Source for blank steel sheets & garolite
Hi all,
I thought I'd share this information, maybe it helps someone:
I couldn't find a source for blank XL steel sheets at reasonable price anywhere & PR are not selling them. I'm currently using a 2mm garolite sheet with bullclips for ABS & ASA and it's awesome (also ok for PETG and kinda meh for PLA). But I'm not 100% happy with the flatness and heat distribution of my sheet, plus it already came scratched which transfers to the prints. And you really have to take it out every time to get the prints off. So I was looking for blank steel sheets to glue a thin garolite layer on to get rid of the bullclips and get the sheet held down more evenly. I ordered some 0.5mm sheets at a model airplane supplier (400x500 mm, 15€ each), you can get them with matte or glossy finish. I'll mill them using the dxf someone posted on printables, it's spot on.
I also have a FYSETC sheet with a hologram on one side and textured PEI on the other, so I thought I'd just destroy one of those. I managed to get another one on sale for 20 bucks, went for one with the fake carbon look because I figured the sticker would be thicker and easier to remove. Unfortunately they don't sell them with two stickers, so the powder coated side will remain (but that works very well for PLA/PETG and might be used one day). The sticker is indeed easy to pull off. I could not do it in one piece because it adheres too well, but doing it in 5-6 strips is doable. Took about 10 minutes. A few patches of really nasty glue remained, after some experimentation I could easily get rid of that by putting paper towels on the sheet and soaking them in acetone for a couple minutes. Then it comes off with more paper towels, acetone and elbow grease. Another 10 minutes.
The blank sheet has a mirror finish, I'll probably sand that a bit before I glue it. Now looking for an inexpensive epoxy glue that is rated to 120°C or more and gives me 5-10 minutes to work.
RE: Source for blank steel sheets & garolite
Usually there is some local company closer than you think that does water cutting of materials, they can punch out metal sheets of anything you can provide the model for. I have not tried this for this particular use case yet but my local company cut custom parts for my boat out of 20mm marine grade aluminum and at that point it was affordable. You just have to look around a bit for a company that takes on small jobs and be a bit patient for them to squeeze it in between the big paying jobs.
/Anders
RE: Source for blank steel sheets & garolite
I tried, but even our in-house shop would cost me more. I live in a high income country, basically a handshake is 20 bucks. These sheets are around 40 USD when not discounted, and even that would be hard to beat here. I really don't get why nobody sells blank sheets, there must be other 3D printer users without a fully equipped mechanical shop in the basement or down the road.
For the same reason I mill the garolite myself. You cut also just score and break it if you don't mind not having the tabs.
RE: Source for blank steel sheets & garolite
I may just be lucky to have a local company close by that does its business locally and don’t even have a presence on the internet, the key to that shop is to turn up in person and ask, it is not big business for them so I think they do stuff just to help out, small town mindset. Other than that it is hard to compete with the cost benefit of mass production, that really pushes costs down on the mass market product and the exception that seems half baked to the masses is more expense for the producer.
/Anders
RE: Source for blank steel sheets & garolite
Update after heavily using it for a couple of weeks:
I milled and glued a 0.5mm satin-finish garolite sheet to the spring steel, using a thin layer of 2-component epoxy glue rated to 140°C. Milling is not really necessary for these thin sheets, I tested cutting it with a box cutter and that would totally work including the tabs in the back and front. It came out super flat and holds up well so far. No sanding because I bought it finished, but I clean it with IPA every few prints. Adhesion is fantastic with PETG & ABS, okayish with PLA. It's better than everything else I have for ASA (I tried Fillamentum & Esun). I could not get Esun ASA to stick to anything (textured/satin/off-brand were all terrible). ASA prints with corners still tend to warp up (again Esun, Fillamentum would probably not be a problem). But it gets much better when I apply 3DLac or glue stick. If even that is not enough a brim fixes it, which is not ideal but better than nothing and at least reliable. Prints release on their own when it cools down, and the bottom finish of the prints is comparable to the PR satin sheet. Patterned bottom fill looks absolutely fantastic.
The sheet works up to exactly 105°C, one degree more and it agressively deforms with the corners detaching from the magnets. It goes back to original form when it cools down though. I think this is due to the very different thermal expansion of garolite and spring steel. The glue holds up so far, I don't think it will fail anytime soon.
Overall this has cost me around 45€ and an hour of work, I would say it was totally worth it. I also still have a 2mm glassy surface sheet which is super stiff, considering glueing a thin metal sheet to that one to make it magnetic. And I'll continue to look for a cheap reliable ASA brand.