Students destroying XL (lowering print bed issue)
Hey,
Just wondering if anybody has ideas towards our issue. We run several Prusa XL's in a school environment next to quite a few Ultimaker S5's. Off course the XL's are primarily used for large prints and this is exactly where it goes wrong. The magnets are really strong and when you have a large print that covers most of the bed, it is not that flexible anymore. This means you need to carefully lift it up and get it out, but for most students it is confusing and means they just use more force and smash the printbed / print to the frame and oftentimes heads.
A simple solution would be to lower the bed further after it finishes printing (it barely lowers it). If we take a look at our Ultimaker s5's, they completely lower the print bed after each print and the Bambulab X1C also lowers it further/has less strong magnets. I know we could use custom g-code, but that is not a solution in a school environment, because the students all download prusaslicer themselves and use the default profiles. I can't change/check for custom g-code in all their slicers. It would be nice if we could add some custom g-code in the firmware section like we can easily do with reprapfirmware / duet.
At the moment this is really our number 1 annoyance / reason for not buying more xl's. (yes, signs / instructions help. They get those, but machines at this price point should be a little bit more foolproof. I don't like the Ultimaker brand, but those machines at least can withstand a lot of abuse). Are there any plans for firmware macro's? other ideas?
Just putting it out there.
Kind regards
RE: Students destroying XL (lowering print bed issue)
My suggestion would be to print a giant wedge like a pizza peel. Lift the bed slightly and wedge the... wedge in. It should be printed thick enough to reduce the magnetic force where they can lift or slide the bed out.
Most large prints will pop loose as they cool. It's hard to curb impatience I know but if you can somehow inculcate the idea that cooling is part of the process and must be completed then print-sheet removal is no longer necessary in most cases.
Cheerio,
RE: Students destroying XL (lowering print bed issue)
That is true for me what it comes to smaller prints. But the larger ones I do have to flex the build plate a bit to get it loosened. Not a lot of flex. But a little is required.
Printers like the Bambu just aren’t large enough to have a print stick with that amount of force.
Most large prints will pop loose as they cool. It's hard to curb impatience I know but if you can somehow inculcate the idea that cooling is part of the process and must be completed then print-sheet removal is no longer necessary in most cases.
Cheerio,
RE: Students destroying XL (lowering print bed issue)
Gibt es Pläne für Firmware-Makros? Andere Ideen?
I don't have an XL, so I can't check this, but with the MK3s -MK4s you can set in the Prusaslicer under “Printer/Custom G-Code/” under “End- G-Code” what the printer should do after the end of printing, there will be a similar line with the XL:
instead
{if layer_z < max_print_height}G1 Z{z_offset+min(layer_z+23, max_print_height)} F300 ; Move print head up{endif}
this
{if layer_z < max_print_height}G1 Z{max_print_height} F1000 ; Move print head up{endif}
Now my printer moves a little faster, to the max. height.