@niget2002, will the 310mm heat pad be larger than the 12x12 Alu plate?
Noticed Voron BOM recommending heat pads 50mm smaller than the bed:
Not sure if other folks undersize heater bed by 50mm relative to the build plate for their MP3DP builds?
Am still figuring out…
We’re going to find out when it gets here. The description said 300, so I didn’t catch the actual size until today.
I can always get a larger piece of aluminum.
I did not read all the replies, but I will, this is what I used Fuliment Fula-Bed Very expensive, but it is worth it, I build the Repeat V1 with it and I ordered another one for the MP3DP V4-4.1. Even though the 4.1 is a build in progress…
Very happy with it build plate and how fast it heats up, no distortion, buckling or what ever you call, they claim 0.1 all around the build plate, I got 0.15mm … to me that is pretty good, easy to bed level.
Edited,
They are also 110V and I used SSR
What I have been finding out is that you go even a millimeter larger than a 12“ x 12“ x 1/4” thick square of aluminum it jumps the price up by an enormous amount.
I have a local place that sells by weight. But it’s in a sketchy part of town, which is why I ordered these first plates on Amazon. Plus the local material would have to be milled flat. My mill can do it, but I’d have to come up with a fixture plate and blah blah blah… Excuses.
There is a metal supplier I buy from online, that has an actual brick and mortar establishment but they are willing to ship, and if one orders a large enough quantity of cut pieces so as to use the better part of a full sheet, they get even more affordable than normal.
My print bed flex sheet and magnetic base are 310x310 mm. (I’m targeting 300x300 usable). This (310x310) means I want to use a 12.25" x 13" x 1/4" 6061 Aluminum Plate — to have room to remove the attaching screws if needed, without having to disturb or damage the peel and stick magnetic base.
If I order 1 of those (12.25" x 13" x 1/4" plate) they are $39.93 not including shipping. If I order 13 of them, I can get them for only $16.75 each, again this is not including shipping.
Ground shipping to my residence is estimated as $51.68, which would bring the total price for each of 13 plates (but still without a secondary shipment to someone else’s location) to only $20.73 per each.
If 2 or more of us gang up an order, there would need to be an extra step of shipping out to the other participants once the whole order arrives from the vendor.
Thoughts?
The largest ‘flat rate box’ that USPS sells is the large and it is 12"x12"x6" and costs $22/box
https://www.usps.com/ship/priority-mail.htm#flatrate
So any savings you get for buying in bulk would be negated by shipping the extra pieces out to other people.
Buying local really makes a lot of sense from a cost perspective when it comes to metal. It also makes a lot of sense to find a good local metal depot and not buy your metal from HomeDepot or Lowes type establishments. Their metal is way over priced for what you get compared to a regular metal place.
No need to use a flat rate box. Actual real world shipping costs mean there is still a lot of benefit in ganging up on an order. Cost per plate including the secondary shipping (random location of Connecticut selected, from here in West Virginia) would be $28.33. That’s literally one third to at least less than half of the price of a single sheet anywhere else I’ve found, that is at least as large as what I’m aiming for.
Not everyone has a metal supplier in their area. I’ve searched long and hard in my area, and come up empty. Below are real world shipping costs:
6061 Aluminum Plate x 13 plates — 12.25" x 13" x 1/4"
Subtotal: $217.75
Ground ship: $51.68
Total: $269.43
$269.43 / 13 = $20.73 each
WEIGHT:
12.25" x 13" x 1/4" x 0.0975 lb/in³ = 3.88171875 lb
USPS Priority Mail (2 days) is $7.60.
USPS Parcel Select Ground (5 days) $7.40
$20.73 + $7.60 = $28.33 per sheet (again based on shipment from me to somewhere in CT. Actual cost to whatever location could vary somewhat).
aluminum tool plate will generally not warp as much as standard aluminum sheet, because it’s cast, and not roll formed. It’s also ground to a spec, so you get some guarantee of flatness. Mine is +/- .03mm across the plate.
For whatever it’s worth, here’s what that metal supplier says about the material I referenced above:
6061 Aluminum Plate
6061 Aluminum Plate is made of one of the most versatile of all of the aluminum alloys. 6061 Aluminum Plate is the alloy of choice for all-purpose applications. 6061 Aluminum Plate is an aluminum-silicon-magnesium alloy, strengthened by precipitation hardening. This alloy has medium strength, formability, weldability, machinability and corrosion resistance. 6061 Aluminum plate is used for tooling plate, architectural applications, transportation equipment, bridge railing components, and is useful in welded structural application. We stock 6061 Aluminum Plate in thickness .250’’ through 16’’ thick in stock available for immediate delivery.
Precision cutting (+/- .005’') available. call for a quote
Standard Cut Tolerance: -0’’ to +1/8’’
6061-T651 Aluminum Plate
Our 6061 plate has T651 temper, indicating it has been solution heat treated followed by a minimal stretching to reduce stresses in the material. The material was then artificially aged to allow the alloying elements to precipitate out of the material, to give immediate maximum strength.
Doug who’s your online supplier? https://www.midweststeelsupply.com?
My local metalsupermarkets.com want ~$44 for 12x12x0.25" and ~$47 for 13"x13"x0.25", delivery’s extra, but pickup is an option. Retail pricing, not discounted. Ideally group of makers would collectively get the same discount at their local store by just mentioning their organization name when ordering material.
They charge by square foot, so, although they charge a premium over amzn, the convenience of getting stock cut to exact size could be worth the timesaving if you’re not wanting to mill Alu for the fun of it. E.g. Milled my LR3 XZ plates for fun not profit, was time consuming but interesting/informing experience.
Checked sendcutsend, great website, great options, not so great prices.
Hey, that’s exactly who I was talking bout.
Am not understanding the value folks are seeing in paying a significant premium for super duper flat bed plates. My naive understanding is that probe + software can work fine with the flatishness of a typical cheap plate? Have only used glass, so have limited knowledge/experience, genuinely curious.
Hoping that with the right sensors and software, we can control mechanisms built with low tolerances, yet still get high quality results.
I am generally aware that one can spend 5 to 8 times as much for a milled (ground), super ultra flat bed, and I’m somewhat aware that super speed printing benefits from that, but I don’t know that I’m up for spending that on more than one printer in the household. I’ve already spent the dough to get one of those super flat plates for a Voron kit I am planning to build. I lean toward going with “OK, sorta flat” for the others I’m building.
I never understood really flat plates either. Once you stick a magnetic PEI sheet or, heaven forbid, masking tape on top, you’ve lost the accuracy of the ground plate.
Mine is still within spec.
I’m a little late to this party, but here’s the one I bought. I got the 12v version, but use a separate MOSFET board to drive it. Takes a little while to heat up, and I also put a sheet of PEI over it because the textured surface didn’t work great for me. All-in-all, it works well.
I bought the “310 all kits” that comes with the heater plate and the glass.
I had good luck going into the local msm and shopping there. The prices on the site were higher than what they quotes me at the door. But this was a long time ago now, and only for steel DOM tubing. They cut them from the long sticks while I waited. They also had a small scrap section with better deals.
My local MicroCenter has the Ender 5 Plus build plate for sale, for all of $9.99.
350mm x 350mm build plate with integrated heater and thermistor.
I was there grabbing a free 128Gb USB drive and a BTT CB1 and Pi4B.
Had to grab a couple of these because that price is the lowest I’ve ever seen for a 350mm x 350mm build plate. It has the plate already wired with thermistor and bed heater wiring, a reinforcing frame of aluminum extrusion under it, and an insulator inside the outline of the extrusion.
The local store had 7 when I went there, have 4 now…