Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
Considering the texture on the printed parts of the MK2 I received back in early August, I'm assuming the new print surface has been in use in the print farm for quite a while. Is anyone able to give me an idea on how resilient the PEI powder coating is? If I could print for thousands of hours on a single plate and never have a print rip up a big ol' chunk of the PEI, that'd be amazing, especially in the case of sometimes "too grippy" materials, like PETG.
Another thing I've wondered about is whether ABS juice is necessary with the new surface, due the higher surface area making contact with parts.
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
Can't speak for it's life but Power Coating will definitely bond better than glue. So should be a lot more durable. I recall Josef also demonstrated scratching the surface with clippers to demonstrate it's durability. Glue, ABS Juice....would say no different.
The biggest advantage with the magnetic sheets is the ability to easily replace the sheets. Josef said that spare sheets will go between $15-$20. Even cooler is the ability to have sheets with different materials on them for different types of filaments or just get a piece of flexible steel and put whatever surface you want on it. I'm guessing we'll also see third party sheets available in the future.
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
At the TCT show in birmingham. Joe prusa took a powder coated sheet and scratched it with a pair of cutters. Load enough to be heard in a noisy room. And there appeard to be no damage
That suggests it is more resilient than pei sheet held in place by 3M tape.
Regards Joann
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
Thanks. It's not quite the same as scraping off a hundred or so prints, but that definitely sounds like it'll shrug off any occasional half-asleep knocks with a paint scraper.
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
Surely one of the main advantages of the spring steel plate is that scrapers and the like are no longer required to remove stuck prints. Flexing the steel will pop them off.
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
Reduced scraper application is probably more the reality.
I suspect first layer failures will have insufficient rigidity to flex off. 🙁
Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
I'm in a hurry, so shortly my experience with sheets so far:
1) PLA, ABS or PETG simply sticks, using just IPA to clean it
2) Prints "pop off" as the sheet cools down, for bigger ones I use hand. Haven't used spatula for a long time.
3) Durability seems to be excellent, but this depends, how well you treat it. On my other MK2 I still have the original PEI foil after almost a year and a lot of prints.
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Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
It's simply a hope and desire, but I wish the removable build plate was dual sided, textured on one side and the matte finish we have come to enjoy on the PEI sheets.
It's the perfect surface for me personally, it is a great reveal surface, and it's not so far off the as printed surfaces to stick out as "different" from the others because of its qualities of light handaling.
Yet it is quite capable of making a almost cast quality part surface.
Anyone that has any ability to say or even speculate, would it Ben possible to get a dual sided build plate with unique properties, specifically the advertised trained surface as well as the smooth matte surface similiar to that of the PEI sheets surface?
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
Unsure about the bottom side of the pei plate whether or not it has smooth surface. I also checked the buildtak flexplate system, basically you could attach the buildtak on any side of the flexplate there. This should be the same
I am very positive with the fact that the pei powder coated plate will be a very good idea considering that the surface are "rough", those plastic will surely be sticking to the surface very well instead of smooth surface like glass and aluminum surface in the past
Re: Question about the new print surface - durability and grippiness
This is guess but I'm thinking the powder coat PEI is more like micro pellets, thus the texture. I get this from Joseph waxing on about how difficult and innovative their method was. If it was powder coated, the layer would be way too thin and I doubt they'd use a multi-pass method due to costs. Dialing in pellet size, heating curve and electrostatic coating method or a one shot electrostatic+induction heating would be worth being proud of rather than simply dunking steel in molten PEI or pour coating. Also seen in the press photos of the sheet, it is only covering one side with the edge clearly showing uneven coverage meaning the melted PEI was of a larger grain and not a post texture mold. So, bead size and the electrostatic way to ensure quick repeatable layer of PEI beads to be melted on makes me think smooth is not an option in future. But, I'd like a blank sheet to put one of the current PEI sheets on top for special smooth finish prints because I wanted a removable bed more than a textured surface. Maybe an aftermarket BuildTak brand variant could be in the cards, there will certainly be a market.
MK2S kit owner since 8/15/2017