Thermoplast Extruder Hints

Bed Materials

Some bed materials work better than others. ABS does not seem to stick to the MDF bed at all. So far I've tried the following with ABS:

Electrical tape - sticks, but not well enough to stop warping.

Glass - doesn't stick at all.

CD-Roms - sticks well, gives a nice surface finish, but tends to warp. Build area is obviously very limited (and circular!).

Acrylic Sheet - works! ABS sticks to it quite nicely; I had some warping, but I only used 1.5 mm thick Acrylite FF P99 Acrylic Sheet from Cyro Industries. I've got some thicker stuff to test again as soon as I get my extruder running without the flexible drive.

Wade 2008.10.01