I too ignored the PEI spring steel beds for a while. when I could afford it I bought 1 and loved it. it was a smooth sided one that is a sticker not powder coated. My next one was a powder coated textured one and it holds everything down hard until the heat gets to room temperature. It then releases so nice. I will replace the smooth one with a textured one when the time comes. Thank you for this video very well put together, fun and informative. I have now subscribed. Looking forward to your next video!!
I bought the smooth sheet and the textured sheet from Prusa when I bought the printer. I had no clue what either was, to be honest. But the smooth PEI sheet is perfect for PLA and I hear ASA too, and the textured one that's actually powder coated I believe is superb for PETG which is stickier. PETG sticks down great - and when it cools, it just comes loose with a few ticking sounds as the hot metal cools and contracts. The right build sheet/platform makes an incredible difference. I've never had to use glue or stuff like that to get anything to either stick or release, and that's how I prefer it to work.
Bruh, this bed is amazing! Thanks so much for this video; I’m absolutely thrilled with how great this bed is. Seems to have a much higher thermal expansion coefficient; it’s removable and spring steel but honestly, prints pop right off on their own when it cools. And the bottom finish is gorgeous.
I really like the double-sided ones as well, like you got, smooth on one side, textured on the other. I usually use the textured side because I find it works better, but for parts I want to be completely smooth on the bottom, the smooth side works well as long as it's perfectly clean. I wipe it down with ISO before every print and it works perfectly, filament goes down and just sticks. Its fantastic. If your place is cold, you might need to bump temps by 5 degrees C, but seriously, this stuff is great.
I have been running Energetic plates for years now and they are really good! I even worked through some development issue with their first spring steel plates back in the day. Just remember that your build plate is a consumable and even the powder coated PEI plates will eventually wear out. When they do you will start to lose small specks of the PEI and they will get embedded on your prints.
PEI spring steel sheets are my preferred build surface, and I prefer them infinitely more than the ultrabase-style textured glass; additionally, steel+aluminum transmit and spread heat far more efficiently than glass does, so your bed heater shouldn't have to work as hard as with glass, which is a really poor heat conductor. Also the weight of spring steel pei+magnet is less than any glass bed I've seen, allowing modestly higher accel/jerk without introducing significant ringing. I started with an ender 3 pro, got a sovol sv-01 (bigger, better direct drive ender 3 for same price as e3v2), and recently finished printing+building a voron 2.4. All 3 now have flex plates on them, and I actually have 2 for the voron so I can let one cool and start another print on the 2nd bed immediately; this can significantly help for large batch production. Good video. In addition to PEI spring steel, a mic6 cast aluminum bed w/ AC powered silicone heater is an excellent bed solution if building a custom printer. Heats up in
I have a Biqu one as well. The item listing on Amazon is not very forthcoming about its coating material ("special powder high precision industrial oil" which doesn't sound like PEI to me), and it's not amber-coloured like the PEI surfaces I've seen listed, but it works seemingly just as well.
that's interesting. I've poked around a fair bit and I know that some PEI can be clear, but yeah I'd be a bit suspicious if it wasnt the classic amber. But who knows!
One thing I've found with a pei bed is that if you let a part cool (finishes overnight and cools etc) they almost pop off by themselves. In finding this, I had some delicate things I printed and tossed the bed in the freeze for a few minutes and it literally fell off
As a Prusa MK3 owner I have a lot of experience with spring-steel coated with PEI. On of the biggest tips I can give for bed maintenance is hot water with unscented dish soap (I use Dawn over here in the states). Cleaning with IPA between each print is fine, but eventually the finger oil load will get enough that IPA is just pushing it around. And because PLA is plant based there is some sugar-based build up that IPA doesn't dissolve. Take your bed to the sink and clean it thoroughly with the dish soap and the water about as hot as you can stand, the dry off with clean paper towels should restore the adhesion without scratching up your nice smooth surface. (Remember, scratches will transfer to the part, making what was once a nice and shiny bottom surface dull and matte. I've never had to intentionally scratch up the surface of my smooth PEI sheets.) For powder coated textured surfaces, the Prusa community consensus is to further dry it by heating it up on your bed heater, otherwise the exposed steel between the powder coated grains will rust quickly. I usually dry my powder-coated PEI sheets for 5-10 minutes at 100C, and I haven't had a problem yet. YMMV I hope I'm not coming off as a Prusa eletist. I'm just trying to share some of my experience that applies to this print surface type.
That looks just like the plate that came with my anycubic Vyper! And here I learned that I should try turning it upside down only to find the smooth surface option I've been looking for 🙃
Printing surface depends a lot on what filament you're using and if you're fighting adhesion issues from warping. I used to use glass and ABS juice to print ABS before I had enclosed printers. Now I use PEI on everything, textured and smooth. Prusa has a pretty good info on what surface to use with which filaments on their site.
Strangely, I have had a different result with similar dual sided PEI. The textured side is way too textured for my liking, but adhesion was excellent. The smooth side would have terrible adhesion on extremities of parts. Admittedly I did not play with temps or sanding the sheet at all because I had a second printer that was printing flawless on glass with a gluestick, so I stripped the mag off and just went full glass. Somewhat related, the Creality magnetic flexi-bed thing has the most perfect texture that I wish more beds would replicate. It is nearly perfect match texturally to wood PLA and works well with most matte PLAs as well. This is great when your first layer is not necessarily the underside of the finished print. The texture on these PEI sheets is only suitable for statues or things where the first layer is the bottom or otherwise unseen.
I broke my glass bed... So I bought the double-sided PEI spring sheet And it came with the magnet... I wish I had done it sooner. I don't do anything but wipe it down with isopropyl alcohol. Great adhesion. I use The textured side when I'm printing PETG with a little bit of hairspray to release.
I've never heard of using any clips on any type of magnetic bed. Isn't that part of the reason for them, to gain real estate and not have to worry about a nozzle collision with the clips? Just my 2 cents 🤷🏼♂️.
I got a Wham Bam spring steel plate like a year ago for my Ender 3 v2 but I haven't gotten around to installing it because my glass bed does work. The Wham Bam is better I'm sure, just not necessary right now. I'll probably install it soon.
Also take into account that this is weighs less than glass, so it will be less strain on the bed, and less potential for ringing on the Y-axis. (More imortant the larger the bed size is). Before I sold my ender, I went trough both the standard mat, glass and springsteel. One advantage I did not see you cover is the main selling point, you can flex it to get prints off, and never need to use a scraper or such, thus lessening the forces acting on the bed, and that will keep it level for longer.
just recently got a rat rig v-core 3 that came with one and love it - add some magigoo or similar and you can print even more materials. I've come to love the textured finish too.
