Thanks to Private Internet Access for sponsoring this video! Check them out at piavpn.com/Toms3D Is there anything you found on Aliexpress that piqued your interest? Let me know below! You can get the printbed I showed in the video from AliExpress: H1H (Holographic lines) go.toms3d.org/H1H PEY (Holographic circles) go.toms3d.org/PEY PET (Carbon Fiber texture) go.toms3d.org/PET PEO (Polygon texture) go.toms3d.org/PEO (The names really seem to have nothing to do with what material they’re made from, they’re just different textures as far as I can tell.)
Interesting I honestly didnt expect such tiny details like that of holograms to be transferable to the molten plastic tracks. Doesnt sound impossible just not expected. I wonder if we can somehow transfer this tiny structures on to a PEI coating? That way we have both function and form?
IF you order a PET build plate surface with a "carbon fiber" pattern, why would you call it "fake carbon fiber" as if you were expecting "carbon fiber"? Why is it that Europeans and Americans use the term "fake", even for open source devices whenever a Chinese company sells them? I don't ever this term used whenever they come from any European or American company. I can understand you using the term "fake", IF the seller were advertising it as "carbon fiber", but I'm sure they didn't.
Forget about 3D printing, these are perfect for what I'm looking for. Been on the edge between getting holographic foils or tapes, as substrates for silicone molds. But these are just perfect for casting silicone molds. I'll just 3D print the outer edges of the shape/mold and without even separating them from the build plate I can just pour in the silicone. Awesome find, thank you, and yes at least the PEI back of these will still be useful for conventional 3D printing.
Could use magnets embedded in the 3D printed mold to hold it tight to the surface. Would you need a gasket to keep the silicone from pouring out the bottom?
All of these PE(random letter) print beds are just marketing terms. All of these are Polypropylene material, their whole adhesion comes from texture, unlike with PEI. Those have been in multiple discussions on r/3dprinting in the last year and someone made a mass spectrometer analysis on them somewhere.
I have the 'carbon fiber' and wacky geometric ones. I used to hate them until I discovered you need to print a little hotter (50c) and lower your Z by -0.04 (I use the 'Textured PEI' bed slicer setting with my Bambu, which does this). It provides more adhesion and squish into the bed pattern. The other thing is washing the heck out of it with dish soap right before printing. I've had consistently better results with all materials washing with dish soap. Your mileage may (will) vary.
Got a PEY holographic star plate off Aliexpress recently. Had to crank up the bed temp to 70 to get decent adhesion. It's pretty subtle in normal non studio lights but a lovely touch imo.
I printed a tabletop game console enclosure a while back. All the visible surfaces were bed facing. Some of those patterns would look great in that application! Thanks for showing these.
Huh, bout time there were actual "beds" for this effect now. About a year ago in printing groups the rainbow reflective pattern of the print at 1:20 was the craze. People were gluing down a form of vinyl onto their PEI bed for the smooth reflective effect. One person used window-blocking film with a stained glass appearance to create it.
Thomas, your video of these print surfaces really caught my eye so I purchased several different ones for my P1S, MK3 and K1 and they do work well and I I can say they look really nice. I didn't have any adhesion problems, but I normally set my print beds to 70C for PLA, PETG, ASA filaments. Thank you for reviewing these.
I have been printing with these build plates for as long as they have been on the market . The first build plate I got worked great for about 3 prints and then after that i could no longer get anything to stick , so after 2 months of trying to get my money back I got an email from the company telling me I was using it the wrong way. They said to never use isopropyl alcohol to clean the build plate because this is why its not sticking . All you have to do to prep the bed is to clean the build plate with dish soap and hot tap water, and dry with paper towel . Now everything i print sticks 100% . I do not understand why this works but after over 400 prints , there still working as if there new. Hope this helps. I use PLA,PETG,ABS, EPA-CF with 100% success, and I now own 12 of these build plates.
It's insane to me that their isn't any other answer. No shortcuts that can be made. Not sticking? Wash it with dish soap and warm water and wipe it off. Good to go. Don't want to wash it? To bad, then you don't want to print.
@@Krauerking no shortcuts because its a miro patten your imprinting into the first layer platsic, any type of glue or well ANYTHING and the whole reason you used that build plate is gone
The micro-texture, more than the material, seems like a real promising idea. Going from an incidentally produced and carefully controlled surface texture to one that can be designed. These are different materials so it can't be a 1 to 1, and the holographicness seems like it would be material specific based on viscosity and molecular size, but I can imagine normal materials with non-holographic circular patterns doing a better than random job of resisting forces in all directions, and long parallel or near-parallel grooves or really high aspect hatching could be really good on long thin parts, to increase the hold strength perpendicular to the long axis. I'd really love to see normal printbed surfaces with "engineered" micro-textures rather than artistic ones.
I have a couple of these and they do transfer but it flakes off the build plate after a short time to printing on it. So you end up with bare spots. The PEI side is recommended to scuff up but do amazing at printing and work great for ABS/ASA
Got the diamond shaped one and came pretty much to the same conclusion. Inferior adhesion compared to PEI but sufficient for most parts and it gives a nice surface. Also, as you mentioned the textured PEI on the backside is quite fine, which i really like compared to the coarser one i already had.
Optical engineer here: these color effects are caused by 2D photonic crystal. Repetitive structures on the scale of ~100 nanometers. I love it and would be awesome for demonstrations!
@@smartestfactory it can/will wear out with abrasion, or disappear with dust/handling it. The pattern itself is a part of the printed item, but anything that covers up or eliminates the pattern on the nanometer scale will cause it to fade. If dust or oils are the cause, a simple clean with soapy water or an alcohol swab (70%) will clean the contaminants off and make the pattern visible again. Wear however, cannot be fixed; the item must be reprinted.
I often 3D Print "extruded" letters for interior signs. These would be perfect to use for the face of the letters to produce a unique look. Imagine walking in your company conference room and not only seeing your company logo on the wall, but upon further inspection of the letters you can see hologram shapes... Not for everyone, but worth it to have a few laying around for a little extra pop on a project. Even people knowledgeable in 3D printing might question how it was done... that alone is almost worth it.
I'm glad to have thrown this idea to a manufacturer. 😁 Since they were just starting doing textures in aliexpress i told them why not Holo pattern?? It has a glass transition like chocolate so it should in theory capture holo. I'm obsessed with holos and sure enough in a month they started producing holo! Now i see all sorts of holo patterns 😊 ofc, more holo patterns wouldn't hurt 😅 My other idea, is a "moving" texture that looks like it shifts at different angles. Similar to 5D shift and in theory, it should also capture into the first layer. Haven't shared this one though. It may be more prone to damage if the nozzle is too low.
I've been working with these alternative beds for a while and agree with Thomas' points. I have products that benefit from these textures, but there is a price to pay on bed adhesion. The texture has lasted for hundreds of prints. On the plus side, I found the plain PEI side to be good quality and these are cheap enough to experiment with.
