I currently have Makersome's glass bed upgrade kit for my FlashForge Creator Pro and

3D Printing
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1

I currently have Makersome’s glass bed upgrade kit for my FlashForge Creator Pro and I have some questions related to this.

  1. I want to buy another glass beds so that I can easily switch them out after prints and get started on another print right away. Makersome does offer just the glass plate but that is $33. Looking around there are cheaper ones i can get but they are all different thickness. Any opinions on a good thickness and where I can get some?

  2. I saw that some folks are using larger glass sheets to expand their build area. Since this glass bed is bigger than their headed bed wouldn’t that cause adhesion issues? Any opinions on whether or not I should go with this method to expand my build area?

2

I can’t speak to #2, but for #1, have you looked locally to find anyone that just sells custom cut glass? Around me it is called “Glass Dr.” They fix all kinds of windows, display cases, car glass, etc… last time I needed something done they used a scrap since it was small enough and saved on price and was $20. better than 33. But, may depend on the glass they have at the time…

3

You can buy Borosilicate glass with 4mm thick around $15. They are pretty good and will work for more prints. Window glass is also good, but the life is short, also the larger prints are difficult to take without breaking the glass.

4

Here’s a different option, and it really depends on what material you’d be printing with. My go to build plate is a sheet of Lexan/polycarbonate cut to by bed size, with a sheet of PEI stuck down to it. I’ve had great success with this on a cold bed using PLA, PLA/PHA (think colorfabb xt) and PETG (this almost sticks TOO well). I’ve never tested this with ABS but I’m sure it would work on a heated bed. The beauty of doing this on Lexan is that after the print is done, you just flex the plate to make the print come off easily (except PETG). I use .10" thick PEI gets that are already backed with adhesive.

5

@Mike_Learned lexan won’t warp or Crack because of the heat?

6

Honestly, I haven’t had a problem yet. And it’s been about a year. Keeping in mind, I DO NOT run a heated bed on my setup.
Check out this guy, same deal. http://www.akeric.com/blog/?p=2158