If you line up either the left or right side it works almost 100% of the time when putting the plate back down...spent tons of time trying to align the top/bottom edges and it was a struggle....and yes PEI is by far the best bed ever...my Anycubic Vyper has one and it is awesome!3
Purely because I find it interesting I'm gonna talk about non magnatic steel. Most ferrous alloys (alloys containing iron) along with a handful of other elements like cobalt and nickle and a few others are generally magnetic. This generally has to do with how electrons are alligned in the metal. If they are all roughly alligned it is magnetic. There is a specifc type of steel called austenitic steel that can maintain an austenite crystaline structure at room tenperature. Most iron alloy can be austenitic at high enough temps but large chromium and nickle additions while keeping carbon or nitrogen concentrations suitably low stabilize it at room temp. This austenitic structure creates more randomness and variation in the electron orientation and makes the steel nonmagnetic. Popular examples are steel like 304 or 18/10.
yup PEI is amazing. i do notice sometimes the center can bulge as the clips only hold down the sides but you can get neodymium magnets and stick them to the underside of the bed with strong double sided tape. these magnets are more temp tolerant than the magnetic flex stuff.
I just got my 510x510 bed from Wedge. Loads cheaper than the other ones I was looking at. Just printed some PLA and ABS on it yesterday with zero issues.
Hey LIT, I too was made aware of this style of bed but yesternight (on the cellhone instead of sleeping) and wonder whether this kind of doublesided sheet is cabable of my prefered style of printing, which means: Turning off the heatbed after like 20 or so layers. Or would the bed instantly loose all of its hold to the model? Thank you
Oh, I think that's a bit risky. I think you'd be OK on the textured side if you turned the bed down to maybe 35C, but for totally cold? You'd be better off with the basic magnetic bed.
I've got 2 of em i swap between. They're really nice. They basically last forever too. Just did custom thermistor tables tonight too, mine were way off!
When I got my Ender 3 it came with the magnetic textured bed you mentioned and I switched to the textured glass bed pretty quickly, but about a year ago I switched back to the magnetic flexible one because it works better than the glass one for me. Also I have no patience to wait for the glass bed to cool down before removing prints!
Really love my PEI bed and one other benefit it is perfectly flat not like the last glass bed i brought. One thing i was wondering though is does it definitely have PEI on the flat side as on their site it says "This bed is textured on one side. The other side is not coated."? Thanks. The one i have at the moment is just the steel surface on the other side.
@@LostInTech3D Sorry i should have been more clear. Mine wasn't an energetic one but liked the idea that one side was smooth and the other is textured. They do have some that state "Smooth and Textured - Textured one side, PEI smooth one side" just not in 235x235. I might just drop them an email. If yours is PEI on the smooth side as well they must do them. Thanks for the reply.
yeah I just had another look at the product page - there's a fourth option "smooth & textured" that's now out of stock - this is what I clearly bought! Woops.
I have the Anycubic Ultrabase on my i3 Mega - love it Ender 3 default non-magnetic - Nope Creality glass bed on E3 - Nope Bigtreetech (Biqu) PEI on E3 - love it Formbot PEI smooth and textured like yours on my Voron 2.4 - Best thing since sliced bread
My Biqu B1 (Ender 3 clone/upgrade) came with their (BIQU/BigTreeTech) PEI SSS and it's really good. It fits the Ender 3 and they have a small range of sizes (220x220 and 310x310), and they sell them as either a kit with the magnet or just the spare sheet alone. I find I rarely have to actually take it off as parts often stick well but self release when cooled. Should point out I only print PLA and PLA+ though.
The smooth side sticks even better than the textured side, in some cases it sticks too well causing problems, so normally use the textured side unless you need it to be super sticky or cannot accept the texturing on the bottom of your parts
Have you used or wanted to try out a digital dial indicator for bed leveling or tramming I have seen a few videos on it and just printed out a mount for my ended 3 v2
I'm aware of them, but I rely too much on gauging the first layer by eye, nothing else seems to get me nearly as close as that, even super accurate methods. Let me know how you get on with it though!
It's actually shielding, I have huge issues on this printer with interference, which is partially solved with the foil around the screen cable. I will explain it in a video at some point.
I’ve loved my PEI bed but I feel over time it’s losing its ability to really grab the PLA. This is after a good bit of use though. I just ordered a sheet of G10 and I can NOT wait for it to get here later today. Hopefully it’s as good as I hear
I'm a huge fan of glas beds. Usually I use sugar water as adhesive - works great for pla! I bought my printer second hand and it came with a textured PEI bed. For now it was just pain. Nothing sticks on it! I have to admit I need to get the first layer hight right. Big reason I bother to use this is my inductive probe.... I will try again. I read online you can recover them with some steel wool. Or maybe I will buy the same one you use?!?
So far, all the same rules apply to this as glass, so if you are used to glass this should present no problem at all. Maybe your second hand bed has/had been ruined or was some poor quality or something.
I’m the exact same way I have had the ultrabase glass on all my printers and it works great for me . People use scrapers on them purely because people have no patience to wait for it to cool which I preach lol . I love them but have been playing with my ender 2 pro which came with that magnetic pei bed and so far so good rly
My prints stick so well to the glass that even after it cools I rip up glass on the prints. If I don't use pva glue and water to stick prints to glass larger prints will curl off the bed and if I do use pva I slowly destroy the bed... I have auto z levelling and bed mesh levelling with a probe so my squish is set quite well I think Any tips?
It came standard on my Anycubic Viper. It works geeat and I love it. None of my printed parts ever came lose during printing. Removing the part after printing is a breeze.
I have glass mirror tiles on my two Ender 3 and 2 Ender 5 Plus machines that are used for production printing, I take one off and replace it with an empty one and 10 minutes later the finished ones are cool and the prints knock or break off with very little force and are ready to be printed on again, I do have a smooth PEI bed for one of the Ender 3 machines but never use it, I have gotten so used to the mirror tiles.
I got a spring steel plates from China cheap and the pei? Peeled off after a few prints - after that I was unable to get adheasion so I got one of those textured bed stickers and stuck it on the flex steel plate Works great now 50+_? Hours later
Flexplates are the future. A lot of printers have it standard nowadays. Like SnapMaker or Raise. On Snapmaker they even did something clever: they made it double-sided. So one side is worn out, you can turn it around and use the other side. It will last twice as long. And they are cheap to replace. If it fits your size printer i would recommend buying a snapmaker flexplate.
