Question on heated beds and LCD's. (Very general questions)

I've been designing an h-bot using v-slot aluminum profiles from open builds. I've got the mechanics and everything down, but I have a couple questions I need an opinion on.

1. I have a 350cm by 350cm silicon heated bed that I'm going to attach to an aluminum plate. I was thinking of using a 1/4" thick plate, but should I go thicker?

2. Should I splurge on float glass/borosilicate or is just regular glass fine as a build platform? It will be roughly 14" by 14" if that makes a difference.

3. Is having an LCD worth it? I have a smoothie board so no problems on being able to add it...but I print fine without. But given that this thing is going to be like my "baby", I've been thinking of features to add and thats on the list. Anyone use it consistently? What are the benefits?

1. In would have thought that 1/4 inch tooling plate would be sufficient; but this is not my area of expertise, so see what others say.

2. Ordinary glass IS float glass. No need for borosilicate when you have an aluminium bed plate spreading the heat.

3. With any luck the Smoothieware support for PanelDue will be completed soon, then you will be able to have a colour touch screen control panel for your printer. Other LCDs are very primitive by comparison. See link in my signature for more. Full disclosure: I manufacture the PanelDue.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2016 07:49PM by dc42.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

I think that 1/4" plate that size should be OK. It is stiff enough that it won't sag much, so as long as you print with first layer thickness 200-250 um you should be able to print nearly edge to edge. I did some measurements of bed flatness (combined with X axis and Y axis sag, etc.) on my printer and posted video here:
heated: [vimeo.com]
unheated: [vimeo.com]
The bed is 1/4" cast tooling plate. Don't use any other kind of aluminum- it won't be flat. I print right on the aluminum plate covered with kapton tape- no glass- I don't see the point in using it.

I have a 450W heater on my 317 x 305 mm bed and it heats to 105C for printing ABS in about 5 minutes. That's about 0.5 W/cm^2. Use a similar power density to achieve similar wait time.

Four point systems bend the bed plate and or undercarriage more than they level anything. Use a 3 point leveling system as it actually levels the bed without bending it or the undercarriage.

I print exclusively from SD cards using the LCD panel on my SmoothieBoard. It is the most reliable way to print.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Quote
the_digital_dentist
I print exclusively from SD cards using the LCD panel on my SmoothieBoard. It is the most reliable way to print.

An equally reliable way to print is to use a web interface, both to kick off the print from SD card and to monitor it if you want. But I understand the Smoothie web interface is a bit limited. USB is less reliable because it is not galvanically isolated (unlike Ethernet), so mains ground noise can disturb the printer if it is connected to a mains-powered PC by a USB cable.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

My experience with LCD's is that initially I couldn't see much use for them as I was adjusting, uploading firmware and tweaking so much, this is all easier to do from a host than from the lcd. Once the printer is running well, and printing is routine its the slicer settings that vary, the firmware settings barely ever need changing. Now I use SD card (though thinking about Octoprint/raspberry pi) almost exclusively.

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Simon Khoury

Co-founder of [www.precisionpiezo.co.uk] Accurate, repeatable, versatile Z-Probes
Published:Inventions

Thanks for the disclosure I took a look at your link and I really like the idea of having a touch screen when I have everything up and working well.

So do you use an aluminum plate with a piece of glass on top? Also, thanks for clarifying. Ended up googling the process of making glass. Really amazing, I can't believe they thought of floating liquid glass on a lake of molten tin o.O

Also, why an IR probe when there are inductive sensors/mechanical switches/ and even hall effect sensors?

Quote
the_digital_dentist
I think that 1/4" plate that size should be OK. It is stiff enough that it won't sag much, so as long as you print with first layer thickness 200-250 um you should be able to print nearly edge to edge. I did some measurements of bed flatness (combined with X axis and Y axis sag, etc.) on my printer and posted video here:
heated: [vimeo.com]
unheated: [vimeo.com]
The bed is 1/4" cast tooling plate. Don't use any other kind of aluminum- it won't be flat. I print right on the aluminum plate covered with kapton tape- no glass- I don't see the point in using it.

I have a 450W heater on my 317 x 305 mm bed and it heats to 105C for printing ABS in about 5 minutes. That's about 0.5 W/cm^2. Use a similar power density to achieve similar wait time.

Four point systems bend the bed plate and or undercarriage more than they level anything. Use a 3 point leveling system as it actually levels the bed without bending it or the undercarriage.

I print exclusively from SD cards using the LCD panel on my SmoothieBoard. It is the most reliable way to print.

May I ask where you got your plate from?

It's just 1/4" cast tooling plate. You can get the same kind of stuff (MIC6 or other brand names) at any metals supply house or via ebay. I got mine at Speedy Metals because they are local and I could pick it up. The 12" x 12.5" piece cost $40.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

Quote
WalkerMaker
Also, why an IR probe when there are inductive sensors/mechanical switches/ and even hall effect sensors?

I experimented with simple modulated IR, ultrasonic, capacitive and inductive sensors before I settled on differential IR. The differential IR sensor is smaller and lighter than inductive, works with glass beds (unlike inductive), gives more reproducible results than capacitive or ultrasonic, does not need to be deployed, and has low power requirements. It has been adopted by kit manufacturers including E3D and Think3dPrint3d.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

With a Smoothie or Duet the LCD is not strictly necessary but it can be nice to have. The web interfaces are quite capable of preventing the sorts of issues one normally see when spooling data through USB and allow the printer to work autonomously.

If you were using one of the Arduino based boards then either a LCD/SD Card or OctoPrint setup is needed (in my opinion) to make things reliable.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2016 03:29PM by WZ9V.