Over the past few years,
I've had 16 different 3D printers and over 20 different 3D printer bed types.
And there are all kinds of things out there. But by far,
my favorite is the one that is coated with this stuff.
Hi there and welcome.
To the 3D Printing Zone. My name is Nils,
and today we're going to be talking about my favorite 3D printer bed type. Now,
if you've seen some of my other videos,
you've probably seen me talking about glass beds and what you can do with them
and how to get things to adhere well,
how to get that perfect first layer and all of that kind of ties into what we're
talking about today. So this is a product, it's a mineral,
it's called silicon carbide, or carborundum.
This has been around since the 1890s.
So this mineral is both naturally occurring and can be manufactured,
which is the more common of the two.
The naturally occurring cases are actually typically from meteors or meteorites.
So this is like space age stuff. It's pretty cool.
And this is most commonly found in things like the plates that go in bulletproof
vests. It's also in certain high-end brake pads.
It's used in different abrasives and grinding and polishing tools and
things like that. So it's very hard. It can cut most crystals, most glass,
anything like that. It can't scratch or cut diamond but it's pretty hard.
It's a nine on the hardness rating and it works really well because of two
things. Number one, when this heats up,
it creates a more abrasive or more grippy surface for our prints.
And number two, as it cools down, it releases that somewhat.
And that means that when you're done with your print,
it literally releases itself from the bed all by itself.
They are fresh off the bed. That's so crazy, not sticking at all.
Just kind of hanging out. Here's the skirt,
and the skirt just pops right off. That is.
Pretty awesome. So it holds on really well.
It gives you the grip it needs while the bed is heated.
And then as soon as that bed cools, there's no scraping, there's no pulling,
there's no prying underneath to try to get the thing off.
It is just sitting there loose on the bed. And to me, that is ideal.
That is the way to have it.
So I was introduced to carborundum or silicon carbide by the Ender 3
V2. So when I got this printer it said it had a carborundum bed and I had never
heard of that.
So I did a little research to figure out more about what that is and what it's
about.
And I'm so happy that I was introduced to this because I like it so much that I
went out and purchased another. And now I've got two more on order. Now,
if you're curious,
you can actually buy these in most every size for different printer beds.
The prices can get a little bit steep for those custom sizes.
These ones for the Ender 3 or Ender 3 V2 or several other printers of that size,
about 220 x 220 are pretty inexpensive. You can get these for under $18.
I ordered mine for $15 and even right now today, for example,
I've seen them on sale for $13 and I will put links in the description below.
So they're going to be somewhere in that price range. Of course,
prices change all the time.
I'll put another link in the description where you can pick these up for
multiple sizes, even up to about 510 x 510,
but they do get pricey.
Those ones get up in the $86 to $90 range for those really large ones.
So not a hundred percent sure if it's worth it at that price range,
but something you can take a look at and decide for yourself. Now,
if you check out some of the printers that are available today,
especially those by Creality,
these beds are becoming more and more common to ship with new printers.
So a lot of the Creality printers,
including the Ender 3 V2 come with these beds.
This one has the Ender logo and the Ender title on there.
If you buy the aftermarket one, it's got just the Creality logo on there,
the Creality title and these ship on just a glass bed.
So it's a coating that goes over top of the glass bed. And if you measure these,
these come up with somewhere around three and a half millimeters,
as far as the thickness close to four millimeters for the thickness of the
glass. So the glass that this comes on is pretty sturdy.
It's pretty thick and it shouldn't cause any issues.
As far as warping is concerned.
Now in the last few prints I've done on my Ender 3 V2,
I've actually gone down with my phone and just filmed the status of the prints
that are sitting on the bed. And in pretty much every case,
they're just sitting there, there's nothing going on.
I don't have to move them at all.
I just pick them up and they're already released from the bed,
which is fantastic. Now,
there are a few things that you want to be aware of as far as upkeep on this.
In some of my videos,
I recommend that you use an alcohol like isopropyl alcohol to clean off your
print bed.
It's actually recommended that you do not use that on carborundum beds.
What's recommended for these is just some soapy water to clean these off.
And if this is printed properly, then there shouldn't be much cleaning to do.
They're fairly scratch resistant because it's such a hard material that's on
here. If you take a look at this bed, for example, on my Ender 3 V2,
you can see that there are almost no marks on this.
This thing looks almost brand new,
even though I've printed all kinds of stuff on this.
And there are two reasons for that.
The first is that this has a really hard material on it.
This carborundum is a level nine hardness,
and that means it doesn't scratch easily, which is really nice.
And the second is because you don't need to use any hard materials or blades or
things like that on it, as long as you've got it set up right,
and we'll talk about that in just a moment. Everything just pops off.
And so you don't need to use a spatula or a scraper or a razor or anything like
that to remove your prints from the print bed. So on mine,
what I actually just use is knock-off Windex, some glass cleaner,
give it a couple of spurts on here. I have a microfiber cloth; wipe that down,
and that's really all I need to do.
And that's just to help remove the oils from my fingerprints and just to keep it
clean.
Another recommendation that I've seen is just to take some Dawn dish soap,
mix it up with a bit of water and put it in a spray bottle.
So you get kind of a,
a mist that sprays out and you can use that and wipe that off as well.