It's been a good 5-6 years since I've 3d printed. I watched Tom back then, and I gotta say the quality of the videos are still 10/10, but your new "Rizz" in front of the camera makes this much more fun to watch a full video!
I purchased all of these and more for my Bambu Labs P1S. I think Juupine may be Ideaformer's distributor. I was ALSO getting the lifting on the corners. What works for me is 1) spraying a light dusting of Aquanet hairspray 2) turning off the Auxillary fan completely, 3) adding a small brim that's loosely attached. Keeps the print on the surface much better.
Have you seen PEA? Newer material and harder to find from what I have seen. Surface looks like glass and leaves prints perfectly shiny. Slightly trickier adhesion than say textured PEI, but I've been able to make print in place bearings on it successfully, which have lots of small adhesion points. Prints come off very easy at the end and have a near perfect finish. Supposed to work with all materials as far as I know. My PETG left some residue on it, but my PLA has not.
I just got a PEO sheet with the triangular pattern cant wait to test it out and see those cool effects on my prints! Great video wasnt sure if i could use petg as well so thats good to know it works as well
My PEO sheet looks good with PETG, and I was surprised to see him 'cleaning' the sheets before use, I suspect that's what made them stick less, my PETG sticks very well, but I get corners and edges lifting slightly with all material.
My PEO sheet looks good with PETG, and I was surprised to see him 'cleaning' the sheets before use, I suspect that's what made them stick less, my PETG sticks very well, but I get corners and edges lifting slightly with all material.
@@ljadfwhy would cleaning with isopropyl alcohol cause less adhesion? I’m a car wrapper and we always use ISO on each vehicle prior to wrapping and it definitely increases adhesion.
I actually found out that Isopropanol on these types of textured sheets and also on straight glsss really hurts bed adhesion, not sure if it's the residue or something, but I found that my parts stick way better after cleaning the sheet with water and normal hand soap until the water starts to bead up. After that just rinse them with plain or destilled water and dry. Since I started doing it like that I never had a part come loose during printing, but after cooldown they just fall off.
Most likely you are spreading a fine layer of grease around instead of removing it. I discovered that phenomenon when trying to clean glass - I realized I was just spreading finger grease all over. It's also possible that whatever cloth you are using has some stuff that ends up being dissolved into the alcohol and the deposited onto your print surface
I bought a few different textured sheet like these and teceived a month ago. I really like the polygonal shaped ones the best, too. But they all add some fun and playfulness to your prints. I did not have any layer adhesion problems or lift with mine. But I printed on an enclosed corexy printer. I really think bed slingers are basically fanning the parts as it moves and thus causing more cooling than desired on the edges. Maybe that can be your next tested video. Does ambient temperatures affect the warpage of the se parts and is it lessened on a stationary bed or bed that only travels on the z axis? My hypothesis (and because Ive printed with both types in my basement is a resounding yes! During winter months when the basement is colder, many more of my prints warp and lift than during the summer months when its warmer.
I get the same issue. Bed adhesion suffers in the winter and an enclosure fixes it. I think the breeze from the furnace contributes too (in my house layout at least).
I picked up the diamond pattern "PEO" sheet for my P1S after seeing a video of it on TeachingTech's channel. I've been wanting to build a case for a single-board computer, and I plan on using it for the front and rear face plates. It's a neat pattern, and I was really curious about the holographic ones. I wonder if you can buy just the adhesive sheets of it for applying to your own beds.
Me too, TeachingTech and P1S :D I got a plate with both polygon and carbon fiber patterns, and it arrived an hour before this video dropped The edges of it are so dang sharp, gotta be careful not to damage the bed
I would suggest upgrading to a magnetic bed as others have stated. It's very convenient for removing prints and also makes swapping the bed much easier moving forward.
I've found that increasing the first layer nozzle temp (240) and reducing the bed temp (55) helps with the PLA warping on the PEY. not eliminated on large parts but its a step in the right direction.
Hey Tom, what happens if we put some liquid adhesive sparingly on the surface, like Dimafix or Magigoo? Do the patterns still appear, albeit a bit muted, or do they get completely faded out by the adhesive?
i feel like the textured ones would work okay but there is no way the holographic effect would work properly, it might show but id assume itd wash off/wear off as the adhesive would be containing that detail not the plastic
For the textured ones (non-holographic), this works just fine. I have several that I needed to use liquid bed adhesion for, and they don't peel at all now. The textures still come through no problem. Can't speak to the holo ones, as I don't own any of those.
i have the one with the triangles, i use sprayglue (glorified hairspray) it makes a very good inprint on the print! if you use the regular stick glue its probably not gonna work very good
I have one with stars. It's a 220mm x 220mm. I use quite a bit of squish for the first layer and wash the plate with dish soap before every couple of prints. I've only used it with quite small PLA prints.
I have two of these beds and honestly I love them. Some print settings to help people out: Initial layer speed:10mm/s Bed temp:5-10 hotter than normal Z offset:- .02 to -.03 less than normal (closer to bed) After this ive set any skirt lines to one layer and ive had no issues! They leave a satisfying flat surface to prints and the textures are insanely cool. Ive also been able to swap from one side to the other without re adjusting z offset. A great addition to your toolbox of printing goodies!
I've been printing with the circles PEY for a couple of months now. If I use IPA, it fails regularly. If I use just dish soap, and dry with very clean microfibre, I get zero issues. Not one lift or warp. These things hate paper towel, I suppose they're like a grater against the paper with the fluctuations.
I love holographic stuff and when these dropped I went and bought them all too. You have to get your bed pretty levelled for it to stick well, and you can't use glue it'll kill the holo, but otherwise it's been great. If you print things like lids and flat stuff these are the dream. No more ugly first layers meant to be hidden.
I've been using these for my prints, and it's more of a novelty, but they do stick well enough so I don't have to use adhesive. I crank up my first layer to 70° then 65° for the rest of the print.
After all that handling, did you wash with soap followed by alcohol beore the testing???? The ONLY time I've ever begun to have adhesion issues was after touching my plate a few times. I can't stress enough how long your plates wilil last (and stay super sticky) if you just NEVER touch them and avoid scraping... let them cool or flex to remove parts.
The CF Pattern sheet at least used to say only up to 80C bed temp, so I'm impressed it worked okay for ASA. I find that one has the worst adhesion. I honestly started buying these mostly for the high quality gold powder coat on the other side because it was the cheapest way to get them.
I have been using some of these for a few months. The bed adhesion isn't as good as regular PEI, yet still good for PLA, but your prints obviously don't have enough squish on the first layer as even the infill direction is very obvious but it should be smooth. Either add ~5% flow for the first layer, or use lower first layer height. I have printed huge parts on those without warping. The colorful ones do stick a bit worse than those with patterns but all of them are good for regular PLA. The only time I had trouble was with PLA-CF and PETG-CF and using a 0.3mm extrusion width with a 0.4mm nozzle (not enough squish). You can use a very slight spray of 3D LAC on those without impacting the pattern.
