Sources of aluminium composite sheet for print bed

Can anyone recommend a supplier of thick sheet material here in Ireland - i.e. for the print bed? Alan had mentioned suppliers of sign materials to me before (as apparently signs are made of a similar material) - but some of them seem to require a minimum order which is above my budget.

As far as I know the material that a lot of people are using is a plastic-aluminium composite.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2011 08:41AM by dslc.

Hi there,
Not sure what 'composite' material you have in mind. Are you looking for aluminium sheet suitable for attaching heat resistors, to build a heated bed?
I'm keeping an eye out myself. I've been printing on a scrap piece of perspex at the moment. It not heated, and I'm reaching the limits of object size that will print without lifting off at this stage so I'm considering a Prusa heated printed bed. You can mount that on MDF with some insulation between them.

If I find anyone locally selling aluminium sheet in small sizes I'll let you know for sure.
NumberSix.

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Hi dslc,
I have a source for aluminium sheet in Ireland. I got a piece recently of 3mm to make a heated print bed. I am going to try stainless for the top sheet as I have seen good results on it.
Are you looking for plain Al sheet?

Hi NumberSix. Hi Hamilton. Thanks both for your suggestions.

The thought of using plain metal sheets had crossed my mind. Then, however, I read somewhere on the forum that these composite sheets are lighter (and thus less strain on the motors?). Then again, aluminium is quite light, isn't it? So maybe I was making much ado about nothing.

I know there is a supplier of dibond composite in the UK that some of the UK contributors were interested in - but the shipping charges over here were prohibitive.

I'll probably look at Farnell and Radionics to see what their prices are like for plain aluminium sheets. Might get back to you at some stage.

david

Hey all,

What I actually got hold of was some dibond offcut from a local signmaking company, free of charge. Its two thin layers of aluminium (0.3 mm thick) with some polymer sandwiched in between. Its good to 80 or maybe 90 degrees C which is fine for PLA but you'd need to be able to go higher if you want to do ABS.

Attaching resistors to it is tricky as its thin (3 mm) and mostly polymer but with really short screws (and patience/care) its possible, tho ymmv! Adrian uses nichrome wire taped onto the dibond with kapton iirc and probably spreads the heat better than my setup. Solid Al would probably be easier as you could tap it or it might be easiest to put Prusa's PCB on a piece of dibond - both would work with ABS.

Sitting on top, I have a 2€ sheet of glass from the local hardware.... 2€ tends to be the minimum charge there for anything really!

All the best,

Alan.

Hello All

I have spent the last four months gathering the parts to build a printer, and I am now about to start building.

Any advise I can get would be great and I have sourced most of the vitamins at this stage, so if any body needs help with that ..

Regards

Kevin

Thanks for the info Alan! I got some sort of wood board from the local builder's suppliers this morning - and will probably just use that for the present (until I get up and running). I suppose I can attach Kapton tape if the bare surface isn't suitable.

Update... I've got some 3mm dibond (aliminium composite sheet) in sizes suitable printer beds, if anyone is Ireland is looking for some. Nominal charge. Drop me a PM if anyone is interested.
NumberSix

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