I got a magnetic PEI bed recently and I've been pretty happy with it, except for one thing - on a large print that really wanted to warp, even with copious gluestick which I confirmed made it definitely stick to the bed, it still came out warped. My conclusion is that the warping was so strong it overcame the magnetic adhesion and warped the actual print surface. That's more a comment on magnetic build surfaces in general than PEI I guess, just something to be watch out for.
@@LostInTech3DIt has the magnetic part on the bed, just didn't get a build surface to stick to it. Repaired the USB and SD ports of the motherboard. Have you tried Octo4a? It's octoprint that runs on android phone or tablet instead of a Raspberry Pi.
@@LostInTech3D to keep it cheap I picked up a couple of Tesco Hudl 2 tablets 4.4 wouldn't instal but the 5.1 works. They have micro USB ports, I think OTG and charge don't work simultaneously, though USB-C with a powered hub should. I soldered an external charger PCB to a Hudl 1 for a test like Tom's Hardware did. I could help you out with a modified Hudl 2 if you want to try octo4a.
I went from the floppy shit surface on the ender 3 pro to a PEI spring steel bed, best upgrade I did on that machine (plus the mainboard to an skr mini e3 v2) Sooo glad I never even tried any other option before getting PEI. A bit important to be careful with PETG and especially TPU on it however. Definitely want to make sure your z-offset is pretty high, and use glue stick or something. I tried some sort of coated spring steel bed that wasn't PEI, waste of money.. (dunno what it was, the e-bay listing said "nano-coating" or something stupid. Seemed like some sort of ceramic coating, NOTHING sticks to it.)
Yeah, PETG sticks down very hard on PEI, and glass too I believe, to the point where removing it can do damage. I'm fairly new to 3D printing so I bought a Prusa Mk 3 since I wanted something that was a workhorse and didn't require tinkering - the textured sheet they sell is apparently powder coated, and it's perfect for PETG. It sticks down, and when the sheet cools, it basically just pops loose. Effortless.
@@extectic I haven't tried textured PEI yet, those double sided plates are quite a bit more pricey, especially for something like a tronxy x5sa's 330 x 330 build plate xD But I believe that would be much better for TPU and PETG, as it shouldn't stick as well to it. But it's definitely best to be safe and use gluestick as a barrier between
Nowadays I only use PEI spring steel. I used the original ender 3 bed (not magnetic), the magnetic one, the glass bed from creality and none of them were near as good. The glass bed was too heavy and it added too much mass for the movement of thr bed, I didn't have the patience to wait to cool down, and I didn't get good adhesion, even using glue. With PEI no wait to cool down, the objects are very easy to remove, no extra weight or mass, no glue to the objects stick to the bed. No way I'm going back to other surfaces.
Hi. I haven't tried this recommendation (since I haven't installed mine yet), but I've heard that you should scuff up the smooth surface with some sort of scotch pad and clean it with IPA to have the best result. and the best part about smooth PEI is that you can replace the film. Which reduces it's cost and environmental footprint in the long run. Although it is a bit hard but it can be done. PEI sheet isn't chip but the main cost of these beds is due to spring steel core.
Yes - Thomas Sanladerer did a vid on it, very informative, although I wouldn't advise using wire wool on these beds, I have scratch tested it to see if the reverse is coated and it did not take much to get down to silver steel. It was quite tough to scratch though, just very thin.
@@LostInTech3D true story! I had a slight bit of filament left on it and used the pad you use on dishes that isn't supposed to scratch dishes or pans but be careful, it will scratch PEI! The other thing is that now the prints are sticking too good there and needs a little extra force to get them off the plate. However I did change all 5 printers to PEI and I will say that they are the best upgrade I've done by far! Never been happier with prints falling off when completely cooled! BTW, the first one I bought was the Energtic like yours and it is way better than the other brand(3DHUB 🤫) I bought for the other 4 😔. Congratulations on your purchase of the PEI sheet, it won't let you down 😆.
I ruined the coating on the stock Creality glass bed within a month. Spent several more months trying to print on smooth glass but NOTHING would stick. I barely even think about bed adhesion after I got my PEI bed...
I had them and I do not like them. Better then glas or other chinese printbeds, but I am in love with FR4. FR4 forever. It works with every filament and is cheap and lasts for years. I print on my oldest FR4 plate now since 2015 with thousands of prints.
@@LostInTech3D PEI is good, no doubt. But FR4 is slightly better if you treat it right. Keep it fatfree, sometimes a slight sanding and you have a lot of fun for a fraction of the price compared to pei.
PEI spring steel is the only way to go. I found the FYSETC to be pretty much the best, with the BuildTak a very close second. You can easily print PLA on the FYSETC when cold, the BuildTak just need to get to about 30C for PLA.
I switched to PEI about a year ago and never looked back. TIP: Don't try to pull the parts off. That's not how these plates work. Instead, remove the plate from the bed, let it cool, then FLEX it to get parts to pop off. If you're impatient, a squirt or two of alcohol on both sides will cool it down quickly as it evaporates. Enjoy!
I have a Ender 3 V2 Clone.. The Amazing Aquila by Voxelab ( sub company to Flash Forge if you like to know? ) I have a cool and release type coated Glass Bed. It is good and the only thing is, if I got this Magnetic bed to replace it I would then have problems as being thin the magnetic bed would let the warped metal of the heating bed below upset the leveling of the print such that I would have to pay out allot of money for the BL Touch auto level probe to get the layers level for printing. So that would be allot of money even without the cost of the PEI bed cover sheet.
the textured side is basically cheat the smooth side is much more sensitive to a "correct distance" because if you're too close it wont stick neither... PEI spring steel bed as a whole is highly dependent on your bed not being stupidly warped tho unlike glass beds... but even then... the textured side is still a cheat in those situations
Check out the Garolite beds. It’s much cheaper and possibly better. Makers muse made a video about it a few months ago. I think it’s also called G10 boards used for pcbs and diy knife holders etc. I got once after his video and an loving it so far
I find that PEI works great with ABS, I can put the first layer down at 100mm/s with no problems. After the print s done, let it cool down for 15mins, and the part will release itself from the bed. I find PLA to be a little more picky. Without adhesive, I have to limit first layer speed to 25mm/s, but with a little adhesive, I can lay down the first layer at 75mm/s. Don't try printing PETG or TPU directly on the bed though, those filaments will stick to the PEI like superglue, and will pull large chunks of PEI off the bed when you try to remove your part. I usually put down some blue painter's tape for PETG or TPU. One more thing, I also use the Energetic PEI beds, but if you print ABS, they will only last a month or two before the surface starts to blister, they really don't like the higher temps. I don't know if other brands of PEI do this as well or not.
