Test it as in see if it’s working? If so yes it does come on. If you mean something else then no I haven’t performed any test.
Hi @Olias
I have my smooth plate, before I use it I wanted to ask…
Is it still safe to wash with a non scratch scouring pad I don’t want to ruin brand new plate?
Is it safe to use IPA on the smooth plate?
Are bed temps typically the same for smooth and textured plates?
Not to get involved in what Olias is doing…
I’ve never washed my smooth plate, I’ve only used IPA…so far anyway.
There is a do and don’t. Scotch pads come in both abrasive and non abrasive.
If you want to destroy your build plate, this is the best. 
Does not Work!!!
This works
However, this Scotch-brite the better of the two and I keep this on hand.
This is also a good product but you will want to soften it in hot water to work best.
Yes, IPA is relatively benign to just about any build plate.
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Thanks.
Quick one,
Any ideas what sort of emissivity setting should be used on infrared thermometer to measure the smooth pei plate?
Well, it’s a steel sheet; my manual says .80.
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Printed this and it came out perfect.
I will print a larger piece tomorrow to see it i get any curling with the new plate.
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So, printed a piece today which is 5mm thick with 4 walls and 15% gyroid infill on the new smooth plate.
Aux and chamber fan at 50%, door and lid closed.
By the way I love how smooth the bottom surface comes out on the smooth plate.
Got a very small amount on curling at the corners, barely noticeable but it’s there. The curling doesn’t appear to carry through the model and top surface seems flat, if anything there’s a slight convex to the plate.
Im 99% certain it used to be perfect or am I just expecting too much?
I suspect that if I tried to print the larger, thicker model that I showed at the start of this post the curling would be worse due to higher qty of infill to contract.
I guess glue is the next option.
I don’t know if you will get any better than that without using a brim/mouse ears to hold the very corner down.
What Brim Object gap should i use, i tried mouse ears on another piece and there was literally nothing touching the actual part so i cant see how it did anything?
I use a 0 “Object brim gap” setting. It requires slightly more effort to clean up the finished part but it keeps the brim and part connected.
There still is a slight gap as the first layer elephants foot compensation is still active.
https://wiki.bambulab.com/en/software/bambu-studio/parameter/elephant-foot
I have to concur with @JonRaymond. The results posted here are about the best one might expect in a perfectly tuned environment. Most people would be really happy with this.
Is there something else like maybe the underside that you’re not happy with because I doubt, you’d be able to improve on those results very much.
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Hi All,
Here’s an update.
Just printed the original part that this post started with.
Smooth PEI plate
No Glue
Aux fan off
Chamber fan at 50%
Door and lid closed
Kept an eye on the chamber temp and didn’t go over 37c.
Build plate temp 55c
Nozzle temp 220c
Esun pla ss
5 % gyroid infill.
Print came out perfect so pleased with that however 5% isn’t strong enough the part has too much flex.
Next stop try with 15% infill and see how that goes.
For context here a picture of the part. It’s a base for a router for woodworking.
Really appreciate all the help you guys have given me.
OK, This would have been very useful information to start off with. 
Now that you’ve described the use-case, it all becomes crystal clear what your objective is. I should mention that most of my 3D printing is for parts fabrication so this is a topic that is as much a labor of love as it is a practical matter.
For something of this nature where you are looking for both precision and rigidity, PLA is not really the best material. In fact, it’s probably the worst. You will find it too soft and too brittle over time.
Here’s what I found to be effective when I am making C-Clamps for rigid use which has the same design objectives as your router guide will want. I use PC and I don’t use any infill at all, instead I use 100% walls. This is an example of what that looks like in the slicer from one of my projects.
Now here are the benefits to using PC with 100% wall thickness over PLA and even PETG or ABS.
- It is extremely rigid.
- It is extremely hard which makes it easy to tap threads directly into the plastic, no brass inserts needed. In fact, it takes on ‘almost’ metal-work-like properties with respect to machining albeit nowhere near as hard as metal.
- It produces very tight and clean edges after you trim off any whiskers or stringing if any exists at all. If you manually calibrate the filament, I’ve found that I get no stringing whatsoever.
- I found no bowing or warping of any of the parts when I use 100% wall thickness. The slicer limit is 999 wall loop, but when you set it at the level, it overrides the infill.
The design objective in this case was that I had a favorite desk lamp whose clamp was wearing out. I designed this replacement and used M5 bolt as my screw mechanism. The plastic itself was so rigid it accepted an M5 tap and allowed me to cut perfect threads directly into the plastic. I used this for months before eventually upgrading the arm altogether but as you can see by the photo, there was no wear and tear. The pad was made out of TPU to protect the desk surface, other than that, it was all PC.
You can see just how crisp the edges are along this model. I had no need for any post processing.
Here’s the 3MF file if you want to look at the settings I used.
flute.3mf (1.5 MB)
This was the filament I’ve used but truth be told, I never paid more than $15 spool so it’s almost close to what many PLA spools cost. I prefer the clear PC because it doesn’t have any additives. I found that the black is less strong. I’m sure the brand of polycarbonate does not matter but I wanted to at least document the source of my examples.
