Hello 3D Printing Friends! Today on the BV3D Channel,
we'll see how to install Fulament's
Fula-Bed, a super-flat bed upgrade on the Artillery Sidewinder X1!
Stick around, and we'll get into it right after this.
I'm Bryan, and you... are watching BV3D!
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Okay, so today we're going to install a bed upgrade on the Artillery Sidewinder X1.
Fulament sent this to me a little while back, so we could get a look at it. This is
the Fula-Bed upgrade. It's a super flat 300 x 300 mm build plate, with a guaranteed
flatness within 0.15 mm. It's also super thick, with this 5 mm thick plate. But
it's not just an ordinary 5 mm thick, 300 x 300 mm build plate. It's a 5 mm thick,
300 x 300 mm MAGNETIC build plate, with 55 high-temperature magnets embedded on
the underside. And holy heck, are these things strong! They pull that spring steel
sheet down hard, and if you're not careful, you might get bit. And since it's a magnetic
build plate, there's a choice of flex plates. Fulament calls these Fula-Flex 2.0 plates.
The plates are available in a single sided option, with a smooth PEI surface, and a
double-sided option, with smooth PEI on one side, and textured PEI on the other.
And there's a high temperature bed heater available for it too, that can reach 150˚C
and stay there. That would be ideal for high-temp materials, such as nylon or
polycarbonate, when used in conjunction with a printer enclosure.
The Artillery Sidewinder X1 uses mains power for the bed, so that same 110 or
220 volt power that comes into the printer is also used to power the bed heater.
That power is switched on and off in a controlled manner by a solid state relay
that Artillery includes inside the printer's body. As a safety feature, the
Fula-Bed heater includes a thermal fuse, so when something bad happens, and the
solid state relay gets stuck in an "ON" position, that thermal fuse will cut power
to the bed heater, preventing dangerous overheating. As of this recording, the
Fula-Bed components are in a pre-order state on Fulament site, at fulament.com.
And I used the word "components" deliberately, because this bed system is sold a la carte.
You choose which components you want. The Fula-Bed itself, the flex plates, and
the bed heater. When ordering the Fula-Bed for the Sidewinder X1, you can choose to
add a 110 volt heater or not, and whether to add a single sided or double sided
Fula-Flex 2.0 sheet. The price is adjusted as you add or remove components.
So the kit Fulament sent to me is designed to fit my Sidewinder X1, but they'll
have kits for other printers as well, such as the Creality Ender-3, and
Artillery Genius. This kit included the Fula-Bed, the Fula-Bed heater, and
the double sided Fula-Flex 2.0 spring steel sheet. It also included all the
necessary mounting hardware. Installing it is mostly pretty easy. I say it's
mostly pretty easy, because it was a little difficult to remove the hot glue
globs securing the bed thermistor cable into its socket on the main board. But
that's not Fulament's fault. If you've ever looked inside a 3D printer, there's
usually a lot of hot glue on the connectors. Printer manufacturers do
this to make sure the connectors stay put during shipping. It's great for
helping to make sure nothing comes loose, but it's a pain when you want to actually
unplug something. Okay, well let's go through the installation in greater
detail, so you can see how to do it. I decided the best course of action
would be to install the bed heater onto the Fula-Bed before doing anything
else. It's a peel-and-stick thing, and once it's stuck it's stuck, so you pretty
much have to get it right the first time. The bed heater goes on the underside of
the bed. That's the side where all the magnets live. In order to make sure
nothing would interfere with the adhesive, I cleaned the underside of the bed with
some isopropyl alcohol on a microfiber cloth, and waited for it to dry before
peeling the backing off of the adhesive. I set the bed heater onto the bed to
get an idea of where it would sit once it was installed. The heater goes almost
all the way to the edges of the bed, leaving just a few millimeters all the
way around. So, knowing that, I peeled about a third of the backing away from
the adhesive, and carefully set the front edge of the heater on the bed,
making sure it was centered and evenly spaced at the front. Then I pressed
down in the center of that part to stick it onto the bed, and started peeling
the backing away a little at a time, pressing down with my fingers to stick
it down, working all the way to the back. Once the backing was completely
removed, I made sure the heater was fully adhered to the bed by pressing
down on it. Next, I attached the bed heater's grounding wire to the bed. This
is held in place with a small screw that's included in the kit.
Then I attached the four bed adjustment screws to the bed. These go in from the
top side of the bed, and just screw into place. They're countersunk, so they're
intended to be flush with the top surface of the bed, or just a little below it.
The last step in preparing the Fula-Bed
is to install the two alignment screws for the Fula-Flex spring steel sheet.
These are like little set screws, and they align the sheet at the back of the
printer, making it easier to snap it back into place every time.
With the new Fula-Bed fulla-y prepared,
it's time to install it. So, turn off the printer and unplug its power cord.
Turn the printer on its side, so you can access the bottom of it.
Remove the six screws securing the bottom
panel, then remove the bottom panel. Be careful, there is a fan attached to
it, and the wire isn't long enough to allow the panel to lay flat while it's
still connected. Unplug the fan's cable, then set the panel aside.
Next, we need to unplug the bed thermistor cable from the main board,
and to do that you're probably going to have to do battle with the
Generous Glue Goblins' Gloopy Glue Globs.
There's not a lot of room to work between the side of the printer and
the connector on the main board. It took me almost 10 minutes to get
enough of the hot glue off of this connector to be able to unplug it.
Be patient and work carefully, and soon you'll have the thermistor cable
unplugged.
While we're in here, I wanted to give a shout out to Artillery on a job
well done. I've had this printer for quite a while, but I haven't ever
looked inside until now. And what I didn't realize is that Artillery used
ferrules on the ends of these wire connections. Great job, Artillery!
