trasher, what filament is that? that looks really good… printer is dialed in 
Filament is Abs 3d prima dunginhawk 
You should not have much trouble getting that part off of the bed. Are you warming the bed to 50C before trying to remove the part? That is the best removal temperature for PLA.
That is a very clean print. Very nice.
Hi im new here and yea i was wondering about a removable film since the manual seems to say it isnt needed. well going off that ive almost DESTROYED my print bed after like 8 uses. there are ripples on the surface where my removal knife simply pressed in to hard. the knife itself is bent and generally takes 3-6 minutes to remove each part from the bed. I have had this less than a week and i think i need to order a new bed because this ones got issues. I figured if the bed NEEDED a surface film it would have said something like “before your first print…”
If you’re digging into the bed with the knife, your nozzle is too close to the bed. Try a quarter turn counter clockwise on the z-endstop. Should be able to slide a business card through when the nozzle is at extruding temp.
As for the ripples, you can try a fine grit sandpaper to get the gouges out.
IMO, the PEI is superior to any tape or aditive… Just got to dial it in.
Well I don’t think it’s to close because I can do the business card thing at Temps already but I can recheck. Simply doubt I’m supposed to have this much trouble after only printing like 6 parts. And as for sanding the gouges out, that’s not happening. I don’t think I can sand out 2mm ripples in the print bed. Yes they are that deep, and my knife has a now permanent bend to it because of the force I have to put on it every time to separate pieces.
I’ve been there and iI feel your frustration… Trust me, having pieces NOT stick is more frustrating.
Do another quarter turn on the Z-endstop or try .5 Z-offset in the slicing software. Wait until the bed gets below 50C before removing the part. If you still have stubborn parts, try a little isopropyl alcohol along the edges… Don’t do this too much though, it’ll dry out the PEI.
When using the oyster knife, try not to pry or pull (on handle) to get things off the bed. Slide the knife under the part and let the wedge action pop the part off. Tap lightly with a hammer like a chisel in extreme cases. Get a second paint scraper to help with leverage.
As for the gouges, get some medium or slow CA glue from the hobby store and fill the gouges. Take a fine grit sanding block to the area. The CA may not hold filament well, but it will flatten out the bed and make it usable. Here’s some from Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000EYWJ06/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687582&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B0006O8EBC&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1KARR5FF1J1TFNY62BRN
Report back, the community is great to get things dialed in…
Well while at work on a break i read some of the posts here and decided to get a replacment PEI bed top. I think it was a 1/8 thick based on a few posts in the early pages. ill know what happens in a few days when i get the new plate in. just for now the printer is a paper weight, Ill let you know when it shows up and how the tests go.
so you are saying the ISO alch will dry out the PEI? I havent seen that be the case, or even if it is, it doesnt seem to matter.
Im running the same PEI surface on my prusa i3v now for almost 8 months with no change, and i rub it down every other print or so to clean off skin oils and other stuff. My parts stick like nooooobodys business.
I do however also once ever 5-10 prints do a light sanding with 1000 grit sandpaper to keep the surface ready to accept prints.
If you want SUPER glossy prints on the bottom, dont sand, but if that doesnt matter, sanding it down a bit helps a LOT and still gives a great matte appearance.
Read the chemical compatibility on PEI. Isopropyl alcohol has no effect on it.
As for filling gouges with CA, read my recent posts on the topic. I developed this procedure and spent A LOT of time experimenting with different CAs. They are not all alike and only the BSI CA was effective AND lasts for any length of time.
Light sanding is exactly what I do, I prefer the matte finish on my parts and the bottom surface is highly visible on my fly fishing reels so it needs to be perfect.
BTW, for those of you that dont know mhackneys work (or are new here) the fly reels are an amazing piece of work.
Michael, have you made any changes in the last year on the design? id love to print the new one if you did.
Here is a couple of quick shots of my reel, from his design.
I clean my bed every so often with isopropyl alcohol… But the Lulzbot folks advise against using it too often. Here’s the closest I could find… But I think it’s been mentioned elsewhere.
https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/removing-parts-that-are-really-stuck-to-the-pei-bed/1764/1
I thought the issue was IPA drying out the PEI, but I could be mistaken…
Nice looking reel Dugginhawk. No major changes yet but I have an update coming soon. However, I have a new ultralight version that is about 2-1/2" diameter. PM or email me if you want a copy of it.
cheers,
Michael
Very nice and clean design.
Interesting, as they say it is. I will have to give it a try then sometime.
I use to work in the Coin-Op industry for many years and that buildtak looks exactly like the mylar overlays we used on arcade game control panels. It’s got the same texture, stiffness, thickness and I bet that is exactly what it is. Mylar is also known as PET which is already commonly used but the PET on the control panels it thicker and more importantly it has a very fine textured surface that might make it good for printing onto.
I could see how you could confuse PET for PEI. I use PEI and I love it but if something better does come along I will gladly switch.
I noticed I don’t hear anything about the Kickstarter Gecko build plate. It’s been awhile and it was suppose to be the best…
I have been a tester of the geckotek build plate for almost a year now and I love it. I only have it right now on my flashforge creator pro.
Ive been working with those guys to test new materials etc. I have tested the PLA plate which requires no heat and works great. Ive tested an ABS plate at 110c and that works amazingly well also. I had one customer with a part that i printed that no matter what I couldnt get it not to peel up. THe geckotek build plate held it.
Now I am testing a High temp multi material build plate which holds a lot of promise as well. Im going to start testing a taz plate when he gets it to me. They have a few more backers to finish fulfilling. I love the fact that you can just slide the plate off, and pop the part off. Easier yet is just spray some canned air upside down cool the plate, and re attach it and go.
Its actually quite magical that exactly at a certain temp the part almost removes itself. Im a firm believer in the geckotek stuff (and im not being paid or provided with goods for no cost).
Are you printing with a glassd base or an aluminum one? If you haven’t treid the aluminum baseplate mod yet, I highly recommend it. It makes everything stick better, even PEI!
i have 2 different magnetic gecktotek plates I print on… I know you can order just the printing plate, or the base… I have a couple bases ive been working with.
My original FFCP plate was metal as well.
all good.love my gecko plates