I think with the availability of enclosed printers, printing even PLA in a warm enclosure is the way forward. This should prevent the slight warping we're seeing here. I like them! Now just to find one in 500mm. 🙂
I have all of these beds, and quite a few more. I simply refer to them as “diffraction beds”. The carbon fiber one is very useful (for my application) however it wears down the quickest and shows imperfections quickly. The adhesion is relatively the same for all of them if you’re using PLA or PETG but you’ll need to bump up the bed temp 5-7c higher.
I am guessing that adhesion would be better on these in an enclosed printer. I'm also guessing that raising the bed temp 5-10c over what you normally use would help as well.
Interesting results. Plain cut mirrored bets have been my go-to for the last few years with a small coating of PVA. However whilst printing a project a few weeks back I wanted the CF look on the print and decided to use some of the CF wrap that I was going to use to cover the back side of one of my beds. The results I got came out nothing short of outstanding. I actually found that the prints in my case stuck slightly too much in some instances and did not release as well as they did when the glass cooled down compared to just normal glass or mirrored beds. If I am honest and not knowing the quality of the wrap material that has been used in those on the video I would be tempted to just used good qualify wrap material on an existing planing bed or even on the back of an existing bed. The good quality stuff I have used can be got for not much money in a 1M lengths and for about the same money as buying a pre-made bed with the bonus that you get a whole lot more to wrap others / replacements.
I have the polygon and have ordered h1h. For the polygon you need to heat it up like normal textured pei plate at 55C and the adhesion improves massively, I had problems at 35 and 45C
I've been wanting to check these out but I haven't seen any that would work with my printer, nor have I been able to find any cut to size stickers that I can just stick on a steel sheet. I also would have liked to see how these perform with nylon, ABS and PC.
That's so cool! Surprised it worked as well as it did. Guess maybe there is a heat distribution issue? Whenever I run PETG, I don't run the cooling fan for the first 50 layers and never have adhesion issues (like corner peeling). No border/brim either.
I have several holographic and patterned plates. I’ve found that first washing them *gently* with dish detergent works a treat, never had adhesion issues.
"Just the right amount of playfulness" sounds good. Lots of us are printing less serious stuff like Hueforge art, where we simply want the backside to look as nice as the front. Wonder if they're available in sizes for the Bambu?
I went on Ali express right after this video and bought these. They really do work well. I have not used any glue stick and with PLA, PLA+ and Silk so far no issues with warp or corner adhesion. Plus the textured look is great. Even on a 10hr print it held fast.
I 'm using these for some time and have some informations. 1) Holographic pattern can be easily damaged. Event on badge worn on neck on shirt it fade out (scratches itself) after few hours. 2) Do not use 3D Lac or other adhesive. It will not transfer the pattern. 3) Printed about 50 prints on same plate and do not see any degradation, but i am little bit concerned about it.
I think these plates are quite nice as a little gimmick. Not super expensive and could be fun to have around. Especially for stuff like handles, even rougher surfaces could be interesting. So you get a certain feel while not having to print texture into something. Very useful review of these things. I probably would never have tried them, as the most gimmicky stuff on aliexpress usually is wasted money. But I might give it a go now.
I've been using "PEY" holographic print surface a couple years and they work strangely very well. Print adhesion and release has be as good or better than textured on most of the prints I've thrown at them. Not all material types will pick up the holographic effect. ASA didn't as much but ABS did. I printed a bunch of V0 parts and none lifted. It's nice being able to buy these easily, finally. For years, the only source was to DM a random guy in HK through a translator. I bought the last few though a couple of the major 3d printer sellers in Ali. PEY one side and nicely textured the other. Cost is likely going to jump after the increased coverage. I got my v0 sized plates for 7USD each shipped and the mk2 and v2.4 for around 15 and 20-something. The big question is how well they hold up over time. For what it's worth, the holographic surface is technically a textured surface, just that the texture is at the scale of visible light.
While for example the polygonal plate is really cool when you try to replicate "forged carbon look" for your parts, it is pain to print with that bad adhesion. I tried so many different print settings when trying to get ASA work without warping with my X1C. The only thing i found working while still keeping the surface pattern transfering to part was hairspray. You just need very slight and even "dry" coat of hairspay. Dont spray it to wet, just a coat that looks like "dust". That worked for me at least. If you spray it wet, you dont get the texture transferred. You can print 2 or 3 times over the same coat before you need to wash the plate with dishwashing soap and re-spray. I would be interested to see if @MadeWithLayers could test if the holographic patterns still transfer to print with "dust coat of hairspay"?
I've been using all these crazy beds on my X1C for a few months. When printing with the holographics I just go up to 65 or 70C and that's usually enough to avoid the warping. Textured PEI or PEX work at 55-60C. It's nice to just have all the options depending on the print and what will look best with it. My wife always wants everything printed on the holographic circle or flake beds... Plus if you gouge one of your textured PEI beds on accident, well you have 10 more since they all have a good PEI surface as well.
These coatings are significantly less durable than pei. I have smooth "pea", compared to elegoo pei it has better adhesion, but the glass effect is gone after a couple dozen prints.
I bought one plate with the polygonal and carbon fiber texture for my Bambu X1C. Haven't had a chance to use them yet because I'm still figuring out how to find tune the speed on my printer since I just got it.
I think to deal with risk of corner lift, in those cases just add a brim. For the multi part where the internal component seems to have broken free, I wonder if raising the bed temperature would help?
Just had to buy one of those holgraphic circle sheets even if they don't work very well and I end up using the other side, if I use it at all. I wonder how much it costs to set the production up for those patterns? OOh how I'd love a personalised build plate....
I have some of the fun textured sheets and I use them from time to time on models that have larger surfaces and could be enhanced with a pattern, but more often than not I use the standard PEI sheets. Their lifespan is shorter due to the delicate nature of the pattern, but I agree with you, for the price, it's a fun option to have to add that extra pop to a print.
I had not seen that carbon fiber version yet. Have most of the others and love them. If you use hairspray they still leave the effect and get more than adequate adhesion. The drawback the surfaces are extremely fragile and any maring will permanently be imprinted into your parts
Can you test some PEI belt print surfaces like fysetc sells? Last I checked the build surface was the problem with most belt printers so this would be really interesting to see.
I have one of diamond pattern plates. i got mine on Amazon for $15. the textured side is great. everything sticks to it. the hex / diamond pattern side, yes, it puts the pattern on the part. but it seems to work better with PLA better than PETG. but i dont have warping issues on mine. but i also have my printer in an enclosure to keep it hot.
Ah this is cool. At last we get to see a real life comparison of these different bed materials. Thanks a lot! On top of that I am glad to see you get sponsored by PIA. It is indeed a great VPN service. Highly recommended compared to NordVPN for instance.
I've been running kapton sheets on my ancient Flashforge creator knockoff (Microcenter house brand version) and have never really had any issues other than really small parts with very little surface contact with the platter. I thought about getting a plate like these just because the removability is nice and because weirdly the screws that hold the plate down are exposed, but never have committed.