Good tips there - I am super wary of PETG on just about anything (I also use tape), but surprised to hear that TPU can too...that one is news to me. I would say I'll test it...but now I'm wondering about the wisdom given how long it took me to get the thing 😂
printing petg regularly on textured pei like this one, pops off once cooled down with no issues. I've heard smooth side is no-go for petg tho as it will damage the surface for sure, you're correct in this regard. Learned about petg adhesion the hard way, petg just pulls off large chunks of glass while cooling down.
I don't think I'm that famous yet :) Looks like they no longer sell the board variant I bought, could be an explanation, or maybe I underestimate my "techmoan effect" 👍
I have one from Two Trees lying around since the middle of July when I stopped messing with a printer to have more time for other tasks... still haven't started again (but I've been using my last print a lot). I was wondering why your beds comparison video didn't talk about PEI, seems a favorite of people. Do you get email notifications from UA-cam? I switched them on and get notified of all comments and replies and all. There are also a few options in the notifications settings, Replies to My Comments and Activity on My Comments, maybe they are switched off.
Yeah I do get notifications, just not if you reply to say, this. Or if you reply to someone else without @ing me. It's not just me, I always wondered why no youtubers seem to ever reply to follow up comments, now we know!
@@LostInTech3D I've updated the comment but wasn't fast enough ;) There are options for this in Notifications Settings. There was a time I wasn't getting any notifications about comments... apparently, I've hidden some comment and then it ticks the option off automatically without you knowing it.
its all you need mine is the best thing besides silicone leveling spacers are the best things that dont come with the machines. I have one on my CR10, and my Neptune 2.
To be honest, I refuse to buy these plates. Not because they're bad, they're good. But so is buying a roll of 300mm wide kapton tape and applying it to a glass bed, and yes, Kapton is PI, opposed to PEI, but; the print adherence is frankly the same, also comes with the plus side that if your nozzle crashes, you don't scuff the expensive plate, you just peel the tape off and put a new layer on, and the tape doesn't leave an awful residue like you might think. Both, frankly need bed temperatures 55C and above and to be clean as hell
I have 4 of the energetics… none of them look like yours on the smooth side. Your smooth side is shiny like bare steel. The smooth PEI coating should be matt and smooth and adheres like nobody’s business
On further investigation, you are right. ;) I'm guessing they are dip coated though as there is definitely PEI on both sides, but one is indeed just glass smooth. I guess I have to order the other type now and do a follow up! 🤣
Not convinced your bed was double sided. That's bare spring steel you;re showing. PEI does not have a mirror finish and generally the tab at the front of the plate is not completely covered, so you can see the edge of the PEI sheet there. No evidence of this on yours. I've found that the "smooth" (bare spring steel) side is useful for printing TPU but it will not really hold on to ABS very well.
When I got the PEI flex bed, it changed everything! It’s amazing! I’d say it needs to be right up there with a persons first mods!
I too ignored the PEI spring steel beds for a while. when I could afford it I bought 1 and loved it. it was a smooth sided one that is a sticker not powder coated. My next one was a powder coated textured one and it holds everything down hard until the heat gets to room temperature. It then releases so nice. I will replace the smooth one with a textured one when the time comes. Thank you for this video very well put together, fun and informative. I have now subscribed. Looking forward to your next video!!
I bought the smooth sheet and the textured sheet from Prusa when I bought the printer. I had no clue what either was, to be honest. But the smooth PEI sheet is perfect for PLA and I hear ASA too, and the textured one that's actually powder coated I believe is superb for PETG which is stickier. PETG sticks down great - and when it cools, it just comes loose with a few ticking sounds as the hot metal cools and contracts. The right build sheet/platform makes an incredible difference. I've never had to use glue or stuff like that to get anything to either stick or release, and that's how I prefer it to work.
Bruh, this bed is amazing! Thanks so much for this video; I’m absolutely thrilled with how great this bed is. Seems to have a much higher thermal expansion coefficient; it’s removable and spring steel but honestly, prints pop right off on their own when it cools. And the bottom finish is gorgeous.
I've been using the textured PEI for a couple years and use them at work 24/7. They're very reliable and work perfect every time.
I really like the double-sided ones as well, like you got, smooth on one side, textured on the other. I usually use the textured side because I find it works better, but for parts I want to be completely smooth on the bottom, the smooth side works well as long as it's perfectly clean. I wipe it down with ISO before every print and it works perfectly, filament goes down and just sticks. Its fantastic. If your place is cold, you might need to bump temps by 5 degrees C, but seriously, this stuff is great.
I have been running Energetic plates for years now and they are really good! I even worked through some development issue with their first spring steel plates back in the day.
Just remember that your build plate is a consumable and even the powder coated PEI plates will eventually wear out. When they do you will start to lose small specks of the PEI and they will get embedded on your prints.
How long do they last? That can't be good to be breathing in also
PEI spring steel sheets are my preferred build surface, and I prefer them infinitely more than the ultrabase-style textured glass; additionally, steel+aluminum transmit and spread heat far more efficiently than glass does, so your bed heater shouldn't have to work as hard as with glass, which is a really poor heat conductor. Also the weight of spring steel pei+magnet is less than any glass bed I've seen, allowing modestly higher accel/jerk without introducing significant ringing.
I started with an ender 3 pro, got a sovol sv-01 (bigger, better direct drive ender 3 for same price as e3v2), and recently finished printing+building a voron 2.4. All 3 now have flex plates on them, and I actually have 2 for the voron so I can let one cool and start another print on the 2nd bed immediately; this can significantly help for large batch production. Good video.
In addition to PEI spring steel, a mic6 cast aluminum bed w/ AC powered silicone heater is an excellent bed solution if building a custom printer. Heats up in
I have a biqu spring steel pei bed and I love it. It's not textured but it's not smooth neither, it has a matte finish. And it works incredibly well.
I'm clearly going to have to get a few more to compare 😃
I have a Biqu one as well. The item listing on Amazon is not very forthcoming about its coating material ("special powder high precision industrial oil" which doesn't sound like PEI to me), and it's not amber-coloured like the PEI surfaces I've seen listed, but it works seemingly just as well.
that's interesting. I've poked around a fair bit and I know that some PEI can be clear, but yeah I'd be a bit suspicious if it wasnt the classic amber. But who knows!
Anycubic Vyper came with this. It’s amazing never changing
Energetic is the way to go. They provide sheets to MANY of the resellers around the world.
