Glass
Posted by N314
I printed PLA to unheated glass for a while while i was figuring out what to do for a heated bed. It's not a lot of fun, but you can manage if you want to.
Degrease the glass really well before printing. I used rubbing alcohol for that.
Print smaller objects. Big ones will warp and get pulled off. I used bluetack sometimes to secure an object if it started moving during printing. messy.
I started to heat the glass before printing with a hairdryer until about 50-60 degrees, keep blowing during the first layer print and then turn it off. Don't use a fan to cool the object. That worked a little better, could print bigger object, but still a bit of warp.
I found printing on preheated (hairdryer), degreased glass pretty similar to printing on degreased preheated kapton on glass.
If you want nice, hassle free prints, a heated bed is the way to go though.
Degrease the glass really well before printing. I used rubbing alcohol for that.
Print smaller objects. Big ones will warp and get pulled off. I used bluetack sometimes to secure an object if it started moving during printing. messy.
I started to heat the glass before printing with a hairdryer until about 50-60 degrees, keep blowing during the first layer print and then turn it off. Don't use a fan to cool the object. That worked a little better, could print bigger object, but still a bit of warp.
I found printing on preheated (hairdryer), degreased glass pretty similar to printing on degreased preheated kapton on glass.
If you want nice, hassle free prints, a heated bed is the way to go though.
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Re: Glass June 13, 2012 07:11PM |
Registered: 11 years ago Posts: 1 |
I have exeprimented with different types of printbeds and in the end heated glass still ends up being a sure thing.
For glass, I had tried, heated, unheated, plain, sandblasted, various fire ratings (to see how high I could drive the heated bed) plus various thicknesses - 3mm, 4mm, 5mm.
Sandblasted, unheated glass works OK (and I thought it looked pretty wild) for small prints of about 20x20x10 mm at very slow speeds (20mm/sec) or you can go bigger if you increase the speed. Anything bigger and I found it warping unless I increased speeds. You may fidget with size if you increase the speed.
Various fire ratings on glass - oh boy, was that an expensive experiment and in the end it did not yield significantly superior results - not enough to justify the order of magnitude price increase. It was very expensive.
Plain glass, unheated - I had no success with that sticking.
Glass that was fire rated is something I will experiment more with but the initial results do not yield enough of an advantage plus a disadvantage is that you must run the printbed hotter. I had spoken with two local shops who said that if I have jobs that take a long time and I need to run the bed hotter, depending on what kind of glass I get, the glass may change properties on me once the temperature goes past a certain point .. 120ish Celsius being what I got quoted.
I am must say that I want to find out more about it and dig into the science behind it to learn more.
Finally, various thicknesses - this was due to 2 reasons: availability + again being told by the same shops I mentioned above that glass that is too thin, over a long time (2-3 hours) on a hot bed may not take the heat well.
So, all that, to get to what the rest of the community already knows: use a heated bed with a glass top. I will add that a 3 mm glass top will do nicely.
-
For glass, I had tried, heated, unheated, plain, sandblasted, various fire ratings (to see how high I could drive the heated bed) plus various thicknesses - 3mm, 4mm, 5mm.
Sandblasted, unheated glass works OK (and I thought it looked pretty wild) for small prints of about 20x20x10 mm at very slow speeds (20mm/sec) or you can go bigger if you increase the speed. Anything bigger and I found it warping unless I increased speeds. You may fidget with size if you increase the speed.
Various fire ratings on glass - oh boy, was that an expensive experiment and in the end it did not yield significantly superior results - not enough to justify the order of magnitude price increase. It was very expensive.
Plain glass, unheated - I had no success with that sticking.
Glass that was fire rated is something I will experiment more with but the initial results do not yield enough of an advantage plus a disadvantage is that you must run the printbed hotter. I had spoken with two local shops who said that if I have jobs that take a long time and I need to run the bed hotter, depending on what kind of glass I get, the glass may change properties on me once the temperature goes past a certain point .. 120ish Celsius being what I got quoted.
I am must say that I want to find out more about it and dig into the science behind it to learn more.
Finally, various thicknesses - this was due to 2 reasons: availability + again being told by the same shops I mentioned above that glass that is too thin, over a long time (2-3 hours) on a hot bed may not take the heat well.
So, all that, to get to what the rest of the community already knows: use a heated bed with a glass top. I will add that a 3 mm glass top will do nicely.
-
Wauter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I printed PLA to unheated glass for a while while
> i was figuring out what to do for a heated bed.
> It's not a lot of fun, but you can manage if you
> want to.
>
> Degrease the glass really well before printing. I
> used rubbing alcohol for that.
>
> Print smaller objects. Big ones will warp and get
> pulled off. I used bluetack sometimes to secure an
> object if it started moving during printing.
> messy.
>
> I started to heat the glass before printing with a
> hairdryer until about 50-60 degrees, keep blowing
> during the first layer print and then turn it off.
> Don't use a fan to cool the object. That worked a
> little better, could print bigger object, but
> still a bit of warp.
>
> I found printing on preheated (hairdryer),
> degreased glass pretty similar to printing on
> degreased preheated kapton on glass.
>
> If you want nice, hassle free prints, a heated bed
> is the way to go though.
yes don't use a painters electric blower it gets too hot and the glass breaks, I know I found out the hard way when my heated bed broke down
__________________________________________________________________________
Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand
-------------------------------------------------------
> I printed PLA to unheated glass for a while while
> i was figuring out what to do for a heated bed.
> It's not a lot of fun, but you can manage if you
> want to.
>
> Degrease the glass really well before printing. I
> used rubbing alcohol for that.
>
> Print smaller objects. Big ones will warp and get
> pulled off. I used bluetack sometimes to secure an
> object if it started moving during printing.
> messy.
>
> I started to heat the glass before printing with a
> hairdryer until about 50-60 degrees, keep blowing
> during the first layer print and then turn it off.
> Don't use a fan to cool the object. That worked a
> little better, could print bigger object, but
> still a bit of warp.
>
> I found printing on preheated (hairdryer),
> degreased glass pretty similar to printing on
> degreased preheated kapton on glass.
>
> If you want nice, hassle free prints, a heated bed
> is the way to go though.
yes don't use a painters electric blower it gets too hot and the glass breaks, I know I found out the hard way when my heated bed broke down
__________________________________________________________________________
Experimenting in 3D in New Zealand
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