Remember how nice a pattern the original PEI black plate produced? Also, it just ‘felt’ like it was the result of much better workmanship. Well… I may have found a true replacement and it’s only $20. I’ve been using it for a few days and so far, it performs like the original Bambu Black PEI plate.
Note: I also own a Bambu Smooth High Temp/Engineering plate(since discontinued) as well as four other competitor’s build plates that range from PEO, PEI and various specular and textured finishes. I only mention this to note that PEI textured is not the only tool I use. My comparison is solely confined to textured PEI.
Here is a comparison of the build plates.
- Plate 1 is the original PEI Black. I am using the side that has a pristine surface that I preserved for those times I wanted a “Perfect Texture” I’ve since used only a few times before these side by side tests. It’s as close as one could get as factory-new.
- Plate 2 is the replacement Bambu Gold which I received in November of 2023 and that was before they started putting their logo on it. It has “never” been used.
- Plate 3 is the one I’ve been using for a few days from 3DHub
Results of a 100x100x2mm cube primitive using PLA. Two camera angles were used so that the glare from the Bambu Gold plate will be obvious and not due to camera angle. Note that the 3DHub texture is near identical to the original Bambu Black.
Flipped 180
Closeup of all 3 textures. I can’t tell the difference between the original Bambu Black and the 3DHub.
Closeup of the bar codes on the bottom of the plate. Since I don’t have an X1, I can’t confirm if these would be readable.
I never noticed it before but the gold plate has a different bar code. 3DLAB copies the Bambu Barcode for the original black textured plate. Maybe someone with an X1 can tell me if that means anything.
The testing method I used ensured that all three plates had minimal usage so one cannot attribute age and mileage to the difference in wear patterns. The original black saw significant usage over the last 15 months as was evidenced by the “used side” wear pattern in the bottom right of this photo below. However, the other side saw almost no usage and the gold plate had never been used so the pattern represents what came directly from the factory. Note that the unused gold and new 3DLAB black had no wear on the nozzle cleaning tab.
Conclusions
The gold plate was clearly an inferior product compared to the original black PEI. This is evident in the samples. The plate doesn’t stick as well as the black one. It’s not about the color; the issue is that the amount of textured powder coating is far less, presumably to save costs. However, we’re supposed to be getting a premium build plate when asked to pay $38.
So why are we being asked to spend nearly twice as much for an inferior product when a $20 plate can beat it on quality and give us back the functionality many of have asked for when the black PEI “textured” plate was discontinued?
The Bambu gold plate I received was actually a complimentary replacement after I submitted a ticket showing that my original plate did not survive the use of PC filament. I’ve since learned it can be made to last, but you must use a glue stick as a prophylactic barrier. If there’s interest, I will post a picture of the worn-out original black plate with the residual damage caused by measures I had to take to scrape off the PC filament. Note that the new gold plate no longer states it can be used for PC.