One thing I've found with a pei bed is that if you let a part cool (finishes overnight and cools etc) they almost pop off by themselves. In finding this, I had some delicate things I printed and tossed the bed in the freeze for a few minutes and it literally fell off
As a Prusa MK3 owner I have a lot of experience with spring-steel coated with PEI. On of the biggest tips I can give for bed maintenance is hot water with unscented dish soap (I use Dawn over here in the states). Cleaning with IPA between each print is fine, but eventually the finger oil load will get enough that IPA is just pushing it around. And because PLA is plant based there is some sugar-based build up that IPA doesn't dissolve. Take your bed to the sink and clean it thoroughly with the dish soap and the water about as hot as you can stand, the dry off with clean paper towels should restore the adhesion without scratching up your nice smooth surface. (Remember, scratches will transfer to the part, making what was once a nice and shiny bottom surface dull and matte. I've never had to intentionally scratch up the surface of my smooth PEI sheets.)
For powder coated textured surfaces, the Prusa community consensus is to further dry it by heating it up on your bed heater, otherwise the exposed steel between the powder coated grains will rust quickly. I usually dry my powder-coated PEI sheets for 5-10 minutes at 100C, and I haven't had a problem yet. YMMV
I hope I'm not coming off as a Prusa eletist. I'm just trying to share some of my experience that applies to this print surface type.
Good info, thanks!
I used PEI beds since Prusa introduced them and they have been awesome and I will never go back.
PEI is the default. I don't do glass at all anymore. I have been printing for ages and PEI was a complete game changer. Ease of use is over 9000.
I got one early on and have never been disappointed!
That looks just like the plate that came with my anycubic Vyper!
And here I learned that I should try turning it upside down only to find the smooth surface option I've been looking for 🙃
Maybe. Try it, see how you get on. If it doesn't work well then go for a 'proper' pei smooth bed. Although I do prefer the textured side personally.
Printing surface depends a lot on what filament you're using and if you're fighting adhesion issues from warping. I used to use glass and ABS juice to print ABS before I had enclosed printers. Now I use PEI on everything, textured and smooth. Prusa has a pretty good info on what surface to use with which filaments on their site.
Yeah I've seen that page, it's useful. 👍
Strangely, I have had a different result with similar dual sided PEI. The textured side is way too textured for my liking, but adhesion was excellent. The smooth side would have terrible adhesion on extremities of parts. Admittedly I did not play with temps or sanding the sheet at all because I had a second printer that was printing flawless on glass with a gluestick, so I stripped the mag off and just went full glass.
Somewhat related, the Creality magnetic flexi-bed thing has the most perfect texture that I wish more beds would replicate. It is nearly perfect match texturally to wood PLA and works well with most matte PLAs as well. This is great when your first layer is not necessarily the underside of the finished print. The texture on these PEI sheets is only suitable for statues or things where the first layer is the bottom or otherwise unseen.
I've actually released a newer video where I concede that the magnetic black textured beds are better 😁
I use a g10 bed and I have only had adhesion problems when I forget to clean it every now and again.
I broke my glass bed... So I bought the double-sided PEI spring sheet And it came with the magnet... I wish I had done it sooner. I don't do anything but wipe it down with isopropyl alcohol. Great adhesion. I use The textured side when I'm printing PETG with a little bit of hairspray to release.
same, I dont have much issue with glass but PEI wins it for me at this point.
Pei is definitely my favorite print surface. I put a couple of Swiss clips on the edges just to make sure it doesn't shift.
I've never heard of using any clips on any type of magnetic bed. Isn't that part of the reason for them, to gain real estate and not have to worry about a nozzle collision with the clips? Just my 2 cents 🤷🏼♂️.
I got a Wham Bam spring steel plate like a year ago for my Ender 3 v2 but I haven't gotten around to installing it because my glass bed does work. The Wham Bam is better I'm sure, just not necessary right now. I'll probably install it soon.
PEI is a way of life :P
Also take into account that this is weighs less than glass, so it will be less strain on the bed, and less potential for ringing on the Y-axis. (More imortant the larger the bed size is). Before I sold my ender, I went trough both the standard mat, glass and springsteel. One advantage I did not see you cover is the main selling point, you can flex it to get prints off, and never need to use a scraper or such, thus lessening the forces acting on the bed, and that will keep it level for longer.
I love mine. No problems with not sticking.
Love that blue and i have this type of bed I love it especially as a beginner
It's just a normal blue, I cheated and shone pink light on it for the thumbnail, gotta get those clicks 😂😂👍
just recently got a rat rig v-core 3 that came with one and love it - add some magigoo or similar and you can print even more materials. I've come to love the textured finish too.
If you line up either the left or right side it works almost 100% of the time when putting the plate back down...spent tons of time trying to align the top/bottom edges and it was a struggle....and yes PEI is by far the best bed ever...my Anycubic Vyper has one and it is awesome!3
Purely because I find it interesting I'm gonna talk about non magnatic steel.
Most ferrous alloys (alloys containing iron) along with a handful of other elements like cobalt and nickle and a few others are generally magnetic. This generally has to do with how electrons are alligned in the metal. If they are all roughly alligned it is magnetic.
There is a specifc type of steel called austenitic steel that can maintain an austenite crystaline structure at room tenperature. Most iron alloy can be austenitic at high enough temps but large chromium and nickle additions while keeping carbon or nitrogen concentrations suitably low stabilize it at room temp. This austenitic structure creates more randomness and variation in the electron orientation and makes the steel nonmagnetic. Popular examples are steel like 304 or 18/10.
Got the smooth plate for more than a year. A few dimples here and there (my fault). But still works pretty good even with PETG.
yup PEI is amazing. i do notice sometimes the center can bulge as the clips only hold down the sides but you can get neodymium magnets and stick them to the underside of the bed with strong double sided tape. these magnets are more temp tolerant than the magnetic flex stuff.
I've seen the magnets! I thought they were a bit crazy but I guess if it works!!
You have to use the high temp magnets (N42SH - up to 150°C). Normal neodymium magnets will loose their magnetism at typical print temps.
Yep energetic actually sell some on AliExpress, I noticed
I just got my 510x510 bed from Wedge. Loads cheaper than the other ones I was looking at. Just printed some PLA and ABS on it yesterday with zero issues.
Hey LIT, I too was made aware of this style of bed but yesternight (on the cellhone instead of sleeping) and wonder whether this kind of doublesided sheet is cabable of my prefered style of printing, which means: Turning off the heatbed after like 20 or so layers. Or would the bed instantly loose all of its hold to the model? Thank you
Oh, I think that's a bit risky. I think you'd be OK on the textured side if you turned the bed down to maybe 35C, but for totally cold? You'd be better off with the basic magnetic bed.
