The bed is deteriorating rapidly

Gamecreature

The bed that came with my printer is deteriorating rabidly, with large parts coming up with each build. I have to adjust the location of my print to areas that are yet unaffected. I need a new bed cover. Tried ordering one from the manufacturer, but who knows when it will get here. Are there other materials/sources I could use for the printer bed?

Gandy

Yes, look for a PEI coated spring steel plate with a magnetic base. I found one on aliexpress in the right size and this was the most single cost effective upgrade I ever made to my printer. Removing prints without any damage whatsoever couldn't be easier.

naPS

@Gandy

Care to post a link to the one that you found to give us nubs a place to start looking?

Gandy

Sure, check out this link: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32990786969.html

Please note there are different sizes available; I went for the 310x320, where the extra 10cm account for the lip at the bottom to easily lift the plate from the magnetic sticker.

You will not need any sharp tools to remove your PLA prints, but still the PEI coating is prone to pick up a few scratches over time. I've been using mine for 2 years now and there are a few dents I can avoid during prints, but I keep a second sprint steel plate with fresh coating around for critical prints.

Higher temperature material like ABS, ASA or PC may require a release agent, otherwise the material might bond too well with the PEI and will ruin the surface. So far, I haven't tried anything else but PLA, so if someone might want to share their experience with printing those materials on a PEI surface, please share.

Gandy

Here's a few pics on how this looks on my machine:

The magnetic base already had an adhesive applied and was glued right onto the aluminum heated bed:

The spring steel plate with the PEI sheet is held by magnetic force and can be taken off using the small lip to the left:

After printing and cooling, the spring steel plate with the printed object is removed from the magnetic base and just after flexing the plate a few times, the object just pops right off. Sometimes, it may still stick in the middle, but it required just gently tugging to remove it completely. When the plate is under 60°, I tend to already remove the warm spring steel plate and cool it off quicker of some colder surface. For successive prints, I keep the bed heated and just replace the spring steel plate after a quick wipedown with isopropylic alcohol.

While my glass plate weighted 925g while the whole magnetic base + spring steel plate assembly only weighs in at 700g. This didn't really make a difference for Y-axis acceleration, though.