I got on the waiting list to get this new build plate for the BBL printers. It’s made out of Garolite and it is also magnetic. So it fits on the heatbed as normal.
Here is the link to their website:
I printed a 100x100x5mm square. Two of them side by side. They are so flat that you can pick up one while the surface tension picks up the second one but releases it fairly quickly tho. I was printing with cheap PLA silk. All OEM profiles.
It works good for me. All details in the website link.
For non sticking issues with this plate. This a solution by user @Level23 and other noted users of this forum.
I wanted to update this thread on the lightyear plate issue. Thanks to @StreetSports and @LaterRon for your suggestion on cleaning prior to first use with a scour pad. I went back and cleaned using soapy water and a nice water rinse using a scour pad. My first two prints using PETG from Hatchbox have stuck nicely without adding glue. For reference, I did not change any default temp settings. I did however preheat the bed to the default recommended PETG bed temperature. I believe that since the lightyear plate is a bit thicker than the standard plates from Bambu, it may take a bit longer to get to actual desired temperature. For now, I will call this problem solved. I’ll come back and update on various materials as well.
I have had mine for a couple of weeks now and it has performed great. I have been printing a bunch of petg for Hextraction game pieces. Everything releases when fully cooled, but since the plate does not really bend there is no rushing the parts release, and it takes longer to fully cool down because of its greater mass. I might need to order a second to account for my impatience.
its a very nice plate.tried pla, petg and petg-cf so far and all stick fine without glue. i like the lack of flex personally. they also have excellent customer support.
If anyone with this plate has some time, would you mind trying a specific polycarbonate print for me? It is the HEPA part of the bento box, I’m hoping this link will download the STL for you. Could not resolve warping when printing this on the BL engineering plate.
Also, would love to know if anyone has got any experience printing pure polycarbonate or nylon (not fiber blends) on this plate.
I have some white Bambu PC laying around, so I did some testing today with the STL you linked.
Printing on the naked plate with no brim, the corners started to noticeably lift around 4mm tall so I stopped the print.
Printing on the naked plate but adding a brim, I had an issue with 1 corner of the brim not adhering that I caught before the first layer of the part was complete, so I stopped the print. There were some burn marks on the white PC at this spot, so I don’t know if it had a slight extrusion issue at that spot or if some booger let go from the nozzle that helped to pull up the corner…
I have some Layerneer Bed Weld laying around from when I actually used my other printer (Bibo) that uses a glass bed. This stuff is awesome and is compatible with Garolite - but does not list PC in its material compatibility list so I figured I would give it a try here. Unfortunately, this also lifted at the corners and resulted in a slightly warped print. You can see the discoloration of the brim by the corners caused by the lifting.
FWIW I tested with only the Bambu .2 Standard profile, and did not try adjusting infill or any other param to combat the potential for warping.
Personally, I have had good results printing PC on the Bambu Engineering plate when using glue stick too - but I have only printed a few things like: The Bambu filament drying lid posted on their wiki, a holder for the Wham Bam Cloud fire suppression device, and some nozzle clog pullers. Everything printed with no lifting on the engineering plate.
I do not have any nylon filament to try… Also worth throwing out there that PC for a bento box might be overkill. PETG would suffice. I used Bambu’s PETG-CF for mine.
Well…interesting…after cleaning the plate from the tests, I found that the shape of the print was raised on the surface and can clearly be felt running your finger over it. It looks like maybe the garolite lifted from the part trying to warp at the high bed temp of 110c?
Thank you for such detailed testing, I didn’t even expect anyone to do it!
I too got some good results with PC printing other models like a variation of BL’s reusable spool. But this particular model is very tricky because it lacks a base and the walls are thin, long, and tall. But it’s amazing that on the garolite + layerneer the part only warped very slightly with default settings. Using the engineering plate + glue stick I had to slow the print way down and bump up first layer thickness to achieve anything close to this. I wonder if combining the setting changes + garolite + layerneer would finally eliminate warp.
You’re absolutely right that PC is overkill. I’m using this as practice as in the future I do plan on printing structural models, and a couple of them will have similar geometric issues. I also very much like the look of transparent PC with gyroid infill for the Bento box.
Did you ever hear back from them? I am considering getting one of these, but I’d like to know how the plate is still working, and if their support handled whatever happened to the plate.
Thanks!
They responded very quickly and sent me out a new plate when the next batch came in. The new plate is manufactured a little differently than my original where the plate is slightly lighter and the metal base is bright silver vs the matte black of the first gen. But performance of the plate is the same.
Overall it is probably the most used plate in my lineup and the company stood behind their product admirably. I have no hesitation recommending them.
I have never printed nylon. PC is what caused my first plate to fail when trying to test a bento box piece another member here was having issues with warping. I used some Bed Weld to help with holding down the print and the lifting force managed to deform the G10. Lightyear told me they did extensive testing with PC and never saw an issue like this. I would take it for the isolated incident that it is.
I print almost exclusively PLA and PETG with only occasionally TPU and PC in the mix.
I’m going to flag this lightyear plate as questionable. I have repeatedly attempted to print ASA, PLA, PLA+, and TPU on it with my X1C and prints absolutely will not stick unless I use glue. In the past I have used garolite for nylon with great success, but this plate does not perform out of the box as suggested. If glue is required, why wouldn’t I just use the cool plate supplied by Bambu?
For reference, if someone wants to guide me on the ideal settings, I am using default material profiles and selecting the smooth PEI high temp plate which is what was recommended in another thread. I would love for someone to tell me I am just doing one easy and obvious thing wrong, but so far, I am not a happy printer with this plate!
I have the lightyear plate & am happy with it. I found that pla does not like to stick to it, so I use textured pei for that filament. Im not sure about tpu.
Petg, abs, pc & pa stick to it well without adhesive. Did you try increasing the bed temp to improve adhesion? Ive had to do this before in 10 degree increments until prints held to it. I have not used glue on this plate.
I got a 1-sided plate and after washing with soap the initial prints did not stick (PETG, ASA). I then applied the liquid glue once and since then these materials stick very well and release well when cold. I can’t tell there’s glue anymore and I don’t apply more. I’m also too lazy to wash. Perhaps scouring would have achieved the same, dunno.
All details in the website link.