I've got 2 of em i swap between. They're really nice. They basically last forever too. Just did custom thermistor tables tonight too, mine were way off!
I also have two now, watch this space for the next vid on...why 😂👍
Great video as usual. very informative. Although I am pretty happy with my glass bed
When I got my Ender 3 it came with the magnetic textured bed you mentioned and I switched to the textured glass bed pretty quickly, but about a year ago I switched back to the magnetic flexible one because it works better than the glass one for me. Also I have no patience to wait for the glass bed to cool down before removing prints!
Really love my PEI bed and one other benefit it is perfectly flat not like the last glass bed i brought. One thing i was wondering though is does it definitely have PEI on the flat side as on their site it says "This bed is textured on one side. The other side is not coated."? Thanks. The one i have at the moment is just the steel surface on the other side.
I noticed that too when I was researching. If it's yellowy, it's got PEI on it, so a bit weird. Is yours silver on the back then?
@@LostInTech3D Sorry i should have been more clear. Mine wasn't an energetic one but liked the idea that one side was smooth and the other is textured. They do have some that state "Smooth and Textured - Textured one side, PEI smooth one side" just not in 235x235. I might just drop them an email. If yours is PEI on the smooth side as well they must do them. Thanks for the reply.
yeah I just had another look at the product page - there's a fourth option "smooth & textured" that's now out of stock - this is what I clearly bought! Woops.
@@LostInTech3D Thanks that answers the question then, will wait to see if they get some more stock. Thanks 👍🏻
Turns out....it's more complicated than that. I am going to have to do a follow up on this video it seems 👍
I have the Anycubic Ultrabase on my i3 Mega - love it
Ender 3 default non-magnetic - Nope
Creality glass bed on E3 - Nope
Bigtreetech (Biqu) PEI on E3 - love it
Formbot PEI smooth and textured like yours on my Voron 2.4 - Best thing since sliced bread
My Biqu B1 (Ender 3 clone/upgrade) came with their (BIQU/BigTreeTech) PEI SSS and it's really good. It fits the Ender 3 and they have a small range of sizes (220x220 and 310x310), and they sell them as either a kit with the magnet or just the spare sheet alone. I find I rarely have to actually take it off as parts often stick well but self release when cooled. Should point out I only print PLA and PLA+ though.
The smooth side sticks even better than the textured side, in some cases it sticks too well causing problems, so normally use the textured side unless you need it to be super sticky or cannot accept the texturing on the bottom of your parts
Have you used or wanted to try out a digital dial indicator for bed leveling or tramming I have seen a few videos on it and just printed out a mount for my ended 3 v2
I'm aware of them, but I rely too much on gauging the first layer by eye, nothing else seems to get me nearly as close as that, even super accurate methods. Let me know how you get on with it though!
Why is your harness (eg seen at 2:45 ) wrapped in foil? Thank you for your time and great contributions
It's actually shielding, I have huge issues on this printer with interference, which is partially solved with the foil around the screen cable. I will explain it in a video at some point.
I’ve loved my PEI bed but I feel over time it’s losing its ability to really grab the PLA. This is after a good bit of use though. I just ordered a sheet of G10 and I can NOT wait for it to get here later today. Hopefully it’s as good as I hear
I'm a huge fan of glas beds. Usually I use sugar water as adhesive - works great for pla! I bought my printer second hand and it came with a textured PEI bed. For now it was just pain. Nothing sticks on it! I have to admit I need to get the first layer hight right. Big reason I bother to use this is my inductive probe.... I will try again. I read online you can recover them with some steel wool. Or maybe I will buy the same one you use?!?
So far, all the same rules apply to this as glass, so if you are used to glass this should present no problem at all. Maybe your second hand bed has/had been ruined or was some poor quality or something.
I’m the exact same way I have had the ultrabase glass on all my printers and it works great for me . People use scrapers on them purely because people have no patience to wait for it to cool which I preach lol . I love them but have been playing with my ender 2 pro which came with that magnetic pei bed and so far so good rly
My prints stick so well to the glass that even after it cools I rip up glass on the prints. If I don't use pva glue and water to stick prints to glass larger prints will curl off the bed and if I do use pva I slowly destroy the bed... I have auto z levelling and bed mesh levelling with a probe so my squish is set quite well I think
Any tips?
It came standard on my Anycubic Viper. It works geeat and I love it. None of my printed parts ever came lose during printing. Removing the part after printing is a breeze.
I have glass mirror tiles on my two Ender 3 and 2 Ender 5 Plus machines that are used for production printing, I take one off and replace it with an empty one and 10 minutes later the finished ones are cool and the prints knock or break off with very little force and are ready to be printed on again, I do have a smooth PEI bed for one of the Ender 3 machines but never use it, I have gotten so used to the mirror tiles.
I got a spring steel plates from China cheap and the pei? Peeled off after a few prints
- after that I was unable to get adheasion so I got one of those textured bed stickers and stuck it on the flex steel plate
Works great now 50+_? Hours later
PEI peeled off!? clearly a sign of quality haha
@@LostInTech3D regular chinese quality- buy once...pay thrice
Flexplates are the future. A lot of printers have it standard nowadays. Like SnapMaker or Raise. On Snapmaker they even did something clever: they made it double-sided. So one side is worn out, you can turn it around and use the other side. It will last twice as long. And they are cheap to replace. If it fits your size printer i would recommend buying a snapmaker flexplate.
I got a magnetic PEI bed recently and I've been pretty happy with it, except for one thing - on a large print that really wanted to warp, even with copious gluestick which I confirmed made it definitely stick to the bed, it still came out warped. My conclusion is that the warping was so strong it overcame the magnetic adhesion and warped the actual print surface.
That's more a comment on magnetic build surfaces in general than PEI I guess, just something to be watch out for.
That's some serious warpage if it managed to do that. I guess you could have added clips, but yeah, crazy stuff.
If you are having such warping issues, try a piece of 3mm Garolite. Works great on ABS, Nylon, PETG, PC and it even performs well often without heat.
New sub, nicely described.
I was gifted a AM8 that needed a little work, magnetic surface is all I'm missing now.
if you mean the sticky magnetic pad then theyre all the same, any old magnetic bed will have one.
@@LostInTech3DIt has the magnetic part on the bed, just didn't get a build surface to stick to it.
Repaired the USB and SD ports of the motherboard.
Have you tried Octo4a? It's octoprint that runs on android phone or tablet instead of a Raspberry Pi.
