Frame materials

I am currently building a Prusa i3 and I have a question in terms of materials for the frame and print bed. I have seen MDF and Aluminum used for the frame and bed. Does anyone have any knowledge or advise as to if these parts can be created with Plexiglass? Thanks.

d

I would not recommend using plexiglass as it becomes bendy when it heats up and you would need to use a thick variant to get the kind of stiffness one would desire.

My best experiences are still with aluminum..

With MDF I'm also not completely satisfied, but when you don't have a choice, it is a good idea to use MDF plate thats at least 6mm thick.


As far as printing directly on plexiglass/acrylic goes... Don't do it. Your plastic will stick to the bed and you cannot get it off again. Also the plexiglass will deform and become bobbly.

Depends on the thickness. 6mm or below is probrably going to be too wobbly.

I would not use plexiglass first of all it's a little flexible second it tends to crack especially around any mounting points. Many early 3-D printers tried to use this and they all had problems cracking with this as frame material. It looks cool but that's about it