I wonder if you can inprove the print in enclosed case to optimise the tempture for the materials. 🤔Clearly we are sacfricifing some adhesion properties for the plates for the fishish, so condrtolling that ambient temperature might help with corner.
Do kind of wish these held up to printing a bit better, would be a nice option to have for certain Prince; but hey, there's always the potential for improvement, so maybe we'll see some better stats in the future
I could see those working for awhile, though I wonder if it's the coating that is transferring or just the microtexture. On that note, I'd rather like to see how a film with a fresnel lens would work. I tend to scavenge them from old LED monitors, or if your favorite uncle has a Really old projector TV that doesn't work, you can get a Huge one from them.
Id like a basic, uncoated spring steel sheet cut to size and shape that i can apply my own buildtack sheet to. When the sheet wears out i just peel it off and apply a new one. No point in replacing the steel sheet if it is still flat.
I know nothing about what these are actually made out of. However I can tell you they work great. I have been using them on my Bambi P1S. Adhesion has been excellent and the pattern transfers well.
I've been using the polygonal style about 2 months ago. Adhesion is meh, but not bad as mentioned. But after about 100 prints it's still putting the pattern in well !
I started using the holographic ones on some of my prints to easily see oil contamination, from say, fingers on surfaces I'm about to glue or double sided tape I'm about to put together, this works really well with fixing the no stick stickyback problem
Have stopped using anything but ASA like two years ago when I migrated from my i3 MK3S to a Voron V2.4 so my findings may not necessarily apply to PLA and PETG in the same way as it did with ASA but I found that simply raising the Bed Temperature ( by like 5-10°C ) would do *_wonders_* when it came to getting a part to stick to a different brand of PEI Print Bed I had acquired at some point.
If you use glue stick or liquid glue to enhance the adhesion - will this fill in those microstructures and prevent them from transfering to the printed bed?
Can you please try printing with a lower bed temp? I was surprised to see how much better pla performs on glass at 45C instead of 60. Probably the same applies to these sheets.
I moved on from PEI to Pertinax (FR2) flex sheets for commercial printing a couple of years ago because you can print all filaments (TPU, ABS, PLA, PETG and nylon) it. (some filament types like TPU need some glue stick as a separator on the surface to stop it sticking to much. I use a very thin and water diluted solution of Magigoo PC brushed on it for all filaments Best of all you can also sand it to refurbish surface after a couple of years use.
What's your thoughts on G10 as printing surface? Angus over at Maker's Muse swears by them, but I find that having to use clips to hold them to the bed is a little old fashioned (and frankly a bit of a pain.)
Haven't used G10/FR4 much, but I do mention in the video that you can also print onto real carbon fiber which is pretty much the same material, just with carbon instead of glass fibers.
Seems like if they just made these thicker theyd be pretty great, or maybe the Prusa Magnets just werent strong enough. How did these work on Bambulab printers or the 2.4 in the background?
I really look forward to seeing these materials long term durability. I guess it was plain PEIs that once in a while, I had to sand it to keep its grip. New material is exciting, but I think I will wait a bit before buying those - so that durability is better reported.
been using PET carbon pattern for the last year and half now, brought from aliexpress. It now has 500+ prints on it and over 2500 hours print hours still as good as day one. I print anything, PLA PETG ABS ASA PA-CF etc so all sort of temperature ranges from 50 to 120 degrees on the bed. All i do is clean it with soapy water every now and then to get ride of finger grease othe than that this build plate has been my go to way better than my old PEI sheet espcialyl considering the price only 8 pound for a double sided sheet not bad at all. Not to mention the pattern it leave on printed parts looks amazing
Hi Thomas - this was a super interesting video - thank you. I am brand new to 3D printing. I'm using the Bambu X1-Carbon printer. I've had a lot of success with the cold plate / PLA plate in Bambu Studio. Watching others on TH-cam print on different textured plates, I went out and purchased an IdeaFormer carbon fibre textured PET, and Textured PEI on the other side. I have tried about 7-8 printed on both sides and all of them have failed on the first layer. I'm printing with Bambu PLA basic and nothing seems to stick. I've tried the cool plate / PLA plate, and the textured PRI plate settings in Bambu Studio. I've tried bumping up the bed temperature to 65 degrees celsius. I've also tried slowing down the first layer, and still no luck. The IdeaFormer website isn't very good. I'm frustrated - I can't seem to find a definitative guide on starting/optimal settings for this new plate. Help?!
Thanks to Private Internet Access for sponsoring this video! Check them out at piavpn.com/Toms3D
Is there anything you found on Aliexpress that piqued your interest? Let me know below!
You can get the printbed I showed in the video from AliExpress:
H1H (Holographic lines) go.toms3d.org/H1H
PEY (Holographic circles) go.toms3d.org/PEY
PET (Carbon Fiber texture) go.toms3d.org/PET
PEO (Polygon texture) go.toms3d.org/PEO
(The names really seem to have nothing to do with what material they’re made from, they’re just different textures as far as I can tell.)
Interesting I honestly didnt expect such tiny details like that of holograms to be transferable to the molten plastic tracks. Doesnt sound impossible just not expected.
I wonder if we can somehow transfer this tiny structures on to a PEI coating? That way we have both function and form?
IF you order a PET build plate surface with a "carbon fiber" pattern, why would you call it "fake carbon fiber" as if you were expecting "carbon fiber"? Why is it that Europeans and Americans use the term "fake", even for open source devices whenever a Chinese company sells them? I don't ever this term used whenever they come from any European or American company. I can understand you using the term "fake", IF the seller were advertising it as "carbon fiber", but I'm sure they didn't.
@@kenwoo3601 The applied science channel got this effect to transfer to chocolate!
thank you for your video , you are the best ! :D Happy Xmas
And why do you take such dodgy sponsors? Do they have bots upvote your scam ad?
Forget about 3D printing, these are perfect for what I'm looking for. Been on the edge between getting holographic foils or tapes, as substrates for silicone molds. But these are just perfect for casting silicone molds. I'll just 3D print the outer edges of the shape/mold and without even separating them from the build plate I can just pour in the silicone. Awesome find, thank you, and yes at least the PEI back of these will still be useful for conventional 3D printing.
Could use magnets embedded in the 3D printed mold to hold it tight to the surface. Would you need a gasket to keep the silicone from pouring out the bottom?
I think we have today's winner. Happy Holidays! :D Big up!
show us your process because i kinda didnt understand D:
All of these PE(random letter) print beds are just marketing terms. All of these are Polypropylene material, their whole adhesion comes from texture, unlike with PEI. Those have been in multiple discussions on r/3dprinting in the last year and someone made a mass spectrometer analysis on them somewhere.
well I knew that pey wasn't a material but those being pp is new to me
If they pp, isn't that make them very for pp filament?
I can't believe anyone takes AliExpress descriptions seriously.