The issue is you need to be able to charge and Use usb, as I understand it many phones don't allow this
@@LostInTech3D to keep it cheap I picked up a couple of Tesco Hudl 2 tablets 4.4 wouldn't instal but the 5.1 works. They have micro USB ports, I think OTG and charge don't work simultaneously, though USB-C with a powered hub should.
I soldered an external charger PCB to a Hudl 1 for a test like Tom's Hardware did.
I could help you out with a modified Hudl 2 if you want to try octo4a.
luckily I have enough pi boards to keep me going, because that sounds like a lot of effort, hehe. 👍
I went from the floppy shit surface on the ender 3 pro to a PEI spring steel bed, best upgrade I did on that machine (plus the mainboard to an skr mini e3 v2)
Sooo glad I never even tried any other option before getting PEI. A bit important to be careful with PETG and especially TPU on it however. Definitely want to make sure your z-offset is pretty high, and use glue stick or something.
I tried some sort of coated spring steel bed that wasn't PEI, waste of money.. (dunno what it was, the e-bay listing said "nano-coating" or something stupid. Seemed like some sort of ceramic coating, NOTHING sticks to it.)
Yeah, PETG sticks down very hard on PEI, and glass too I believe, to the point where removing it can do damage. I'm fairly new to 3D printing so I bought a Prusa Mk 3 since I wanted something that was a workhorse and didn't require tinkering - the textured sheet they sell is apparently powder coated, and it's perfect for PETG. It sticks down, and when the sheet cools, it basically just pops loose. Effortless.
@@extectic I haven't tried textured PEI yet, those double sided plates are quite a bit more pricey, especially for something like a tronxy x5sa's 330 x 330 build plate xD
But I believe that would be much better for TPU and PETG, as it shouldn't stick as well to it. But it's definitely best to be safe and use gluestick as a barrier between
Nowadays I only use PEI spring steel. I used the original ender 3 bed (not magnetic), the magnetic one, the glass bed from creality and none of them were near as good. The glass bed was too heavy and it added too much mass for the movement of thr bed, I didn't have the patience to wait to cool down, and I didn't get good adhesion, even using glue. With PEI no wait to cool down, the objects are very easy to remove, no extra weight or mass, no glue to the objects stick to the bed. No way I'm going back to other surfaces.
For PEI, Bed temp should be just a few degrees around the Tg of the material, so like 55-65 for PLA, or 70-80 or so for PETG.
How do i get rid of bulging edges on a print, my machine does not support linear advance. I use a ender 3 v2 clone, the voxelab aquila.
Sounds like something we can look into over on discord..
Does residue ever build up on it from printing? And if so can it be cleaned off with rubbing alcohol?
no, at least not from PLA. If it did, I would start with soap water and heat, and work up to more abrasive chemicals.
@@LostInTech3D okay thanks
Hi. I haven't tried this recommendation (since I haven't installed mine yet), but I've heard that you should scuff up the smooth surface with some sort of scotch pad and clean it with IPA to have the best result. and the best part about smooth PEI is that you can replace the film. Which reduces it's cost and environmental footprint in the long run. Although it is a bit hard but it can be done. PEI sheet isn't chip but the main cost of these beds is due to spring steel core.
Yes - Thomas Sanladerer did a vid on it, very informative, although I wouldn't advise using wire wool on these beds, I have scratch tested it to see if the reverse is coated and it did not take much to get down to silver steel. It was quite tough to scratch though, just very thin.
@@LostInTech3D true story! I had a slight bit of filament left on it and used the pad you use on dishes that isn't supposed to scratch dishes or pans but be careful, it will scratch PEI! The other thing is that now the prints are sticking too good there and needs a little extra force to get them off the plate. However I did change all 5 printers to PEI and I will say that they are the best upgrade I've done by far! Never been happier with prints falling off when completely cooled! BTW, the first one I bought was the Energtic like yours and it is way better than the other brand(3DHUB 🤫) I bought for the other 4 😔. Congratulations on your purchase of the PEI sheet, it won't let you down 😆.
I ruined the coating on the stock Creality glass bed within a month. Spent several more months trying to print on smooth glass but NOTHING would stick.
I barely even think about bed adhesion after I got my PEI bed...
PEI and PEX flex steel beds are the bomb! Just rough up the smooth side with some 0000 steel-wool, wipe it down with IPA, and never look back.
You may want to try out these FR4 beds. Unfortunally they aren´t magnetic, so there´s a bit of clamping involved.
I will try it 👍
I had them and I do not like them. Better then glas or other chinese printbeds, but I am in love with FR4. FR4 forever. It works with every filament and is cheap and lasts for years. I print on my oldest FR4 plate now since 2015 with thousands of prints.
I need to get some of this stuff....eventually. Then do another video on how I ignored that for ages too! 😂
@@LostInTech3D PEI is good, no doubt. But FR4 is slightly better if you treat it right. Keep it fatfree, sometimes a slight sanding and you have a lot of fun for a fraction of the price compared to pei.
PEI spring steel is the only way to go.
I found the FYSETC to be pretty much the best, with the BuildTak a very close second.
You can easily print PLA on the FYSETC when cold, the BuildTak just need to get to about 30C for PLA.
I got pei for printing asa for voron parts ! Much better than borosilicate glass that I had standard 😊
I switched to PEI about a year ago and never looked back. TIP: Don't try to pull the parts off. That's not how these plates work. Instead, remove the plate from the bed, let it cool, then FLEX it to get parts to pop off. If you're impatient, a squirt or two of alcohol on both sides will cool it down quickly as it evaporates. Enjoy!
I have a Ender 3 V2 Clone.. The Amazing Aquila by Voxelab ( sub company to Flash Forge if you like to know? )
I have a cool and release type coated Glass Bed. It is good and the only thing is,
if I got this Magnetic bed to replace it I would then have problems as being thin the magnetic bed would let the warped metal of the heating bed below
upset the leveling of the print such that I would have to pay out allot of money for the BL Touch auto level probe to get the layers level for printing.
So that would be allot of money even without the cost of the PEI bed cover sheet.
Tried my first pei bed when I built my v0 smushed the pei with the nozzle and changed back to blue tape
oops! 😮 if it's any consolation, I scratched mine filming ep 2 of this so...yeah it's kinda annoying
the textured side is basically cheat
the smooth side is much more sensitive to a "correct distance" because if you're too close it wont stick neither...
PEI spring steel bed as a whole is highly dependent on your bed not being stupidly warped tho unlike glass beds... but even then... the textured side is still a cheat in those situations
Check out the Garolite beds. It’s much cheaper and possibly better. Makers muse made a video about it a few months ago. I think it’s also called G10 boards used for pcbs and diy knife holders etc. I got once after his video and an loving it so far
Theyre surprisingly hard to get in the UK for a good price, cut to size or otherwise. I am keeping it on my radar tho!