My very first print with the carborundum bed was awesome because it just worked
just like I explained, held on really well,
had no issues with it holding on during the print.
And then as soon as it cooled off, it just popped off and was ready.
I didn't even have to try to pull it off. So that was awesome. Second one,
the same thing, third one, the same thing by four or five and six,
I was starting to notice that it wasn't adhering quite as well.
And I was starting to wonder if something had gone wrong. So again,
two things at play here first is I was using isopropyl alcohol to clean it off,
which I hadn't read or didn't see that you weren't supposed to use that on this
bed. So I thought maybe I ruined it once I figured that out.
I thought maybe I had ruined it. And that was not the case, fortunately.
The second thing was the real reason,
and that is a carborundum bed likes a little more space.
So if you've ever printed with PETG, for example, you know,
you want to add a little more space to that on your first layer.
This one doesn't need quite that much,
but you do not want to squish it in to those little pores that are in the
carborundum.
You want to give it a little more height on that first layer to make sure that
everything lays down properly and sits on the bed,
but isn't ground down into the bed.
And I had just gotten my nozzle a little too close to the bed on that first
layer. And that's what caused the issue of it.
It's kind of sticking and acting more like a traditional bed.
It would still hold on really well during the print, which was great,
but it wouldn't let go after it was cooled down.
So if you're experiencing that with the carborundum bed,
lift that nozzle off the bed a little bit for your bed leveling or for that
first layer. Now,
one thing you should definitely know about the carborundum beds is that they
work really well with PLA in particular.
If you're trying something that requires higher heat like PETG,
and oftentimes with ABS as well, then they may not work as well. In fact,
things may, as you probably know, a PETG tends to have a crazy bond to things.
It really sticks maybe too well in some cases.
And that may still be the case with PETG on a carborundum bed.
So it's recommended in those cases that you use the other side. So there's,
carborundum on the one side here under the film.
This is just protective film that's on here since this is new.
And then on the other side is just a traditional glass bed. So you can use that.
And then if you wanted to use something like some masking tape or a glue stick
or something like that,
you can use that with PETG or anything that you're not comfortable with on the
carborundum side. Now on that note, one question I've heard is,
is there a product that will allow you to actually be able to stick things while
they're hot,
but will release them while they're cool that you can apply to any bed.
Now I have not tested this out. I just got a bottle of this here,
but this is called Bed Weld by Layerneer.
And this claims to be a thermal dynamic product that does just that.
As the bed heats up, things stick to it, as it cools down, they release from it.
And it's pretty cool.
It actually comes with a nice little foam sponge applicator on here so that you
can apply a coat of it onto the bed. You can wash it off.
It lasts supposedly for several prints. And like I say,
I've yet to have the chance to try this. I just got this,
but I'm looking forward to trying this out. And if it does work,
I'll probably make another video to show you kind of what the pros and cons are
of this as well.
So if you're interested in excellent PLA prints that just work every time,
I would definitely recommend the carborundum and then just get that layer height
kind of dialed into where you would expect it to be.
You just kind of have to keep an eye on that a little bit,
and that is the way to go.
If you have an existing bed or Iwant to use a glass bed,
then maybe we can try some of this Bed Weld. And if you've used this,
I'd love to hear in the comments, what you think or what to watch out for now.
One of the items I did print on the carborundum bed is this little vase here out
of some eSun red PLA. And it just popped right off when it was done,
which was awesome.
And I printed this one out specifically because we have our sponsor for today's
video, Maker Plate.
Maker Plate is a really cool little device that lets you show off your prints or
anything else that you make really. So I can actually pop this on here,
at the center of that, approximately.
You can get it started spinning and off it goes.
So this is just levitating right on there. And it just rotates perpetually.
So you can see that there's nothing underneath here and it just sits under there
like that. And you can show off all kinds of stuff.
We can even try my 2017 3D printed Lego Darth Vader.
If this thing ever gets dusty, that's definitely not a problem.
We can just dust it like that. One of.
My favorite uses for this is as a pencil holder.
So you can download this little cup here, for example,
that allows you to insert pictures of your dog or whatever you like.
If you head over to Thingiverse and do a quick search for Maker Plate,
you'll see, not only this penholder,
but also some other plant holders and other objects like that,
and feel free to add your own to that as well. Now,
if you want to check out a Maker Plate for yourself,
you can check out the link in the description below where you can pick one up on
Amazon. And for a limited time, if you use the coupon code 30PRINT30,
you'll save 30% off. So get one while supplies last.
Hopefully you found this tip helpful with the carborundum bed. And again,
links are in the description below if you're interested in checking those out.
Also down in the description below there's links to our Patreon,
as well as our channel memberships.
So if you want to join for as little as 99 cents a month and support the
channel, I certainly appreciate it.
And I've got a couple more videos you might want to check out. Over here,
we've got how to get that perfect first layer.
So a couple of tips to help you get that layer just right on that first one,
which is typically the most crucial one. And over here,
you can check out one of my more recent videos,
13 more things I wish I knew before I started 3D printing.
I'm Nils with the 3D printing zone. Thanks for watching.
And we'll see you on the next one.
Now just for kicks.
I want to see what would happen if I took one of my bench press,
I mean like my wife's weights and I put that on there,
but problem was it's magnetic...