Yep, this essentially. Plus more often than not, they get freaking wrecked over time. Even more so than PEI beds.
Laughs with my PEG bed (Probabl E Glass)
I'm gonna hold out and wait for PEZ
PEZ candy print bed pattern
😂
Too late we're at QAA now.
I have the 'carbon fiber' and wacky geometric ones. I used to hate them until I discovered you need to print a little hotter (50c) and lower your Z by -0.04 (I use the 'Textured PEI' bed slicer setting with my Bambu, which does this). It provides more adhesion and squish into the bed pattern.
The other thing is washing the heck out of it with dish soap right before printing. I've had consistently better results with all materials washing with dish soap.
Your mileage may (will) vary.
50 degrees celsius hotter?!
@@MAKESZENZE no raising it to 50c
Got a PEY holographic star plate off Aliexpress recently. Had to crank up the bed temp to 70 to get decent adhesion. It's pretty subtle in normal non studio lights but a lovely touch imo.
I kept yelling at the screen "try increasing the bed temp!". Good to know i had the right intuition.
I printed a tabletop game console enclosure a while back. All the visible surfaces were bed facing. Some of those patterns would look great in that application! Thanks for showing these.
shout out to this man for segmenting the sponsor so it is easy to skip
I think these sheets are a nice addition. Nothing essential, but it can make stuff stand out a bit.
Hey thanks for taking the time to do this video man.
SO GLAD you covered these. I've been seeing them for a while now and have always been curious about them!
Huh, bout time there were actual "beds" for this effect now. About a year ago in printing groups the rainbow reflective pattern of the print at 1:20 was the craze. People were gluing down a form of vinyl onto their PEI bed for the smooth reflective effect. One person used window-blocking film with a stained glass appearance to create it.
I really did not expect the textures of these beds to transfer so well, and even be shiny and stuff on the part. Neato
Yeah. That explains why tool and die (mold) manufacture is so damn expensive.
Great video! Sometimes it's so hard to pull the trigger on things like these, and it's so nice that you tried them out first.
Thomas, your video of these print surfaces really caught my eye so I purchased several different ones for my P1S, MK3 and K1 and they do work well and I I can say they look really nice. I didn't have any adhesion problems, but I normally set my print beds to 70C for PLA, PETG, ASA filaments. Thank you for reviewing these.
I have been printing with these build plates for as long as they have been on the market . The first build plate I got worked great for about 3 prints and then after that i could no longer get anything to stick , so after 2 months of trying to get my money back I got an email from the company telling me I was using it the wrong way. They said to never use isopropyl alcohol to clean the build plate because this is why its not sticking . All you have to do to prep the bed is to clean the build plate with dish soap and hot tap water, and dry with paper towel . Now everything i print sticks 100% . I do not understand why this works but after over 400 prints , there still working as if there new. Hope this helps. I use PLA,PETG,ABS, EPA-CF with 100% success, and I now own 12 of these build plates.
tyring now. adhesion issues to say the least
It's insane to me that their isn't any other answer. No shortcuts that can be made.
Not sticking? Wash it with dish soap and warm water and wipe it off. Good to go.
Don't want to wash it? To bad, then you don't want to print.
@@DEVLiquiD petg is difficult to get a great first layer with. Seem it always has some strands that pull up a bit
@@Krauerking no shortcuts because its a miro patten your imprinting into the first layer platsic, any type of glue or well ANYTHING and the whole reason you used that build plate is gone
The micro-texture, more than the material, seems like a real promising idea. Going from an incidentally produced and carefully controlled surface texture to one that can be designed. These are different materials so it can't be a 1 to 1, and the holographicness seems like it would be material specific based on viscosity and molecular size, but I can imagine normal materials with non-holographic circular patterns doing a better than random job of resisting forces in all directions, and long parallel or near-parallel grooves or really high aspect hatching could be really good on long thin parts, to increase the hold strength perpendicular to the long axis. I'd really love to see normal printbed surfaces with "engineered" micro-textures rather than artistic ones.
Sounds perfect for two dimensional prints, like wall decorations. Thanks for the video Thomas!
Thank you for sharing your findings. I do a lot of user-facing textures and find that these will be useful in introducing some variety!
I have a couple of these and they do transfer but it flakes off the build plate after a short time to printing on it. So you end up with bare spots. The PEI side is recommended to scuff up but do amazing at printing and work great for ABS/ASA
Got the diamond shaped one and came pretty much to the same conclusion. Inferior adhesion compared to PEI but sufficient for most parts and it gives a nice surface.
Also, as you mentioned the textured PEI on the backside is quite fine, which i really like compared to the coarser one i already had.
Hey Happy Holidays! :D Can I ask you, how quick they wear? Glue or not, to be safe? Thank you!
Optical engineer here: these color effects are caused by 2D photonic crystal. Repetitive structures on the scale of ~100 nanometers.
I love it and would be awesome for demonstrations!
Thank you for this explanation, I think we've all thought something like this but couldn't put legit words behind it.
Will the pattern wear out? Is it an imparted property or a transferred structure?
@@smartestfactory it can/will wear out with abrasion, or disappear with dust/handling it. The pattern itself is a part of the printed item, but anything that covers up or eliminates the pattern on the nanometer scale will cause it to fade. If dust or oils are the cause, a simple clean with soapy water or an alcohol swab (70%) will clean the contaminants off and make the pattern visible again. Wear however, cannot be fixed; the item must be reprinted.
@@joecee6862 Thank you for the detailed notes!
I often 3D Print "extruded" letters for interior signs. These would be perfect to use for the face of the letters to produce a unique look. Imagine walking in your company conference room and not only seeing your company logo on the wall, but upon further inspection of the letters you can see hologram shapes... Not for everyone, but worth it to have a few laying around for a little extra pop on a project. Even people knowledgeable in 3D printing might question how it was done... that alone is almost worth it.
I'm glad to have thrown this idea to a manufacturer. 😁 Since they were just starting doing textures in aliexpress i told them why not Holo pattern?? It has a glass transition like chocolate so it should in theory capture holo. I'm obsessed with holos and sure enough in a month they started producing holo! Now i see all sorts of holo patterns 😊 ofc, more holo patterns wouldn't hurt 😅
My other idea, is a "moving" texture that looks like it shifts at different angles. Similar to 5D shift and in theory, it should also capture into the first layer. Haven't shared this one though. It may be more prone to damage if the nozzle is too low.
I've been working with these alternative beds for a while and agree with Thomas' points. I have products that benefit from these textures, but there is a price to pay on bed adhesion. The texture has lasted for hundreds of prints. On the plus side, I found the plain PEI side to be good quality and these are cheap enough to experiment with.
It's been a good 5-6 years since I've 3d printed. I watched Tom back then, and I gotta say the quality of the videos are still 10/10, but your new "Rizz" in front of the camera makes this much more fun to watch a full video!
I literally just got one from Temu in the mail today. Can't wait tonsee how it prints.