I like garolite G10 for build surface
I still haven't tried proper garolite, I probably should.
I find that PEI works great with ABS, I can put the first layer down at 100mm/s with no problems. After the print s done, let it cool down for 15mins, and the part will release itself from the bed. I find PLA to be a little more picky. Without adhesive, I have to limit first layer speed to 25mm/s, but with a little adhesive, I can lay down the first layer at 75mm/s. Don't try printing PETG or TPU directly on the bed though, those filaments will stick to the PEI like superglue, and will pull large chunks of PEI off the bed when you try to remove your part. I usually put down some blue painter's tape for PETG or TPU. One more thing, I also use the Energetic PEI beds, but if you print ABS, they will only last a month or two before the surface starts to blister, they really don't like the higher temps. I don't know if other brands of PEI do this as well or not.
Good tips there - I am super wary of PETG on just about anything (I also use tape), but surprised to hear that TPU can too...that one is news to me. I would say I'll test it...but now I'm wondering about the wisdom given how long it took me to get the thing 😂
printing petg regularly on textured pei like this one, pops off once cooled down with no issues. I've heard smooth side is no-go for petg tho as it will damage the surface for sure, you're correct in this regard. Learned about petg adhesion the hard way, petg just pulls off large chunks of glass while cooling down.
No problem with PLA or PETG on PEI. Just let it cool down and flex the plate.
Ever try Garolite?
Kind of, but I was told it wasn't true garolite, so kind of not yet. It guess that's for another time! 👍
Why did you ignore it? Because it’s not required, the stock bed is excellent.
on the OG ender 3? Did we get the same bed? 😂👍
get some really really fine steel wool, like 0000 grade, and slightly scuff the smooth side up, will solve your issue of sticking on the smooth pei
Price has been jacked per the usual.
what?
@@LostInTech3D
UA-camr does video on object, price of said object get jacked up by seller.
Current price looks higher than in video
I don't think I'm that famous yet :) Looks like they no longer sell the board variant I bought, could be an explanation, or maybe I underestimate my "techmoan effect" 👍
You should try G10/FR4 even better than PEI
I have one from Two Trees lying around since the middle of July when I stopped messing with a printer to have more time for other tasks... still haven't started again (but I've been using my last print a lot). I was wondering why your beds comparison video didn't talk about PEI, seems a favorite of people.
Do you get email notifications from UA-cam? I switched them on and get notified of all comments and replies and all. There are also a few options in the notifications settings, Replies to My Comments and Activity on My Comments, maybe they are switched off.
Yeah I do get notifications, just not if you reply to say, this. Or if you reply to someone else without @ing me. It's not just me, I always wondered why no youtubers seem to ever reply to follow up comments, now we know!
@@LostInTech3D I've updated the comment but wasn't fast enough ;) There are options for this in Notifications Settings. There was a time I wasn't getting any notifications about comments... apparently, I've hidden some comment and then it ticks the option off automatically without you knowing it.
Ohh... I'll have a look
its all you need mine is the best thing besides silicone leveling spacers are the best things that dont come with the machines. I have one on my CR10, and my Neptune 2.
I am really surprised you do not have more followers. How the heck can we blow your channel up?
It's coming along. I only hit 10k subs a week ago, for perspective :)
how do you only have 7k subs? you videos are fun tastic!
7k hard earned subs 👍 I'll get there, I am sure. Just taking my time 😂
I resurfaced my spring steel plate with 3M PEI adhesive sheet.
Check out G10 (aka FR4). Can get a sheet for under $10 and is ideal for PETG and PLA and ABS. See Maker's Muse video.
All I ever use is PEI spring steel beds. In fact I have 2 Energetic beds.
Anyone has a working link to the product page? The current one seams offline
for the bed? sadly wedge3d stopped trading about a year ago. I recommend aliexpress.
Thanks for the heads up. I bought min from Creality, as they also sell those now@@LostInTech3D
Hey I am in the US and the site won't let me change the country/region
are you talking about wedge3d? If so...no idea sorry - I am in the UK. It may be they don't ship there.
@@LostInTech3D yeah, I talked to a support person and they said they don't currently have international shipping
@@LostInTech3D hey I'm going to email you and talk more about this
pop onto discord, it's easier :)
@@LostInTech3D K
To be honest, I refuse to buy these plates. Not because they're bad, they're good.
But so is buying a roll of 300mm wide kapton tape and applying it to a glass bed, and yes, Kapton is PI, opposed to PEI, but; the print adherence is frankly the same, also comes with the plus side that if your nozzle crashes, you don't scuff the expensive plate, you just peel the tape off and put a new layer on, and the tape doesn't leave an awful residue like you might think.
Both, frankly need bed temperatures 55C and above and to be clean as hell
Cool thx
I have 4 of the energetics… none of them look like yours on the smooth side. Your smooth side is shiny like bare steel. The smooth PEI coating should be matt and smooth and adheres like nobody’s business
Hmm interesting! It's not bare steel though!?
On further investigation, you are right. ;)
I'm guessing they are dip coated though as there is definitely PEI on both sides, but one is indeed just glass smooth.
I guess I have to order the other type now and do a follow up! 🤣
ALL of Beds have been converted to PEI, I'm way too spoiled by it . . . .
I can see myself going that way
Or you could use a thin sheet of polycarbonate (lexan) for even less. I print pla, petg and tpu on an UNHEATED sheet of polycarbonate.
PETG sticks like crazy to PEI. You need to use glue stick.
noted - although I'll prolly just swap out the bed for something else.
One thing about these is the first layer doesn't look the best especially if the model has words at the bottom
because of the texture? I could see that, yeah.
The reason I dislike it is that this PEI rugosity is very uncouth. I prefer a grain more fine that I not found.
Wow, people are still printing on glass, like savages.
Not convinced your bed was double sided. That's bare spring steel you;re showing. PEI does not have a mirror finish and generally the tab at the front of the plate is not completely covered, so you can see the edge of the PEI sheet there. No evidence of this on yours. I've found that the "smooth" (bare spring steel) side is useful for printing TPU but it will not really hold on to ABS very well.
my beds not flat sooooooooo glass bed ftw (for us whos too lazy to get a better bed)
I lucked out with this ender 3, it's really flat. 👍
Only thing better than this UA-cam channel is me getting first comment!
A bold move, typing all those extra words...I bet you wouldn't try that on a bigger channel 😂
@@LostInTech3D I like to live dangerously!
Carbon fiber.