Aluminum Foil HB Surface

[mark10970 0]

Has anyone used aluminum foil on top of an aluminum heat bed? I'm considering building a HB, but I want to use my UM for low volume production with ABS and I'm concerned that I will have to wait for the bed to cool down before being able to release the part. My thought is that a sheet of aluminum foil lightly taped to the hb could then just be slid off the hb where it should cool very rapidly.

I'm also concerned re thermal expansion of the mic6 aluminum plate. Does anyone know how it will expand? Will it get higher and move toward the nozzle? Will it get wider and cause problems with ridgedly held leveling bolts? Thank you for any guidance!

 

[gr5 1,249]

Aluminum foil will not work. The bottom layer of any print has the strongest forces because it was laid down hot and stuck to the surface but the surface doesn't move as the part cools. So within a minute the aluminum foil will bunch up and shrink as the printed parts shrinks.

Some people have multiple beds so they can swap out the bed and print the next part while the previous part is cooling. Usually glass as you can just use a paper clip to hold down a sheet of glass such that when it expands the paper clip will allow the glass to expand or shrink.