I purchased all of these and more for my Bambu Labs P1S. I think Juupine may be Ideaformer's distributor. I was ALSO getting the lifting on the corners. What works for me is 1) spraying a light dusting of Aquanet hairspray 2) turning off the Auxillary fan completely, 3) adding a small brim that's loosely attached. Keeps the print on the surface much better.
Does the hairspray not ruin the effect?
Have you seen PEA? Newer material and harder to find from what I have seen. Surface looks like glass and leaves prints perfectly shiny. Slightly trickier adhesion than say textured PEI, but I've been able to make print in place bearings on it successfully, which have lots of small adhesion points. Prints come off very easy at the end and have a near perfect finish. Supposed to work with all materials as far as I know. My PETG left some residue on it, but my PLA has not.
I just got a PEO sheet with the triangular pattern cant wait to test it out and see those cool effects on my prints! Great video wasnt sure if i could use petg as well so thats good to know it works as well
My PEO sheet looks good with PETG, and I was surprised to see him 'cleaning' the sheets before use, I suspect that's what made them stick less, my PETG sticks very well, but I get corners and edges lifting slightly with all material.
My PEO sheet looks good with PETG, and I was surprised to see him 'cleaning' the sheets before use, I suspect that's what made them stick less, my PETG sticks very well, but I get corners and edges lifting slightly with all material.
@@ljadfwhat’s wrong with his cleaning?
@@ljadfwhy would cleaning with isopropyl alcohol cause less adhesion? I’m a car wrapper and we always use ISO on each vehicle prior to wrapping and it definitely increases adhesion.
I actually found out that Isopropanol on these types of textured sheets and also on straight glsss really hurts bed adhesion, not sure if it's the residue or something, but I found that my parts stick way better after cleaning the sheet with water and normal hand soap until the water starts to bead up. After that just rinse them with plain or destilled water and dry. Since I started doing it like that I never had a part come loose during printing, but after cooldown they just fall off.
Most likely you are spreading a fine layer of grease around instead of removing it. I discovered that phenomenon when trying to clean glass - I realized I was just spreading finger grease all over.
It's also possible that whatever cloth you are using has some stuff that ends up being dissolved into the alcohol and the deposited onto your print surface
I bought a few different textured sheet like these and teceived a month ago. I really like the polygonal shaped ones the best, too. But they all add some fun and playfulness to your prints. I did not have any layer adhesion problems or lift with mine. But I printed on an enclosed corexy printer. I really think bed slingers are basically fanning the parts as it moves and thus causing more cooling than desired on the edges. Maybe that can be your next tested video. Does ambient temperatures affect the warpage of the se parts and is it lessened on a stationary bed or bed that only travels on the z axis? My hypothesis (and because Ive printed with both types in my basement is a resounding yes! During winter months when the basement is colder, many more of my prints warp and lift than during the summer months when its warmer.
I get the same issue. Bed adhesion suffers in the winter and an enclosure fixes it. I think the breeze from the furnace contributes too (in my house layout at least).
Thanks much for being the tester. I ran across these in Nov and couldn't find reliable info!
I picked up the diamond pattern "PEO" sheet for my P1S after seeing a video of it on TeachingTech's channel. I've been wanting to build a case for a single-board computer, and I plan on using it for the front and rear face plates. It's a neat pattern, and I was really curious about the holographic ones. I wonder if you can buy just the adhesive sheets of it for applying to your own beds.
yep, search for "diffraction grating film"
You should get a magnetic bed, there's no going back once you get one
Me too, TeachingTech and P1S :D
I got a plate with both polygon and carbon fiber patterns, and it arrived an hour before this video dropped
The edges of it are so dang sharp, gotta be careful not to damage the bed
I would suggest upgrading to a magnetic bed as others have stated. It's very convenient for removing prints and also makes swapping the bed much easier moving forward.
I've found that increasing the first layer nozzle temp (240) and reducing the bed temp (55) helps with the PLA warping on the PEY. not eliminated on large parts but its a step in the right direction.
Hey Tom, what happens if we put some liquid adhesive sparingly on the surface, like Dimafix or Magigoo? Do the patterns still appear, albeit a bit muted, or do they get completely faded out by the adhesive?
i feel like the textured ones would work okay but there is no way the holographic effect would work properly, it might show but id assume itd wash off/wear off as the adhesive would be containing that detail not the plastic
The particles would need to be smaller than the wave length of visible light. The holographic surface is just a texture measured in nanometers.
For the textured ones (non-holographic), this works just fine. I have several that I needed to use liquid bed adhesion for, and they don't peel at all now. The textures still come through no problem. Can't speak to the holo ones, as I don't own any of those.
I used nano polymer on a couple of mine it works a little too well. it also doesn’t seem to effect the pattern imprinting
i have the one with the triangles, i use sprayglue (glorified hairspray) it makes a very good inprint on the print! if you use the regular stick glue its probably not gonna work very good
Been happily using peo with triangles for several months. It's just great, but requires 70 degrees for sunlu pla+ to stick.
I have one with stars. It's a 220mm x 220mm. I use quite a bit of squish for the first layer and wash the plate with dish soap before every couple of prints. I've only used it with quite small PLA prints.
I have two of these beds and honestly I love them. Some print settings to help people out:
Initial layer speed:10mm/s
Bed temp:5-10 hotter than normal
Z offset:- .02 to -.03 less than normal (closer to bed)
After this ive set any skirt lines to one layer and ive had no issues! They leave a satisfying flat surface to prints and the textures are insanely cool. Ive also been able to swap from one side to the other without re adjusting z offset. A great addition to your toolbox of printing goodies!
I've been printing with the circles PEY for a couple of months now. If I use IPA, it fails regularly. If I use just dish soap, and dry with very clean microfibre, I get zero issues. Not one lift or warp. These things hate paper towel, I suppose they're like a grater against the paper with the fluctuations.
I love holographic stuff and when these dropped I went and bought them all too. You have to get your bed pretty levelled for it to stick well, and you can't use glue it'll kill the holo, but otherwise it's been great. If you print things like lids and flat stuff these are the dream. No more ugly first layers meant to be hidden.
I've been using these for my prints, and it's more of a novelty, but they do stick well enough so I don't have to use adhesive. I crank up my first layer to 70° then 65° for the rest of the print.
After all that handling, did you wash with soap followed by alcohol beore the testing???? The ONLY time I've ever begun to have adhesion issues was after touching my plate a few times. I can't stress enough how long your plates wilil last (and stay super sticky) if you just NEVER touch them and avoid scraping... let them cool or flex to remove parts.
The CF Pattern sheet at least used to say only up to 80C bed temp, so I'm impressed it worked okay for ASA. I find that one has the worst adhesion.
I honestly started buying these mostly for the high quality gold powder coat on the other side because it was the cheapest way to get them.
I have been using some of these for a few months.
