1 Topic by cain666

  • cain666
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  • Registered: 2013-05-07
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Topic: acrylic bed.. WOW!

well i started with the standard bed, then i tried glass and thats a huge pain (although i do LOVE the idea of it, and i havent tried a deep sand blast yet) but i tried 5mm thick acrylic, and ABS is like glue on this stuff, its very touchy, you need a low bed heat and a high extruder temp.. also it will warm some so i tend to ride the thumb screws for the first layer so i get just the right amount of squish... to much and you wont get the print off in one piece... but id have to say its even better than kapton tape

2 Reply by ysb

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  • From: quebec, canada
  • Registered: 2012-08-09
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Re: acrylic bed.. WOW!

mmmm acrylyc BED are for PLA... it's not a good idea to use it for ABS ...the heat from the extruder will melt the bed...

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3 Reply by IanJohnson

  • IanJohnson
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Re: acrylic bed.. WOW!

The extruder will only melt the bed if you crash it or leave in there.  Definitely wait for temp before homing Z.  I had an unheated acrylic bed at first with the S1.  You have to be really careful with the Z tab, because if you get the offset too close and smear the ABS, it will be almost impossible to scrape off.  Solidoodle started out with 3mm acrylic, and it would develop a warp from the heat, or shrinking ABS, or both.  I don't know how much better 5mm would be, but they switched to 10mm thick which stays flat no matter what.

I never tried acrylic with a low heat. Unheated acrylic will never keep a larger ABS part from warping unless maybe you heat the build chamber.  I'm not sure if you can apply enough heat to the bed to keep the print from warping without softening the acrylic enough to allow it to warp as well.