass, it doesn't hurt it. And you save your kapton bed from any harm. Parts pop off easily. Do yourself the favor.

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (johnforeman) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 13:22:41 +0000

I still have the stock kapton SD3 bed and I find it easier to let the bed cool all the way down. Then start heating it back up. As it comes back up in temp, I can get the part off. I'm not usually in a hurry to get my next print started so heat cycling the bed is not a problem for me. And it beats scraping my knuckles trying to get a flat print off the bed right away.

hope this helps..

Re: Having so much trouble getting flat prints off the bed

null@example.com (Hunter Green) — Thu, 29 Aug 2013 12:27:08 +0000

Definitely easier on cold. That's why when I got glass beds, I got four. I can have one cooling so the print will just pop off (and I mean that literally -- occasionally, as things contract at different speeds as it cools, there's a popping sound, and once I actually saw the print hop into the air slightly) while the next one's heating up.