Does anyone use a FLEKS3D printing plate on their Ultimaker 3?

[ColoRich 1]

Can anyone tell me how to get the FLEKS3D printing plate to work successfully on my Ultimaker 3?  I use their glass “pucks” for leveling with the heated nozzles, but my first layer(s) embed themselves into the plastic plate material, thus making the printed part impossible to remove without damaging it.  I emailed the co-creator of FLEKS3D and he was not able offer advice as he hasn’t used a UM3 — yet they sell a plate and the glass pucks specifically for use with the UM3.  

 

Is there a way to turn off the nozzle heaters when doing the bed leveling procedure?  This would be a solution to my problem.

 

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[gr5 1,712]

I only do manual leveling which doesn't heat the nozzles - auto leveling isn't a good feature as far as I'm concerned. Once levelled manually your printer will keep this level until you change cores.  I've been able to avoid leveling for a month easily. But eventually I have to change nozzles or change cores.

 

There are many problems with auto leveling but the main one is that once it has determined the tilt of your bed it compensates by moving the Z up and down for the first 10mm or so and gradually stops the compensation.  This results in a part that has a tilted base.  I guess I'd like to see an auto-level that doesn't compensate for bed tilt (only for height).

[MJHEED 0]

I just got my Fleks3d plate today and my first print (a difficult model that failed to adhere to my glass & glue-stick build plate 6 times) finally printed and stuck....  and like you, it stuck TOO WELL.   It fused with the plate.   The instructions said no heat, or if you use heat, no more than 37 C.  So I printed at 36 C thinking this was going to be a challenging print.

Using a blade (sharp scraper) I finally got most of it off, but still had to sand it with emery cloth to get the rest off.  But, my blade put some good scratches in the surface.

I wrote Fleks3D and explained what happened, with photos, and the owner/creator, Viktor, replied immediately.  He agreed that the initial bond can be very strong on a new plate.  He said not to worry, that I could sand the plate with 100 grit (coarse) sand paper and it would restore the adhesion properties.   He also suggested I print without any heat.  So, I sanded the whole plate with 80 grit sand paper (didn't have 100), and printed something a little less challenging (a 2'x3' bracket) and it printed flawlessly and popped off the plate with a tiny flex of the plate. Now, I'm printing that darn tough one again....  so far it looks good.  We'll see how easily it comes off the plate this time.

 

So, no heat and sanding with 100 grit seems to have solved my issues. 

I also manual level (because I have a UM2+).  I think Flex3D recommends this, as auto-leveling systems can burn the plate.

 

Good luck!   I hope you get it working more reliably.  It is really satisfying giving a little twist/bend and having everything pop off cleanly.  

 

MJ

 

Update1:  Just checked the job.... 1 small piece popped off mid-print!  Dang.  Managed to pause the job and sticky-tac it back in place.  There are 72 small pieces, so losing 1 isn't a big deal, as long as the failed part isn't left to make a mess of the rest of the job.  Now stuck back in place, the job is proceeding smoothly.   But, that tells me, either sanding it, or having NO heat at all, has made it much much less adhesive.  I'm going to have to experiment with different temperatures with this sanded surface to see if a little heat would help the sanded surface regain a little of that extreme adhesion the new plate had.

Edited January 10, 2018 by MJHEED

[MJHEED 0]

Update2:   The difficult job finished with no more pieces loose.  However, I'm really starting to second guess this cold build plate idea.  ALL of the pieces had weak bottom layers.  About 6 of the 72 pieces bottoms peeled off easily.  Wouldn't a warmer build plate help this? 

So, I just printed a small test cube with the Fleks3D heated to the normal 60ºC, and it printed fine, adhered well, popped off with normal effort, and my bottom layer is solid again. 

I have 2 Fleks3D plates, so I'm going to experiment more with the sanded one and try different temperatures. I think a new plate with that amazing matte finish surface will bond with a cold plate.  But once you sand it, you might need some heat.

[ColoRich 1]

Thanks @gr5 and @MJHEED, their customer service is exceptional.  I originally ordered 2 sheets for my UM3 and after a fail and fused plate (for which I used a heat gun, then sanded) I have somehow ended up with 5 plates from them...4 of them at no charge. 

 

I am am going to try my rough-sanded plate with manual leveling and.no heat — and tweak it from there — both of you have helped me tremendously.  

 

Thank you,

Rich

Edited January 10, 2018 by ColoRich

[gr5 1,712]

If 60C helps then I suspect 40C will be plenty warm enough.  There is a transition around 35C where PLA flows into the plate better.  Temps above that transition don't improve much.  Except that the softening temp of PLA is around 52C and being above that allows the PLA to flex a bit when the upper layers are contracting and trying to pull it off the plate.

[MJHEED 0]

So, still using the sanded plate.  No heat still makes it not stick very well.   With 50 to 60 bed heat, my parts bond a little too strongly.   I end up breaking the bottom layers of most of my builds.   So, I've come to the conclusion that my best option with the fleks3d is to use rafts.  Then it can destroy the raft without hurting my build.