Alum 110v heated bed

[BeeAmaker]

This is going to be my 3-point adjustable 110volt heated bed.

I was just playing with the idea of polishing the surface. only after about an hour of work I got to a near mirror finish.
I'll polish it more later as I have some cutting to do on this first - so no sense in polishing it twice.

[ZionPhil]

Wow. Do you think you might try to print directly on that then?

[BeeAmaker]

Yep, thats the plan. I'll probably use glue stick so I'm not scratching the alum with a putty knife. I'll have to use a neoprene scraper to prevent scratching it up.

Then after that I can fry my eggs and bacon

[navkram]

that is just flat out sexy. Nnow it will be like a new vehicle super careful till first scratch then is game on......

now paint it yellow

[ZionPhil]

Not sure why you guys are always scraping glue or hair spray away. Much faster and cleaner to just put under hot water tap.

[BeeAmaker]

Feb 9, 2014 20:57:49 GMT -5 ZionPhil said:

Not sure why you guys are always scraping glue or hair spray away. Much faster and cleaner to just put under hot water tap.

It won't be so easy to remove the Alum plate, plus it would cool off to much each time I want to remove the object by putting it under water. I could probably use a squirt bottle just to loosen the glue. Then I wouldn't have to disconnect everything, and it shouldn't cool off a whole lot. But then I haven't really decided if I will use a glass plate or not.

[ZionPhil]

If you use glass plate, you can keep your bed heater and metal plate still heating, and then if you use hot water on the glass...it's still hot.

[jimustanguitar]

I'm still going to use a glass plate on mine. I've got 3 or 4 round pieces of cheap window glass, and it's super convenient to just rotate them out after each print. While one thing is printing, the last plate cools and releases the part, then I can go clean it off in the sink, spray new aquanet on it, and it's dry before I put it back on the machine.

With a big piece of aluminum like that, I'm going to upgrade to 24VDC on the bed anyway, so heating a little piece of glass will be nothing.

[jimustanguitar]

BTW, what heater are you using? You said 110v in the header.

[BeeAmaker]

Feb 10, 2014 10:16:42 GMT -5 jimustanguitar said:

BTW, what heater are you using? You said 110v in the header.

I'm using an 11" electric skilet with the side cut off. I'm going to bolt it to the bottom of the Alum plate.

[ZionPhil]

Will you put a thermistor somewhere in that setup to determine the temp of the bed?

[BeeAmaker]

Feb 10, 2014 21:09:10 GMT -5 ZionPhil said:

Will you put a thermistor somewhere in that setup to determine the temp of the bed?

Eventually yes. Not sure yet exactly what I will do there.

[jimustanguitar]

I've been thinking about requesting a custom quote from these guys:

www.ebay.com/itm/250mm-Diameter-Circular-110V-300-W-NO-3M-1-PC-Silicone-Heater-Pad-Free-Shipping-/141186729032?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20df628448

Seems awfully affordable... Just have to figure out the thermistor setup. Probably will mill a hole for it in the bottom of the aluminum and trench a small groove for the wires. Or order the heater custom made with a small hole in the center. Then I think I can just use an SSR on the Rambo to switch the 110v heater on and off in place of the original bed, right?

[BeeAmaker]

Feb 12, 2014 20:32:47 GMT -5 jimustanguitar said:

I've been thinking about requesting a custom quote from these guys:

www.ebay.com/itm/250mm-Diameter-Circular-110V-300-W-NO-3M-1-PC-Silicone-Heater-Pad-Free-Shipping-/141186729032?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20df628448

Seems awfully affordable... Just have to figure out the thermistor setup. Probably will mill a hole for it in the bottom of the aluminum and trench a small groove for the wires. Or order the heater custom made with a small hole in the center. Then I think I can just use an SSR on the Rambo to switch the 110v heater on and off in place of the original bed, right?

Yah, that is a good price, however my skillet was only $11.00! (but more work)
Controlling an SSR is my thought as well, but you got to be careful not to over heat it by rapidly turning it on and off. I have a hefty heat sink to put on mine. I may try the controller that came with the Skillet but the warmest it goes is 200f which is 93-ish C. Which is about as hot as you want to get. So I might just wire the hot plate direct though the SSR and forget the controller. In testing it gets to temp in about 5 seconds, even with the alumin plate on top.

If you trench the Alum, that line will get hotter than the rest of the plate so keep that in mind. But as thick as the plate is it might not be noticeable. If you can, spiral from the center out, that will help distribute the heat, and use high temp wire.

Now I need to decide if I want to wire the heater right into the 110v to the power supply of or use a second plug.

[jimustanguitar]

Is there a way in the firmware to change the speed that the SSR would flutter at when it's at temp?