The bed adhesion isn't as good as regular PEI, yet still good for PLA, but your prints obviously don't have enough squish on the first layer as even the infill direction is very obvious but it should be smooth. Either add ~5% flow for the first layer, or use lower first layer height. I have printed huge parts on those without warping. The colorful ones do stick a bit worse than those with patterns but all of them are good for regular PLA.
The only time I had trouble was with PLA-CF and PETG-CF and using a 0.3mm extrusion width with a 0.4mm nozzle (not enough squish). You can use a very slight spray of 3D LAC on those without impacting the pattern.
I could see the brighter holographic surfaces being popular for 3d printed cell phone protectors.
best video on these plates, been looking for this thank you
I think with the availability of enclosed printers, printing even PLA in a warm enclosure is the way forward. This should prevent the slight warping we're seeing here. I like them! Now just to find one in 500mm. 🙂
I'm amazed those patterns carry over into the pla!
I have all of these beds, and quite a few more. I simply refer to them as “diffraction beds”. The carbon fiber one is very useful (for my application) however it wears down the quickest and shows imperfections quickly. The adhesion is relatively the same for all of them if you’re using PLA or PETG but you’ll need to bump up the bed temp 5-7c higher.
I am guessing that adhesion would be better on these in an enclosed printer. I'm also guessing that raising the bed temp 5-10c over what you normally use would help as well.
Interesting results. Plain cut mirrored bets have been my go-to for the last few years with a small coating of PVA. However whilst printing a project a few weeks back I wanted the CF look on the print and decided to use some of the CF wrap that I was going to use to cover the back side of one of my beds. The results I got came out nothing short of outstanding. I actually found that the prints in my case stuck slightly too much in some instances and did not release as well as they did when the glass cooled down compared to just normal glass or mirrored beds.
If I am honest and not knowing the quality of the wrap material that has been used in those on the video I would be tempted to just used good qualify wrap material on an existing planing bed or even on the back of an existing bed. The good quality stuff I have used can be got for not much money in a 1M lengths and for about the same money as buying a pre-made bed with the bonus that you get a whole lot more to wrap others / replacements.
I have the polygon and have ordered h1h. For the polygon you need to heat it up like normal textured pei plate at 55C and the adhesion improves massively, I had problems at 35 and 45C
Kapton is awesome for ABS and ASA though. When do we get powder coated kapton?
I've been wanting to check these out but I haven't seen any that would work with my printer, nor have I been able to find any cut to size stickers that I can just stick on a steel sheet. I also would have liked to see how these perform with nylon, ABS and PC.
That's so cool! Surprised it worked as well as it did. Guess maybe there is a heat distribution issue?
Whenever I run PETG, I don't run the cooling fan for the first 50 layers and never have adhesion issues (like corner peeling). No border/brim either.
I bought the H1H and PET ones.They look nice, I hope the effect will stay after a few prints or wash.
I have several holographic and patterned plates. I’ve found that first washing them *gently* with dish detergent works a treat, never had adhesion issues.
"Just the right amount of playfulness" sounds good. Lots of us are printing less serious stuff like Hueforge art, where we simply want the backside to look as nice as the front. Wonder if they're available in sizes for the Bambu?
0:39 shows they are available in the 256mm size for bambu x1, p1, and which also includes now the a1
Yes: Juupine stores (there are two, so in both stores) have a lot of Bambu printer's plates.
@@BennyTygohome Thank you Benny.
@@Mr_Yod Nice one - cheers.
I went on Ali express right after this video and bought these. They really do work well. I have not used any glue stick and with PLA, PLA+ and Silk so far no issues with warp or corner adhesion. Plus the textured look is great. Even on a 10hr print it held fast.
I 'm using these for some time and have some informations.
1) Holographic pattern can be easily damaged. Event on badge worn on neck on shirt it fade out (scratches itself) after few hours.
2) Do not use 3D Lac or other adhesive. It will not transfer the pattern.
3) Printed about 50 prints on same plate and do not see any degradation, but i am little bit concerned about it.
No warping issues with the polygonal and carbon texture plates. Maybe worth trying to play with your z offset.
I think these plates are quite nice as a little gimmick. Not super expensive and could be fun to have around. Especially for stuff like handles, even rougher surfaces could be interesting. So you get a certain feel while not having to print texture into something.
Very useful review of these things. I probably would never have tried them, as the most gimmicky stuff on aliexpress usually is wasted money. But I might give it a go now.
11:30 - Very similar to LP's? ... Hmmm. Now I'm wondering if one of those would make a good print surface....
Not for very long. The chemical stability of PVC at elevated temperatures is HORRENDOUS.
Have you heard about the Garolite G10 print beds? They are really cool, great adhesion even with a smooth finish.
I really like these, and I run them from time to time. I have also noticed slightly less adhesion when using them.
I've been using "PEY" holographic print surface a couple years and they work strangely very well. Print adhesion and release has be as good or better than textured on most of the prints I've thrown at them. Not all material types will pick up the holographic effect. ASA didn't as much but ABS did. I printed a bunch of V0 parts and none lifted.
It's nice being able to buy these easily, finally. For years, the only source was to DM a random guy in HK through a translator.
I bought the last few though a couple of the major 3d printer sellers in Ali. PEY one side and nicely textured the other. Cost is likely going to jump after the increased coverage. I got my v0 sized plates for 7USD each shipped and the mk2 and v2.4 for around 15 and 20-something.
The big question is how well they hold up over time.
For what it's worth, the holographic surface is technically a textured surface, just that the texture is at the scale of visible light.
While for example the polygonal plate is really cool when you try to replicate "forged carbon look" for your parts, it is pain to print with that bad adhesion. I tried so many different print settings when trying to get ASA work without warping with my X1C. The only thing i found working while still keeping the surface pattern transfering to part was hairspray. You just need very slight and even "dry" coat of hairspay. Dont spray it to wet, just a coat that looks like "dust". That worked for me at least. If you spray it wet, you dont get the texture transferred. You can print 2 or 3 times over the same coat before you need to wash the plate with dishwashing soap and re-spray. I would be interested to see if @MadeWithLayers could test if the holographic patterns still transfer to print with "dust coat of hairspay"?
I've been using all these crazy beds on my X1C for a few months. When printing with the holographics I just go up to 65 or 70C and that's usually enough to avoid the warping. Textured PEI or PEX work at 55-60C. It's nice to just have all the options depending on the print and what will look best with it. My wife always wants everything printed on the holographic circle or flake beds... Plus if you gouge one of your textured PEI beds on accident, well you have 10 more since they all have a good PEI surface as well.
These coatings are significantly less durable than pei. I have smooth "pea", compared to elegoo pei it has better adhesion, but the glass effect is gone after a couple dozen prints.
I bought one plate with the polygonal and carbon fiber texture for my Bambu X1C. Haven't had a chance to use them yet because I'm still figuring out how to find tune the speed on my printer since I just got it.
I think to deal with risk of corner lift, in those cases just add a brim. For the multi part where the internal component seems to have broken free, I wonder if raising the bed temperature would help?
you should try tuning bed temps. I bed you can get much better results. also p-flat has been selling these beds for a long time here in the states.
