SD3 problems with bed not flat (Page 1 of 2)

That happens sometimes. I suggest using a glass plate on top of the bed, as many have done.

I have had this issue as well except that mine was only off at the back of the bed.  The glass works except that when you clamp it down you may bend the glass slightly which is still an issue.  A better thing to try is to get something compressible under the glass to make sure that the bed stays level.  You'll want to use something that also conducts the heat, so I use a cutdown silicone mat with a smaller shim of mat under the side that is lower.  This helps a little, but I still have to do some more tests. I have an effective print area of 100mm^2 in the center, but I'm slowly increasing this as I dial in the bed level.

I have to agree with Molecular, it is advertised as out of the box 3D printing, mine was broken out of the box. I have been tweaking it for a couple of weeks now... The problem is that I bought this printer for my company... it was supposed to be out of the box printing... by the time I have it working as advertised, it will cost the company more than $1000 in my time not doing my work...
I am disappointed as the printer seems to print well after all, but I can only use the center 100x100mm. we bought the SD3 because we need that extra dimension.
About using the glass... my bed is so warped that the glass would either bend or touch only on a tiny area in the middle... how will it heat up if there is 0.5mm of air in between?
plus, I reallly like how the Kapton works... ABS sticks perfectly, it's easy to remove and it's ready for another print... no hair spray or taping... After all I am in an office, can you imagine using hairspray?

I really hope they will reconsider my case and send me a replacement bed that is flat...

chances are that bed will not be flat either.  they need to find a new source for their aluminum beds.

if i change to a QU BD bed will i have to change my controller board?  they are both 12V right ? if so is there a "drop in replacement" ?

I did, other than have some problems sticking. That was mostly because I couldn't figure out that the bed needed to be heated to stick.

If you add a QU-BD bed you should upgrade the power supply while you're at it. I recently did Lawsy's QU-BD mod with a DELL PowerEdge 2650 I bought on eBay for around $10-15.

http://www.soliforum.com/topic/1819/hea … isonsstls/

Hehe well im printing its just not sticking. My house is is really cool though i have my AC cranked. So im on hold till i get my enclosure finished( front piece i cut to short) and the top is in the mail.

Gonna get a dial gauge and see exactly whats goin on

I do not use enclosures on any of my machines ABS or PLA  normal room temps where printers are range from 60 to 70 F, while I have thought about going to glass/hairspray have not done so yet so I still print on either kapton(ABS) or tape(PLA), the only time I have trouble is when I don't clean the bed with acetone every once in a while. The main thing I learned is don't get the nozzle too far above the bed for the first layer, I use a piece of printer paper 20 pound stock as a guide... some people say paper is too thin but it works for me... I also don't run a/c so maybe the humidity or the lack of it is a factor in sticking...

So you bought a $600 printer as an alternative to a $15k printer and expected it to work as flawlessly as the $15k printer?

No, what I did was buying a 3d printed to see if we had a use for it. the advertised specs were enough to let us decide if we needed anything more. but this is not the problem, the problem is it is not doing what it was advertised.

? I thought it was an experiment.... that failed because you couldn't find a piece of flat marble( granite would work better)

Thanks, I try to help so when I see someone complaining about something they seemed to expect... I can't help but lend a hand, as for replying to your point about flattening I wouldn't use marble for a flat plate as it can have inconsistencies which can lead to similar heat related warping problems... how ever if any material is thick enough it can also resist warping so use whatever you think will work... it's just every surface plate I have used has been granite but I would guess there are also some made from marble

There are plenty of threads on here and many other forums about what people do to combat the problems encountered with heat related bed problems on their printers whether they are home built or commercial, in my case on the bed I had that was about 6 thousandths out I simply removed it sat it on a piece of pipe and smacked it with a rubber mallet a few times until it straightened up and it has been working fine since, I guess for less than ten dollars I could have got a thicker piece of aluminum and drilled three holes in it and had the same effect but I had the mallet so.... I took care of the problem instead of letting it stop me from using the printer