One of the things which seemed to take up a lot of my time when 3D printing was all the messing around with glues and tapes; so when I heard about the PRINTinZ plate I decided it was worth paying a few bucks to test it out.
Calibrating the Z height
Obviously the first thing I had to do was set my new Z height. Originally I tried putting the PRINTinZ plate directly on my heatbed PCB but I quickly discovered that wasn’t going to work. The flexible plate combined with the flexibility of the heatbed meant my Z height was all over the place, I just couldn’t get it calibrated. So what I did was simply put the glass back on the heatbed as it was before and then put the new plate on the top, problem solved (although I can’t get as much heat through now but it turns out I don’t need it anyway).
Did it work?
Once I had the Z height correct I started a series of tests. At first I didn’t get very good results, the first layers weren’t sticking well and the prints would come away but I noticed that the nozzle wipe line which my @nop_head Mendel 90 does at the start of each print WAS sticking - and not only that but sticking really really well! Acting on a hunch I slowed down my first layer speed to 15mm. Result: Perfect bed adhesion every time! At last I was glue free!
Print removal
What can I say, a little bit of flex and click it comes off. Easy as pie.
Future plans/Added bonus
Another one of the reasons I chose to try the PRINTinZ specifically is you can order it with a metal layer just under the outer skin. This means you can add proximity based auto levelling/tramming sensors! Wohoo! That means calibration (another one of the tasks I seem to be spending all my time doing) can be eliminated I’ve not got this fully working just yet (I need to make up some brackets) but I ordered a sensor, wired it up and started testing based on @Thomas_Sanladerer excellent guide ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcGFLwj0pnA ) and the sensor does indeed detect the bed correctly
tl;dr
It works great! Just mount it on something rigid (the heated PCB is not rigid enough so use a pane of glass or aluminium sheet), keep it grease free by wiping it with alcohol or whatever and print your first layer slowly. And don’t forget there’s an added bonus that you can get one with metal in for Z probes
I guess the next big test is to try other materials. I’m hoping it works well enough with things like Bridge and ABS that I can leave it on there permanently. That way I can set up the Z probe on my printer as a fixture.
Thanks for the post Daniel! Remember - start small with the ABS. It will really stick and as the ABS warps the plate will go with it. It’s great for smaller parts though.
Hi Jason. Sold the last one yesterday from our site, but we are shipping a few to Adafruit tomorrow. They will have them on their site in a few days and we will have more probably the week after next. Sorry for the delay. The Taz Plate was a big seller.
An update for those interested, I just did a print with Taulman Bridge (Nylon). To get the bridge to grip I had to apply a thin coat of dilute PVA in the same way I had to with my original glass bed. However the flexibility of the PRINTinZ meant the print was much easier to remove and of course I have the option to use a Z probe which I didn’t with glass. So whilst I still needed the glue, overall the PRINTinZ was still a better experience for me, not least because I’ve broken two sheets of glass and cut myself so many times I’ve lost count trying to remove prints and clean off glue!
Just managed to print a PLA piece which took up the whole base of the bed, it stuck well enough not to warp (large flat PLA pieces often warp for me), I’m well pleased
OK just reporting back after having used this for a couple of weeks. It works great but I’m finding myself constantly having to adjust my Z height when printing at 0.2mm layer heights and lower. I think the reason for this is simply that the PRINTinZ board is flexible and thus once its been bent to remove a print, its not settling back perfectly flat. I’m hoping this problem will be eliminated when I add a Z probe.
Thanks for the continued feedback. One thing I find that helps is to spin the plate on a very flat surface, like a granite counter top to determine which way it is still bowed. Then reverse flex it to counter that. Keep spinning and flexing until it doesn’t really want to spin on either side. Also, if it is slightly bowed, place it on your bed with the domed side down and use the clips to pull down the edges. I can print many parts in a row without resetting zero when I do it this way. You’re right though, the ultimate answer is the sensor for auto-leveling.
Cheers Wayne I’ll try that. I’ve also come up with another solution which I’m testing that actually seems to be working really well. Instead of putting a bulldog clip in each corner I’ve printed a some really wide ABS clips which clip on each side and hold the PRINTinZ plate flat along its entire sides instead of just clipping it in the corners. This seems to have eliminated the problems with a curve in the middle. As soon as I get them perfected I’ll post the details. Oh BTW, that reminds me, no problems with ABS on the PRINTinZ plate so far
