Glass Bed on my UPBOX

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Tue Sep 22, 2015 7:49 am

Hi all,

Well after getting the hang of a few things and playing a bit more I want to be able to bet my print bed as smooth and flat as possible. The build plates that came with the box (The perf one and the smooth one) work pretty well but I find that is is a bit of a flaw the way the the screws hold them into place. It causes flex on the board. I was thinking about removing the screws all together and just using clamps to fix the build plate to the bed but even then I could land up with a few high spots from flex (probably the reason why they have the screws in the first place). I am a machinist by trade so I was thinking if I get glass cut and put it flat on the heat bed I could dial the level out perfectly using my dial indicator somehow fastened to the axis (another print idea for the holder will have to be figured out).

Now my main question is... is it a stupid idea?
My second question is how thick should I get a piece of glass cut? I obviously do not want to to be too heavy and also want it to be able to be heated by the heated bed.

All suggestions and insights are greatly appreciated.

gordon37 · Post by **gordon37** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 8:43 am

I have no experience with glass bed, but I suppose if you unscrew all those screws and use a glass bed the same thickness to the perf board, you should be ok.
I recall someone said that if you use raft-less mode, the bottom side of your print will be as nice as the top side

LonV · Post by **LonV** » Wed Sep 23, 2015 10:44 pm

I love a glass bed! Most people think I'm crazy for it though.

You'll need something to help the ABS stick...like ABS Slurry or Aquanet Hairspray (my personal choice).

I've already done this on my Afinia H800 (UP BOX) and Afinia H479 (Up! Plus)

furnibird · Post by **furnibird** » Thu Sep 24, 2015 8:15 am

Just use Buildtak and you are all set. Buildtak sticks onto the perfboard fine and the finish is perfect with no rafts.

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Tue Sep 29, 2015 6:10 am

Thanks for the replies all!

Gordon, that is my eventual goal... to try get it so flat that it will prevent any lifting and sizes will be the same across the ENTIRE bed.

LonV, what thickness glass did you use? And does it still heat up nicely with the heated bed?

Furnibird, I just googled it, never heard of buildtak, it looks pretty interesting. I like the idea thanks! But I am wondering if it will help with me trying to get the perf board square to the head in all places.

Liova · Post by **Liova** » Wed Sep 30, 2015 1:27 pm

Mine came only with perfboard, I have no smooth one. Was it a seller error?

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 7:03 am

I got three perf boards and one smooth one... maybe I was just lucky? Or dependant where you get it from?

http://3dprintersuperstore.com.au/products/up-box

http://3dprintingsystems.co.za/products ... d-printer/ this is where I got mine from...

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Thu Oct 01, 2015 11:03 am

Ok so challenge accepted... I used the magnets for the print head to fix my dial indicator to it. I then inched the table up and powered down so I could move the axis by hand. Used the 3 leveling screws to get it pretty much spot on.

Oh and I had a piece of 2mm glass cut and just used clips to fix it to the bed. After I used my 0.1mm feeler gauge to set the nozzle height I found that I was only 0.2mm different from my old plate, bear in mind though that I did jack it up and down a bit when I leveled the glass.

I will let you all know how it goes.

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Mon Oct 05, 2015 2:20 pm

It works!!

I used hair spray to get it to stick (it works REALLY WELL). I still got some curling up on the one edge but then I remembered that I still had values in the platform calibrate boxes so that could be a cause. Another cause could be that I was printing a bit too quickly. I am happy with the results of the glass bed so far.

gordon37 · Post by **gordon37** » Tue Oct 06, 2015 7:36 am

looking good! keep up the good work!

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Fri Oct 30, 2015 11:08 am

Ok,

A bit more feed back... I LOVE the glass bed! Once you get your height and temps right you get beautiful prints. I will share pics of on the bed,the awesome cheapo hairspray that works magic and the bottom of the print as soon as it came off the bed. I highly recommend it. Just watch out where you put your clips that hold it down so that your head does not hit into them.

furnibird · Post by **furnibird** » Mon Aug 22, 2016 1:44 pm

Is the glass still going ok ?

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 10:51 am

Sorry Furnbird... I haven't been on here in a while. I just posted in your other thread. YES the glass bed is AWESOME! I still use the same one that I originally had cut, but like I said earlier BEWARE where you put your clips so that your print head does not hit it. On mine I remove the top two fingers of the clips because when the print starts the table comes up in the back corner and then moves to the print position. I just take my glass bed off every so often and clean it properly with acetone.

wackojacko · Post by **wackojacko** » Tue Oct 04, 2016 6:11 pm

Tip, before doing any manual relevelling always reset the auto values to zero.

NAST555 · Post by **NAST555** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:39 am

Good tip Bruce... One that I learnt the hard way

zeeb84 · Post by **zeeb84** » Wed Nov 28, 2018 4:21 pm

sorry to be so late to the party. Going to give a go with the 2mm glass bed. Wondering if you could share temps for abs and pla (Ill be using UPfilament)

Ronita579 · Post by **Ronita579** » Mon Apr 22, 2019 10:16 am

That was a amazing tip Bruce.

Glass Bed on my UPBOX

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