It’s also marketed under the name HZST3D brand and comes out of the same factory with the identical spool and outer carton.
https://www.amazon.com/s?me=A1DX1QGBJ20KN6&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Hi,
Yeah I understand that Pla isn’t the best option for these sort of 3d printed parts but as im new to printing and designing parts I’ve just stuck with pla to start with to get to grips with everything and also material selection is extensive and another rabbit hole that I didn’t want to go down just yet.
Is PC easy to print with or does it take alot of tweaking to get right?
Can you print that on a P1s as its only suitable to certain range of materials isn’t it.
Also out of interest what design software do you use? I’m using Sketchup but that’s because I have already used it before for drawing bits of furniture it but not sure it’s the most comprehensive for cad drawing. Am considering looking into fusion 360, but again another whole lot of learning.
Nothing is as easy as PLA so if that can be used as a baseline, on a scale of 1-10, 10 being Nylon and ABS being 8, PC is probably a 7 as far as difficulty goes. But then again, You can do certain things with PC that simply cannot be done with other materials as well. It will never make a beautiful print but it will make beautiful functional parts. It also is hydroscopic so it needs to be dried.
As with any filament, if you want to get best results, manual calibration will always perform better than factory defaults. That’s why I use Orca. It’s baked-in calibration tools, once mastered makes it possible to turn almost any cheap filament into the same performance as the overpriced stuff.
Sketchup is a tool that is very good for anyone who wants to show a concept and create a 3D model from that concept. That’s one reason why it is so popular with architects as it lends itself to taking 2D drawings and creating a 3D model to show to clients.
However, if you plan on using 3D printing to make parts like I do, then you’ll want to embrace the difference between a Parametric CAD and non-Parametric CAD. Blender, Sketchup, TinkerCAD are non-Parametric. By that I mean you cannot easily dial-in the dimensions of a part and go back in and edit them later. Fusion360, OndSel(freeCAD), SolidWorks, SolidEdge and OnShape are all Parametric CAD systems.
What I use - OnShape
There are a lot of fanboys for {Fill_in_CAD_Program} But although I have Fusion360, SolidWorks Maker addition, FreeCAD and it’s semi-professional cousin OndSel, I keep coming back to OnShape. It is the most 3D-friendly tool I have used for this hobby. Yes, Fusion360 allows direct to print but I find it clumsy and it uses a lot of computer resources not to mention predatory licensing practices after your hooked from the publisher Autodesk. I have a gaming rig that would be considered at the top end with respect to Graphics Card(RTX-3080 TI) and 12 gen Intel I7 but even that can be brought to its knees with Fusion360. OnShape is cloud based and as a result, only your browser is needed. The only downside is that everything you host in the cloud using OnShape’s free version is public. So you wouldn’t want to use it for anything proprietary. But in all fairness, unless someone knew exactly what your model name is, there is no index of public files so it would be next to impossible for someone to stumble on your model unless you advertised it under a really unique name that one could search on.
The last negative things I’ll mention about FreeCad and Fusion360 is that FreeCAD interface is an abomination and its errors are for the developers of FreeCAD not users. I’ll also say that their online support community is toxic to newbies. It is also too easy to get yourself into a place that you can’t recover and loose days of work. I tried using it for six months straight before I gave up. Fusion360 on the other hand is polished and mature but Autodesk has an Adobe-like history of predatory licensing practices. They lure you in with features and then once you’re too far invested to give up, WHAM!!! You want that drawing you just made? OK, that will now be available in the paid version(Last year it was $380/yr and this year its $780/yr) OUCH! Autodesk has a history of this sort of money-grab tactics.
_________________________________________________
This was the video that finally convinced me to move to OnShape. Take a look and you be the judge.
After you view that, here’s his final video as to why he feels that OnShape is best for 3D Printing. This video was the older version(6years ago) but it still is largely true.
He’s also got a great set of 3D Printing CAD tutorials that will make you an expert in no time. What’s nice about his approach is that he’s a former High School teacher for STEM and he has such a way with making the complex simple that you kind of wish you had him as your High School Science teacher.
Here is the link to full 11-part tutorial playlist with 25 videos in all, but in all honesty, I’ve never needed to go past five of them before I got what I needed to start making accurate parts.
The Play-list =>> https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGqRUdq5ULsONnjEEPeBxxStEsobDKAtV
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Thank you Olias,
You are a wealth of information and have some very helpful and informative advice… So thanks.
I was only planning on looking at the free version of fusion but I will look into OnShape as you sell it well. If it’s simple and quick to learn them I’m a fan already.
Will stick with PLA for now, seems fairly strong at 15% gyroid infill with 4 walls just not sure how it will stand the test of time dimensional and with humidity. Obviously being parts used in a workshop need to be durable so something stronger will be the aim in the future.
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Just printed the 15% infill I came out perfect so not sure how exactly I’ve solved it or maybe a combination of things but hopefully I can continue to replicate this going forward.
Hi again,
So I just tried to print a new version of this model with all of the same setting that worked successfully last time. Only difference is this is white esun pla instead of black.
The 1st layer went down fine then 2nd layer didn’t stick properly.
Any thought on the issue would be appreciated.
The only thing I can think of that I changed was the layer height. I changed to 0.28 as just wanted to make a prototype print first. I think I left 1st layer at 0.2mm still. Would this be the cause?