Just had to buy one of those holgraphic circle sheets even if they don't work very well and I end up using the other side, if I use it at all.
I wonder how much it costs to set the production up for those patterns? OOh how I'd love a personalised build plate....
I have some of the fun textured sheets and I use them from time to time on models that have larger surfaces and could be enhanced with a pattern, but more often than not I use the standard PEI sheets. Their lifespan is shorter due to the delicate nature of the pattern, but I agree with you, for the price, it's a fun option to have to add that extra pop to a print.
I had not seen that carbon fiber version yet. Have most of the others and love them. If you use hairspray they still leave the effect and get more than adequate adhesion.
The drawback the surfaces are extremely fragile and any maring will permanently be imprinted into your parts
Can you test some PEI belt print surfaces like fysetc sells? Last I checked the build surface was the problem with most belt printers so this would be really interesting to see.
I have one of diamond pattern plates. i got mine on Amazon for $15.
the textured side is great. everything sticks to it.
the hex / diamond pattern side, yes, it puts the pattern on the part. but it seems to work better with PLA better than PETG.
but i dont have warping issues on mine. but i also have my printer in an enclosure to keep it hot.
Ah this is cool. At last we get to see a real life comparison of these different bed materials. Thanks a lot! On top of that I am glad to see you get sponsored by PIA. It is indeed a great VPN service. Highly recommended compared to NordVPN for instance.
I've been running kapton sheets on my ancient Flashforge creator knockoff (Microcenter house brand version) and have never really had any issues other than really small parts with very little surface contact with the platter. I thought about getting a plate like these just because the removability is nice and because weirdly the screws that hold the plate down are exposed, but never have committed.
I wonder if you can inprove the print in enclosed case to optimise the tempture for the materials. 🤔Clearly we are sacfricifing some adhesion properties for the plates for the fishish, so condrtolling that ambient temperature might help with corner.
Do kind of wish these held up to printing a bit better, would be a nice option to have for certain Prince; but hey, there's always the potential for improvement, so maybe we'll see some better stats in the future
I could see those working for awhile, though I wonder if it's the coating that is transferring or just the microtexture.
On that note, I'd rather like to see how a film with a fresnel lens would work. I tend to scavenge them from old LED monitors, or if your favorite uncle has a Really old projector TV that doesn't work, you can get a Huge one from them.
The H1H looks really awesome, I can imagine a lot of prints where this holographic pattern would look great.
Id like a basic, uncoated spring steel sheet cut to size and shape that i can apply my own buildtack sheet to. When the sheet wears out i just peel it off and apply a new one. No point in replacing the steel sheet if it is still flat.
I know nothing about what these are actually made out of. However I can tell you they work great. I have been using them on my Bambi P1S. Adhesion has been excellent and the pattern transfers well.
I've been using the polygonal style about 2 months ago. Adhesion is meh, but not bad as mentioned. But after about 100 prints it's still putting the pattern in well !
I started using the holographic ones on some of my prints to easily see oil contamination, from say, fingers on surfaces I'm about to glue or double sided tape I'm about to put together, this works really well with fixing the no stick stickyback problem
Have stopped using anything but ASA like two years ago when I migrated from my i3 MK3S to a Voron V2.4 so my findings may not necessarily apply to PLA and PETG in the same way as it did with ASA but I found that simply raising the Bed Temperature ( by like 5-10°C ) would do *_wonders_* when it came to getting a part to stick to a different brand of PEI Print Bed I had acquired at some point.
If you use glue stick or liquid glue to enhance the adhesion - will this fill in those microstructures and prevent them from transfering to the printed bed?
Can you please try printing with a lower bed temp? I was surprised to see how much better pla performs on glass at 45C instead of 60. Probably the same applies to these sheets.
I moved on from PEI to Pertinax (FR2) flex sheets for commercial printing a couple of years ago because you can print all filaments (TPU, ABS, PLA, PETG and nylon) it. (some filament types like TPU need some glue stick as a separator on the surface to stop it sticking to much. I use a very thin and water diluted solution of Magigoo PC brushed on it for all filaments Best of all you can also sand it to refurbish surface after a couple of years use.
What's your thoughts on G10 as printing surface? Angus over at Maker's Muse swears by them, but I find that having to use clips to hold them to the bed is a little old fashioned (and frankly a bit of a pain.)
Annoying to hold but amazing adhesion G10/fr4
Haven't used G10/FR4 much, but I do mention in the video that you can also print onto real carbon fiber which is pretty much the same material, just with carbon instead of glass fibers.
Nice video! If you use a glue stick to help with adhesion, will the "color / holographic" effects still be transferred to the print?
Seems like if they just made these thicker theyd be pretty great, or maybe the Prusa Magnets just werent strong enough. How did these work on Bambulab printers or the 2.4 in the background?
actually just bought a bunch of these for K1 Max from Kingroon and was wondering about their performance before they arrive. so perfect timing :)
I used these on my 35cm^3 voron...large projects were failures.. but i still love the textures.. it can really enhance certain projects
I really look forward to seeing these materials long term durability. I guess it was plain PEIs that once in a while, I had to sand it to keep its grip. New material is exciting, but I think I will wait a bit before buying those - so that durability is better reported.
been using PET carbon pattern for the last year and half now, brought from aliexpress. It now has 500+ prints on it and over 2500 hours print hours still as good as day one. I print anything, PLA PETG ABS ASA PA-CF etc so all sort of temperature ranges from 50 to 120 degrees on the bed. All i do is clean it with soapy water every now and then to get ride of finger grease othe than that this build plate has been my go to way better than my old PEI sheet espcialyl considering the price only 8 pound for a double sided sheet not bad at all. Not to mention the pattern it leave on printed parts looks amazing
It's not a new material. It's just a flashy name for what essentially is the same thing but with holographic etching.
Sanding a PEI bed sounds extremely unnecessary.
Its a consumable like nozzles. If you baby the sheetd they could last many months. Their not super expensive either
Hi Thomas - this was a super interesting video - thank you. I am brand new to 3D printing. I'm using the Bambu X1-Carbon printer. I've had a lot of success with the cold plate / PLA plate in Bambu Studio. Watching others on TH-cam print on different textured plates, I went out and purchased an IdeaFormer carbon fibre textured PET, and Textured PEI on the other side. I have tried about 7-8 printed on both sides and all of them have failed on the first layer. I'm printing with Bambu PLA basic and nothing seems to stick. I've tried the cool plate / PLA plate, and the textured PRI plate settings in Bambu Studio. I've tried bumping up the bed temperature to 65 degrees celsius. I've also tried slowing down the first layer, and still no luck. The IdeaFormer website isn't very good. I'm frustrated - I can't seem to find a definitative guide on starting/optimal settings for this new plate. Help?!
How do you get these bed plates to stay on a none magnetic bed? Very good video as usual, thank you.👍