Heated bed local supplier?

Hi All,

I'm just building up a Prusa Mendel and have everything except the heated bed PCB, the places I ordered the other bits from were out of stock when placed the orders and since I have just discovered this place I thought I'd ask here first.

Are there any local suppliers of the heat beds or do I need to go OS to get it? Probably not in a huge rush to get it but is definitely on the wish list.

Thanks,
Tony

I made mine using 9 12-ohm wire-wound resistors attached to the underside of an aluminium plate with JB-Weld, all of which you can buy from Jaycar for about $20. If you want it regulated (e.g. for PLA) then you'll need to add a few bucks extra for a thermistor from RS Components, and maybe a few more for a relay + regulator electronics if your board can't drive the bed directly.

Or you could just buy it, that's the easier option

I'll make that by backup plan :-) , I like the neatness of the heat bed PCB and I have the RAMPS hardware so control is not an issue.

Auzze mentioned at some stage in the past about buying in some of the PCB heated beds from overseas (or he was getting them made here - can't remember which).

I'm also after the same.. It's about the only thing I need to get properly operational.

I noticed the post but the subject line had been changed to finished so don't think there are any left or didn't happen.

Might just have to order it, no hurry right now anyway but definitely the next think for me to get.

Thx

HI..

I withdrew the offer as the supplier changed the prices, but try [www.ebay.com.au] as they are selling them for $45.00 shipped..

Auzze

I've only just got into the Prusa and still receiving some of my parts at the moment. I ended up purchasing the Heated Bed, Gen 6 Board from one supplier in the US. Mind you that was 2 weeks ago and I'm still waiting

Another back-up option is to make your own PCB heat bed using a PCB blank (Jaycar, $19.95) which you etch with either ferric chloride (Dick Smith, ~$15) or ammonium persulphate (Jaycar, $12.95).

From my tests drawing a line across a the Jaycar PCB with the thicker end of a DVD marker pen results in an etched trace that is about 1 ohm per 75cm. Draw 30 of these across a 20x20cm plate and connect then in serial in groups of 5, that will give you 6 traces that are 104cm long and 1.4 ohms each. Connect those six traces in parallel and your total power dissipation at 5V will be around 100W, but make sure your power supply can provide the 20A needed.

Auzze, thanks for that will have to keep an eye on it, I'm chasing up another option as well see if it comes off.

bmsweb I have all the bits need now just need to finish putting it all together, with shipping from the US I have noticed lately everything has slowed down, for another hobby in the past I have received stuff from the US in about 4 days when shipped using EMS, and the last 3 or 4 things have all taken about 2weeks, when I rang up Aus Post they said that apparently everything is help up in the US they scan and it gets marked asa leaving the US but it doesn't arrive here until about a week or week and half later. My theory is that either Aus Post or Customs are slow in processing them here. Very disappointing it used to be an awesome system now it really sucks.

Myndale there is a way to make PCB's using a lazer printed PCB layout and using an iron to transfer the toner onto the PCB then etching it using either of the chemicals you mentioned, I have used it before for smaller PCB's, might be another option if I feel particularly industrious.

thanks for the replies.

I actually thought about doing the Lazer PCB but I was spending so much time reading up on everything that I didn't want to waste additional time. As far as items from the US go, I received my Prusa Plastics and some hardware in 4 days from the US, the steppers from China in 5 days, but still waiting on the other stuff from the US.

As far as my Prusa goes its all assembled just waiting and looking very accurate and smooth in operation. Can't wait to get this thing going

There does indeed seem to be a delay in deliveries from the US at the moment, I work for a large corporation and we're currently seeing deliveries from China taking a few days while ones from the US are taking weeks. Dunno why, but it's been like that for at least a couple of months now.

I use the toner transfer method for all my PCBs (including my Repic board) but I'm not sure it's the best thing for a heat bed. It's not a terribly reliable technique, and once you start approaching something the size of a heat bed it would take a lot of time meticulously going over each and every square inch making absolutely certain you've transferred the whole thing properly. And then you'd probably still wind up needing to touch it up by hand anyway. Toner transfer is good with typical circuits because they're complex and would take far too much time and skill to draw by hand, but a heat bed circuit is (or rather, can be) just a series of horizontal lines connected at the edges. I reckon it'd probably be much faster, and definitely more reliable, to just draw them with a DVD pen and ruler.

I'm currently in the middle of making a mini-Prusa and I plan to use a PCB with photo resist which Jaycar sell for $25, which is probably the easiest option; unfortunately they're not big enough for any of Mendel variants

I know what you mean about doing the larger boards it's a bit of a pain, was hoping the transfer film was easier then just printing onto normal A4 paper, anyway for me thats probably a last resort thing, I'd rather try and get an off the shelf one if I can. I guess it's going to come down to the results I'm going to get without the heated bed.

G'day Guy's,
Those fine tipped sharpie pens are great for touching up toner just before etching so that would be the easiest way to put the design on for a heating board. I only found out about the reprap today and I must say I am impressed so I am tempted to convert the CNC router I designed and made into a 3D printer. It has got linear bearing rails and ball screws so accuracy and rigidity won't be a problem and with 650x350x250mm of working space I reckon I could make some decent sized parts. I do have a couple of 12" square double sided pcb boards here so I might have a go at making my own heating bed.

Regards Bryan