More 3d printer manufacturers need to be doing this.
Okay, next up, we need to disconnect
the stock bed's wiring. The bed is powered by AC line voltage, and is
switched on and off by a solid state relay controlled by the main board.
Remember earlier, when I said you needed to turn the printer off and
unplug it? If you skipped the unplugging part, PLEASE unplug the printer.
You don't want to accidentally become a famous conductor...
of electricity!
To make things easier, snip the zip tie that's keeping all these cables
bundled together. Then remove the clear plastic cover from the solid state
relay. Remove the screw securing this red wire on the solid state relay.
It's on the output side of the relay, and it's labeled as number two. This
is one of the two red wires that goes out to the bed heater.
Remove the screw securing the bed's other red wire to the power supply.
This is connected to the terminal marked "N" for neutral. Note that
this terminal on the power supply also has a blue wire coming from
the power socket. We'll be putting that back on later, when we connect
the wires for the new bed.
Carefully remove the bed's thermistor wire. It passes through a couple of
cutouts in the frame. Then feed the stock bed's wires out through the
cable grommet at the back of the printer.
Set the printer upright.
Remove the four bed adjustment knobs from the stock bed. Gather up the
stock bed wires, and lift the stock bed straight up off the printer.
Then it's time for Spring Harvest.
So harvest the four yellow springs. We'll be using these again in just
a moment. Put two of the yellow springs on one side of the Fula-Bed.
While holding those two springs in place, put the Fula-Bed onto the
Y-carriage, making sure the screws go through all four holes.
Angle the Fula-Bed up, on the side
without the springs, and install the two remaining springs on that side.
Reinstall the four bed adjustment
knobs, and adjust the knobs so the bed springs are mostly compressed.
Turn the printer on its side, and feed the Fula-Bed's cables into the
printer through the cable grommet at the back of the printer.
Inside the printer, route the cables through the cutout in the frame.
Connect the bed heater wires. There are two white wires, and a yellow-and-green
striped wire. Connect one of the white wires to terminal number two on the
solid state relay, where we removed the stock bed wire. Make sure this is
well-tightened.
Connect the other white wire to the power supply terminal labeled "N".
Don't tighten it all the way yet. Add the blue wire from the power
socket, then tighten the screw to clamp these connectors in place.
Remove the screw from the yellow wire on the power supply's ground
terminal. Using that screw, reattach the yellow wire, along with the ground
wire from the Fula-Bed, and tighten the screw to clamp the connectors
in place.
Fold down the terminal cover on the power supply, and reattach the clear
cover to the solid state relay.
Route the Fula-Bed's thermistor cable through the remaining cable clips and
frame cutouts to get it over to the main board.
Plug the Fula-Bed's thermistor cable into the main board where the stock
thermistor cable had been.
Zip tie the cable bundle together again, back near the solid state relay.
Now, let's reattach the bottom panel.
Plug the bottom panel's fan into the main board, then align the panel with
the bottom of the printer, and secure it using the six screws.
Now plug the printer in, and turn it on. Look at the screen to verify
that the Fula-Bed thermistor is reading
about the same as the nozzle. These values should be right about at room
temperature. If the bed isn't showing a temperature similar to the nozzle,
or at least showing room temperature, turn off the printer, unplug it, and
make sure the thermistor cable is plugged in all the way on the main board.
Maybe some small bit of hot glue stayed behind and got in the way.
Okay, so now that it's installed, the only thing left to do is level
(or tram) the bed again, then you should be able to get to printing
So now, I'd like to share some observations about the Fula-Bed.
This isn't really a review, it's more of a first look, and my initial
impressions of the product.
I've printed a little bit with it, and so far, it's been great. One of
the things about a magnetic flex plate is that it makes it so easy to remove
prints once they're done. They're one of my favorite 3D printer features,
and I often add them to my printers that don't have them.
Now, my regular use of this is generally going to be with PLA and PETG.
I don't have any materials that need bed temperatures up in the 150˚C range,
but I did confirm that the bed would, in fact, reach that temperature.
Check out those heat waves coming off of it! If you're going to be printing
materials that need bed temperatures like that, you're probably going to
want to have your Sidewinder X1 in an enclosure to keep the ambient
temperatures high enough that those materials won't warp or delaminate.
Regarding the flatness of the Fula-Bed, I figured a good way to show that off
would be to place a ruler edgewise on the bed, and see if I could shine some
light under it. That would reveal low spots.
And when I did that, I could barely see any light leaking underneath
that ruler. So that seemed to me like it lives up to the claim of being
super flat.
These alignment pins at the back of the bed are really helpful in making
sure the flex plate is lined up with the bed. Just push the flex plate
against them, and let it drop. But you have to be careful when you're putting
that flex plate on. The magnets Fulament uses are ridiculously strong, and if
you're not careful, you could get a finger pinched.
Strong magnets are a good thing, though.
This flex plate isn't going to come off the bed until you take it off.
And having two usable surfaces on the Fula-Flex 2.0 plate is pretty cool. too.
I like using the textured PEI side,
because I like the way it looks on the prints. And if I want a smooth
surface on a print, I can flip the plate over and use the smooth side.
So I'm going to keep on using this,
and if my opinion changes, or I run into an issue, I'll let you know.
Well, 3D Printing Friends, that's about all the time we have for this
episode. And now that we're at the end, let's go print something cool!
Hey, real quick before you go. I wanted to say thanks for being one
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Well, that's it for this one!
Thanks again, and I'll see you next time here on the BV3D Channel!