Anyone tried this?
http://www.novelis.com/en-us/SiteAssets/Brochures/SIGNICOLOR2011_GB_07.11[1].pdf
Sticks well so far.
Originally shared by Tom Øyvind Hogstad
Testing “revolutionary” new print surface.
Are you heating it?
I’m heating it. Tried to burn it with a small blowtorch first. Didn’t make any mark.
It’s a Prusa 2 based. PLA …
Neat, so then it’s ABS compatible?
I think the torch can melt aluminum, so ABS should be fine. My sign making friend got tons of cut offs in his shop, so it’s free 
2mm thick very stiff, easy to cut.
That’s great, What the heck is it? I went threw all the posts & replies but I do not see any mention of what the material is.
It’s described in the link. Aluminum plate used for sign making.
As it is aluminium I would think it transfers heat readily. Would it not be hard to keep warm enough for ABS ?
Interesting, let us know how it works. Also, if anyone has some links to purchase some please share.
Interesting! I wonder if this is the same material that is used for aluminum license plates. I think I’ll try using an old one once my Kossel is working.
There is a lot to think of here: Workability with both PLA and ABS; the part has to stick well enough during the print, yet be removed easily. Forcing flat blades under the print doesn’t count. Also the longevity of the material needs to be taken into account - how long does it last before having to be replaced, etc.
QU-BD is going with volcanic glass. http://youtu.be/Kjy9ykduN5E?t=32s I haven’t received their printer yet, but they say they are having great success with it.
I’ll let you know how it works in the long run. I have mostly used parts of an old mirror, but small glass pieces comes off and it has been uneven. I also tried glass frame glass, but that broke a bit to easily.
@Tom_Oyvind_Hogstad I’ve been using the same piece of Lowes window glass for 6 months now, with not a single issue; more than 8 lbs of filament through the thing. Print after print after print. I tend 4 other printers that also use the same, regular old window-pane glass without problem (Sells Mendel, MG Prusa Mendel, Rostock Mini, and an i3 that was just built) and the only problem I ever had was one time in the past, I sanded the glass, used ABS slurry, and mashed the first layer into the bed pretty hard. That piece shattered trying to pry the print off of the bed - glass is an amazing surface to print on.
I have used mirror for some time, but small pieces of glass comes loose. Had this laying around If it does not work out I’ll go for glass again. I have a glass shop as customer, so I can probably get them to find me some nice stuff. But so far the painted aluminium have worked remarkable well.
@ThantiK how thick is your glass? I’ve switched from two to three millimeters of plain glass since the thinner one would easily shatter when it had to hold down large prints.
I’ll be installing a second Prusa PCB and have them individually controllable to conserve some power. I don’t think plain glass would last long with one half cold and the other hot - my local glazier has Zerodur which i’ll probabyl try out. What’s ya’lls opinion on that?
@Thomas_Sanladerer my glass coudn’t be more than 3mm thick. I have it clipped onto a roughly equally thick aluminum bed. The big problem with glass isn’t the glass, it’s that people aren’t heating it up evenly, or that the bed surface they’re clipping it to is warped and they’re flexing the glass a lot.
So you use aluminum on top of heated bed and then glass on top of that. I sort of try to keep the bed weight down. Have also seen carbon fibre sheet suggested …
Nah, the aluminum IS my heated bed. I use a 110v flexible silicone heater pad attached through a solid state relay, glued/adhesived to the underside of my aluminum plate. I hit 170mm/s travel speeds regularly. Bed weight is no issue. Aluminum is very light weight.
Benefit to this is also that I am able to counter-sink flat-headed screws into the bed, and use 100% of the surface, vs having to navigate my way around screws at the corners.
Triffid Hunter uses largely the same setup, and it’s a dream to use. Converted all the machines (and friends machines) to this, and they couldn’t be happier.