My Alirubber silicone heating element is failing and started overheating in a small area in the center and coming off the build plate.
Are there any better options available now, or should I get another one of the same (it lasted 5 years)?
The current one runs on 24V @ 350W
Keenovo are pretty well known.
The 468MP adhesive holding the heater on the bottom of the bed plate started letting go several months ago, so I decided to peel the heater free and reattach it using high temperature silicone. I made an attempt to remove the heater using the scraper I use to release prints from the bed, but it didn’t work- the parts of the heater that were still stuck to the plate were really stuck to the plate.
I contacted Keenovo about it and they pointed me at this site for instructions on how to remove a heater from a plate and this site for instructions of preparing a plate to receive a heater that has 468MP adhesive. Here’s their manual on the heaters (which I had never seen before).
They recommend a few things I was previously unaware of, including sealing the edges of the heater with a bead of high temperature silicone, maybe to keep the adhesive from “drying out” and letting go? Maybe I should seal the edges of the PEI sheet for the same reason… They also recommend using a mechanical “sandwich” construction to ensure that the heater stays attached to the bed.
…
I installed my 750W 120V Keenovo heater on my bed using the 486MP adhesive back, but with a border of high-temp RTV as Keenovo suggests.
3 Likes