Onlinemetals or http://speedymetals.com and you can find the supplier for all the taz stuff on their site. Click on the source link for the printer. The bom, suppliers, pricing everything is in it. Gotta dig but its there
@Andrew_Radovich_BadW It may be the way it was cut or the quality of the glass. Cheap float glass may not have the best material and when it heats and contracts there could be issues. Good quality plain float glass probably won’ t do that but it could be susceptible to thermal shock. Like if you crash your nozzle into it when the bed is hot. That is where borosilicate float offers an advantage.
I get borofloat from the Schott distributor in the US. They’ve got trade minimum buys and though it’s wholesale pricing it’s still not cheap. A piece for $25 retail with shipping for name brand product is about right. That said, if you use moderate to good quality float glass (window glass) you don’t necessarily need a boro float glass.
You might be able to get away with some MDF if you’re really pushing it (I don’t know your setup and nowhere near a seasoned user); I would check McMaster again, but I wouldn’t expect anything less than $90
thanks for the info on not having to use 6061. that was what the alro rep recommended. seems onlinemetals was the best for custom cut 17inch square piece of 3003. 2 pieces with shipping for around 130. I can somewhat deal with 65 bucks a piece. It is a huge build area though. I have the plates cut out of acrylic now but can’t add a heated bed until I upgrade
@B_Gray you may want to look into aluminum sign blanks. for the size, they are very cheap. Also, @Aaron_Brown and I ordered aluminum from somewhere and it was very inexpensive. maybe he can post in here where that was