Recommendation for parts to make heated bed for delta

Hi everyone, I have just completed build of a mini-kossel type 2020 based delta printer. Its got a duet wifi board paired with smart effector and e3d hotend. My next step would be to attach a heated bed. As I am using 24v for the delta, I have bought a silicon heater with diameter of 180mm.

Having seen the buildlog of Norwegian Creations I would want to source the parts for a 200mm aluminium bed and a glass plate of diameter 200mm that I can attach the silicon heater pad to. My question is if anyone know of a good supplier for the aluminium pad in Europe as I am based in Dublin, Ireland (I am thinking of thickness of 4mm, but perhaps too difficult to attach the termistor to) along with the glass plate? Also, should I use cork or other material for the insulation? What would work best? Meanwhile I will try to print out some brackets to fit the build although I am very inexperienced never to have had any printer before and having build my own with a bit of peeking in the forums here If DC42 reads this, many-many-many thank you for all posts and articles... I have read them up and down many many times over last 4-5 months and for this reason the thing moves..

Leif

Congratulations on completing your build! I'm pleased to see that you used a Duet WiFi to control it. Do be very careful not to short the back of the Duet on anything, until you have printed an enclosure for it.

I got my 330mm diameter aluminium bed from [lakelandsteel.uk]. Caution: flatness isn't guaranteed, you could be unlucky.

For the glass, ask your local glazing supplier to cut a few discs for you from 3mm or 4mm float glass, also ask them to smooth the edges so that they are safe to handle (i.e. not sharp). No need to buy borosilicate. Again, you might be unlucky and get a slightly bent piece, but your glazier will probably charge so little for them that you can afford to get several.

Cork sheet can be found on eBay, but you can also use 3-skin corrugated cardboard cut from an old box. The insulation isn't critical, although it does give the silicone heater some support to help prevent it peeling off the aluminium plate. Its other function is to avoid transferring heat to electronics or anything else that you mount under the bed.

To mount the bed on the lower triangular frame, I use metal standoff pillars, which are more precise than printed parts.

HTH David

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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 use Alluminium Cast Tool Plate from select Cast alluminium and I would suggest 6 mm thick get it slightly larger than you really need and it cuts very easily using a fine metal blade in a JigSaw.

HTH

Doug

@dc42 @dougal1957 Thank you very much for links and tips. I will try to get my hands on a few plates shortly and give it a go when installing the heated bed. I am all new to this, so it takes me forever and a year as I have to doublecheck my doublechecks Thanks again

Hi again, quick question. What grade aluminium am I looking for? I tried quote from aluminiumwarehouse, but had 200gbp of postage in checkout for delivery in antrim, North Ireland as there was no option for Ireland address as country and I use Antrim to delivery through Parcelmotel service as uk address. However 200gbp is a tad too much, so I have asked them again in email if correct. This leaves option of lakelandsteel, but I am unsure what grade aluminium to put down as there are many product categories :/ I applogise in advance for not having search forum for answer to this.

Another thought, if aluminium is quite flat, could I not just add a PEI surface directly to it and as such negate to have a glass layer on top?

Leif

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/12/2017 09:03AM by leif.

Yes, you can use PEI direct on aluminium. However, I frequently find that in order to release a PLA print from PEI, I need to put the bed + print in the freezer. So IMO it's better to put the PEI on a removable glass plate, unless the printer is very large.

Some PLA filaments print well directly onto heated glass.

See [www.metalex.co.uk] for information on aluminium grades.

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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].