For those of you having issues with you PCB not heating up to 110-120 Degrees Celcius for printing with ABS,
I am using a 12 volt switching power supply with voltage adjust up to 14.6 volts. I found this on E-Bay here: [
cgi.ebay.ca]. This voltage is sufficient enough for the
PCB to heat up in about 10 minutes to the target temperature. A regular atx was not able to get up to those
temperatures that fast. The price was decent as it included shipping.
I was having adhesion issues, like so many of us out there, and now that I have the temperatures where I want them, I can play
a bit more with the printing surface. I have tried printing directly on the pyrex, on Kapton tape and 3M blue masking tape.
For smaller models such as this one: [
www.youtube.com] I am using the blue 3M masking tape.
The blue tape seems to handle the heat rather well and comes off easy after. For larger flatter pieces printing on the pyrex works with the issue
of the corners lifting. When I use the blue tape, this problem is eliminated. I also have some PET tape on order to try out to see how that works. Kapton tape seems to wear out after a while and I find it tedious to put on, so I am looking for easier to use alternatives.
