Life span of steel spring sheet  

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

Hi Davi, 

I print PLA, PETG and TPU... more exotic filament may need different treatment

the Build plates are relatively robust. 
treat them well and they will last a long time. 

the major cause of curling, is loss of adhesion, and this is often due to a build up of surface contamination. 
IPA can remove some contamination but doesn't remove all contamination. 
there are lots of contending options. 
I take my build plate to the sink, and wash it well with Hot Water and Dish Soap, then rinse well with fresh hot water, and dry immediately with plain paper towels. 
(Normally after one of these messages there are a number of people saying not to do this or that or you must do something else... All I have said is that 'I' wash 'My build plates'...   I have a selection of smooth and textured build plates and so far, NONE of them have rusted...)

After washing and drying, I use my build plate, as normal, no other surface treatment... (exception... Wipe smooth plates with windex before printing PETG and TPU) the windex reduces your adhesion to prevent over adhesion

After some prints, you may see bubbles under the smooth PEI sheet, if you make sure that all of the waste filament is taken off the surface, turn the plate over, and use the other side... Normally the bubbles will dissapear after a few reheats. 

regards Joan

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

I just spoke to support about this.....as I have over 30 days of print time on a machine built in march.  The smooth sheet I am using on it has had over 500 prints removed form each side, and was starting to show shadows where the prints were.  I was always thorough about ISO wipes between prints and I use a method like joantabb's with a lot of hot water and Palmolive.  I just scrub the sheet with a microfiber cloth and soap.......then rinse and scrub with paper towels to dry.

Support had me track down a small bottle of 100% acetone (walgreen's $3.99 if idiots havent bought it all to try sanitizing covid) - and a scrub on both sides completely restored the sheet to new.  While the shadows are still there.....the adhesion and print quality is nearly brand new.  I was also hesitant to try acetone as it was hard to find currently, but it was so worth the trip, I returned that evening to deliver 40 relief bands to their employees.

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

@nilok and @joantabb

Thank you very much for the feedback. I will use some acetone and I will more regularly use soap and water and try to get better adhesion. But I do still wonder how a person will ever determine when a plate is beyond its use life or worn out. I went ahead and ordered a new one to have on hand.

And, do you think those print "shadows" are from build up of material, or it is from a removal of surface material from the build plate when the parts are removed? 

Thanks,

David

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

Also.....I'm adding this here because even the pharmacy tech had to look it up: 100% Acetone is not 100%....at least not in the US......it has an added ingredient to add scent, and does not affect the PEI.  I wasted far too much time trying to find something that didn't exist.  Just be sure the bottle you buy has "Ingredients: Acetone, Denatonium Benzoate"

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

@davi-11

My shadows never went away........but like joantabb said, the bubbles should vanish if you flip the sheet for a few cycles.  I'm not sure if I'll get another 500 prints per side between acetone scrubs....but I can say for sure that I feel a $35 plate has given me full value with 1000 prints, and to get more out of it with a few dollars in cleaning, I am very impressed.  The cleaning/acetone/scrubs has also made me a little less "overprotective" of the sheets...but I cannot answer your question about lifespan.  I've only had my machines since January and March.....

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

Regarding 100% acetone.

I purchase one quart of 100% acetone at a hardware store, no scent added, for $8.00 U.S.  I checked the manufacturs specs and nothing by acetone.

The scented stuff is sold for use as fingernail polish remover.

Jerry

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

@jerry-v2

Sorry, I should have been more specific. I was referring to sources other than the hardware/paint store where a single ingredient is clearly labeled. Some idiots here ran stories about acetone being substituted for alcohol to disinfect surfaces.....and there isn't much to be found anywhere.  My wife was the one who suggested nail polish remover without any extras....was just hard to find 100%, and I wasn't used to seeing anything extra added. 100% doesn't seem to leave room for an extra ingredient....but it is labeled as such.

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

Good advice already in this thread...  A couple of things.

I have a PC sheet that I got in June 2018 and have used since in addition to a couple of others...  I have a couple of shadows that have accumulated from various prints during this time and the shadows themselves do not seem to have affected the print adhesion...  I believe, with not proof to back it up, that the shadows are some sort of damage to the surface of the plate from the print removal, however slight....

In addition to surface contamination, drafts will cause print lifting so that is something to be mindful of....

You indicate that you print the same prints with the same filament.  It could be beneficial to move the prints around on the build plate for different prints to spread the wear so to speak.  That may mean that you have to have a couple of different Gcodes for the same prints to use different areas of the plate to print on.  Again, I have no proof that that will help extend the life of the sheet, but it makes intuitive sense if for nothing else than allowing for more areas subject to contamination or wear on the plates...  it is something I try to do on prints.

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

I have plates that are 2 years old and still printing.  Some are scuffed and scarred but still print.  

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

Good advice everyone, thank you. 

I found some acetone and gave my sheet a good scrubbing with a paper towel and the acetone took the shadows right off. That means it was a build up of some material instead of a removal of material from the sheet. 

I still have a bunch of divots, maybe from stray bits of debris between the sheet and heat bed. They have not self-healed after heating, but it has not created any problems with printing. 

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

If you are printing the same item repeatedly, like the RC3 shields, make four GCODE files, each rotated by 90 deg, i.e rotate the STL file in PrusaSlicer by 0, 90, 180, 270 deg in the Z-axis.

After printing 20 RC3s I noticed my steel sheet looking a bit ropey, but now I rotate the prints the sheet looks almost as good as it did when I first stated. Also, the usual point where the RC3s lift from the bed is where the elastic attaches. Since these are printed on a different area of the sheet for each of four prints, they don't lift anymore. So less cleaning required.

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

@david-j21

Good advice.  I will have to try it.  

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

It's an old thread but I was also starting to wonder about the life span of smooth steel plates. I have mine now for one year of relatively frequent usage and I print only on one side as the other side has taken quite a beating from printing Nylon and I thought I reserve that side for stuff like that.

Recently I have the feeling that adhesion has deteriorated substantially, also after giving it a repeated wash with detergent. So I used a bit of acetone for the first time and it seemed to help but only for a few prints even though I was super careful not to leave finger prints and cleaned with IPA in between. Maybe it isn't a problem so much with the sheet but with using a 0.25 mm nozzle or maybe I need to recalibrate the Z level but I was wondering what the experience of others here is regarding the life span of those plates. If the PEI sheet looks undamaged does it nonetheless loose its adhesion qualities at some point beyond recovery of all those means frequently described? Or should it stay sticky if properly cleaned and with proper 1st level calibration?

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

@thejiral

A year is pretty good. The more adhesive and abrasive the material, the shorter the life span.  

If Acetone did not work, get some 2000-3000 grit sandpaper.  It works pretty well with small circles in each section of the plate.  

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

Thanks, good to know. I'll certainly get a new sheet. After all having a second one can't be wrong and I'll have the first one still for the nasty stuff and for PP.

I will try out that sandpaper approach though.

RE: Life span of steel spring sheet

@thejiral

My original first sheet just died after 3 years.  I would say 1-2 years is a good long life if you are printing sticky filaments.  Longer if you stick to PLA.  Anything after that is gravy.