dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI  

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

I believe d
Prusa had complaints that the sheets were rusting under the pei. And to resolve this they put a surface trearrnenttreatment on the steel beneath the pei

Regards Joan

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

yes they changed it. my sheet that came with my printer was gold. and a backup I ordered was black. still haven't used it, but at least I have it around

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

The sheets are pre-applied.

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

Not a dumb question. I also was confused about such a sheet. I ordered my i3 MK3 kit in late November 2018, and it came with a Spring-Steel-Sheet-with-Smooth-PEI plate that was dark brown with quite vibrant yellow printing on it, and the code "BH-13" in the upper right. It has been working for me quite well.

Having never before seen a PEI sheet in person, I just figured this meant dark brown was PEI.

Last week I ordered Prusa orange filament and some various spare parts, including a second smooth PEI sheet. The one that showed up was darker (closer to the color of the MK3 heatbed), the printing on it was dark grayish and much more faint, and the code in the upper right said "PA-11". The bag was labeled ID-1697. My phone decoded the QR code on the bag as GOO-1697.

Since it looked so different from the first one, and the code in the corner was different, I was wondering if I had received a plain-without-PEI steel sheet--if such a thing exists. However, the Prusa store will not show you parts that didn't come with your printer, so I was unable to see if such a part even exists for earlier printers.

I had a chat in the e-shop, after some intro stuff I wrote: "Yes, the first [URL] matches my order and what I wanted. But I'm not sure if the
correct item was shipped, since it looks very different from the original that came with the printer. The paint color is different. The code in the corner is different. And it doesn't really look like PEI. It might be PEI, I can't tell. Does Prusa ever stock a PLAIN spring steel sheet? Because I am wondering if that was what I received."

What I got back was "you probly got a gold sheet. since then a new coating was added to the flexible plate that helps prevent rust and is now black in stead of gold [.] its the same sheet."

It was clear after fifteen or so minutes that I probably wasn't going to be successful communicating. So I ended the chat uneasily with the somewhat vague assurance that I got what I ordered.

Thus from my experience, even the "new black" smooth PEI sheets vary tremendously in color.

Pics attached. Original sheet dark brown with yellow that shipped with my i3 MK3 is underneath the new black with gray one. My cellphone camera doesn't seem to have the ability to capture the colors accurately as I see them, so I've included a standard color target.

Top right, showing the different codes:

And bottom right, where it is most obvious with this camera where the color of the paint different:

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

My smooth PEI carries a NM-12 code. and looks like your darker one... I got it in November and my printer came with the Powder coated sheet.

I wonder how many variations there are of these things
Will future collectors write long articles detailing all the variations ?

and next on the auction today we have the very rare QX-13 sheet in almost pristine condition and without the rust bubbles common to this version

who will open the bidding at £ 300.... thank you and we have a phone bid at £ 350...... and on and on

hey stranger things are collected 😀

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

my first sheet has a PA-11 on it. its still rocking. no rust and most of the marks on it seem to come off after awhile.

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

my first sticker sheet has no designation,
my PC sheet has WA-11

Joan

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

Given the variation in codes, I'm guessing that the two letters and numbers are some sort of production information (maybe vendor and lot code) unrelated to the model number of the sheet.

Re: dumb question about Spring Steel Sheet With Smooth Double-sided PEI

Given the variation in codes, I'm guessing that the two letters and numbers are some sort of production information (maybe vendor and lot code) unrelated to the model number of the sheet.

I noticed these. I have 4 PEI sticker sheet beds from 3 different codes. I would guess these are lot numbers for tracking imperfections.