Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?  

RE: Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?

I’m in the exact same boat, although I have a textured sheet that I got as part of the Black Friday sale with my MK3S+ last year. Just never used it! Will now be using it when I print PETG considering the auto levelling. I used to hate the manual Z levelling process!

RE: Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?

a textured sheet for printing

ask yourself:

What kind of things will i print? Will the bottom face of the prints be visible later on during the use of the prints?

Do you like the look of the  texture?

If YES then go for the textured sheet. It gives the print bottom face a professional look and can hide small imperfections.

If the texture look is not so important, then maybe a additional satin sheet would be more universal.

RE: Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?

Posted by: @ralf-4

Hello,

i am thinking of adding a textured sheet for printing PETG to my MK4 Kit order.

Swapping sheets shall be much easier with the new autoleveling feature.

has anyone experience with this and a recommendation ?

on my Mini I avoided changing sheets due to the new z setting required.

best regards

Ralf

Don't let a new Z offset stop you, hence the menu item where you can set up multiple sheet profiles, I have one for my smooth sheet and a profile for my textured sheet , the textured sheet usually required a lower z offset, just always need to remember to switch to your smooth sheet profile when you put back the PEI sheet other wise you will dig into the sheet.

I found that PLA is best on the PEI sheet and PETG works great on the textured, and usually to dial on the textured I found that +- 280 offset does the trick i.e. if the PEI sheet sits on -1.0 then the textured will be -1.280 once set no issues , this just depends how level your bed is

But yes with the MK4 one would not need to worry about this ....

RE: Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?

Seconding two great suggestions up there.

Firstly, unless you specifically want the looks of the textured sheet, the satin sheet is a better bet than the textured, from what I've read. According to Prusa, it can print the most types of material without modifiers (glue, etc). In other words, it's the most versatile.

Secondly, while you don't need to worry about this with the MK4, setting Z height on the Mini should be a one-time deal for each sheet, if you use the sheet profiles. I have smooth and satin sheets, and I just switch profiles on the Mini. I've swapped multiple times and so long as I don't forget to change the sheet profile, everything is good. I haven't touched my Live-Z in months, but I've swapped sheets multiple times.

Finally, I only swapped sheets because I wanted to "not wear out" my satin sheet printing PLA. But honestly I should just print on satin, and I don't need to worry about swapping in the first place. Satin can print PLA, PETG, and ASA, which are the three types of filament I have, without adding anything to the sheet.

I'm not sure why Prusa ships a smooth sheet with each printer. For my MK4, I would have just had them ship me a satin sheet and skipped the smooth sheet, had that been an option. I suppose maybe the smooth sheet would be easier to clean.

RE: Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?

Hi,

thank you for the feedback. So the Satin sheet seems to be the best compromise.

the main target for me is that PETG prints can be removed without risk of damaging the sheet because of too high adhesion.

the satin sheet fulfills this requirement, correct ?
best regards

Ralf

RE: Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?

I use satin sheets now for 90+% of what I print, for everything else I use a textured sheet (3rd party, BCZAMD), for the looks of it.

Both the satin sheet and the BCZAMD gold sheet have handled PLA, PETG, TPU, ASA, PC, PC-CF, and probably other materials with grace. No issues but check the Prusa materials table because some filaments may need a thin layer of Layerneer, Magigoo, or glue stick, or the filament will stick to much and rip out the coating when the part is removed.

RE: Should i buy an extra textured sheet ?

I have printed PETG on satin, and it pops off as easily when cooled as PLA does on the smooth sheet. It will not damage the satin from too much adhesion.

PETG parts for my future MK4 kit on the MINI with satin sheet:

Followed immediately after by slightly wet purple PETG:

I’ve done most of my printing in PLA on smooth so far, but I’ve printed these two sets of PETG parts for the MK4 (3 more sets left) and a full set of backup parts for the MINI (multiple sheets worth) plus one or two other parts in PETG on satin. None had any issues separating from the sheet after cool-down, none had lack of adhesion during printing, and no adhesive modifiers were applied to the sheet to increase or decrease adhesion.

Posted by: @ralf-4

Hi,

thank you for the feedback. So the Satin sheet seems to be the best compromise.

the main target for me is that PETG prints can be removed without risk of damaging the sheet because of too high adhesion.

the satin sheet fulfills this requirement, correct ?
best regards

Ralf