1 Topic by jooshs (edited by jooshs 2012-12-07 03:56:45)

  • jooshs
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Topic: bigger build area than advertised

I'm not sure why I've never thought to take advantage of this or test how much you can really get, but the area you can print on is larger than 150x150 mm.  The whole thing is kind of confusing since Solidoodle advertises 6"x"6 which is really 152.4 mm x 152.4 mm.  However, the bed is closer to the 150x150 on the settings, but the bed does not take full advantage of the printer's capable extruding area.  This can really be an issue since, as others probably have experienced, there are some times when you really need the full 6" which wouldn't fit on the bed... Getting a bigger glass plate allows you to gain a little extra space.  I could get 2-3 mm on the left, 2 on the front, 3-4 on the back, and 7-8 on the right.  So even on the low side, I am getting 155x 159.  It has made certain prints that had to be a certain size possible.  Just get a 6.5"x6.5" glass and you are good to go. 

For whatever reason (better insulation?), this larger glass has allowed the bed to hover around 108 the entire print when previously I could only get it to stay at 101 at the most.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8209/8250696967_9d41703527_b.jpg

2 Reply by elmoret

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Re: bigger build area than advertised

jooshs wrote:

For whatever reason (better insulation?), this larger glass has allowed the bed to hover around 108 the entire print when previously I could only get it to stay at 101 at the most.

Yup. The aluminum is hotter, but the top of the glass is colder. Probably around 90C.

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3 Reply by danny

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Re: bigger build area than advertised

you can get bigger than that.

the home area seems to set the print head about 2mm further back in the y direction than the edge of the build area and about 12mm to the right of X.
at the opposite corner you can get the printer 12 mm to the left of the edge of the build are and 12 or more to the front, (though you do start noticing that pulley screws get in the way)

I've gotten a 7x7" glass bed, that should allow me to exploit the full reach of the robot, But, it also means that I won't have a "dump" area where I can just extrude filament into space.

(but that's ok, I could make my start code,
home, lower z extrude, then home z again to "prime" the nozzle


I'm hoping to actually fit my glass bed this weekend, so I'll post some pictures when I do smile

4 Reply by jooshs (edited by jooshs 2012-12-07 15:26:06)

  • jooshs
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Re: bigger build area than advertised

Do you have the new carriages or the old ones?  I wonder if they changed size a little bit. There is not that much room at all on the left for mine. The screws in the front for the pulleys can just be shorter so they shouldn't pose a problem. I wonder if the new carriages are much more streamlined then. Have you actually tested that you can go this far without running into end stops being physically obstructed  in all these directions?  Might be worth an upgrade for the carriage assembly if you are talking about 170x170 for me.

5 Reply by Tomek

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Re: bigger build area than advertised

I had to shorten how much I extend over the x-axis end-stop side, because I would find the end-stop actuates at slightly different way depending on how fast you go into it. So I might start a print and get a few layers down before my whole print shifts 1mm because the printer decided the x-axis end-stop was earlier than before.


Other than that, I look forward to eventually magnetically mounting the glass board, so I can make use of the 4mm that it has on the back-side. Because I only have 148mm on the y-axis right now (and 162 on the x-axis.)