Mine is very heavy. 1.4kg and it's fine. I get good Z movement. Better than many people. But I recommend something lighter if possible just so that it doesn't take too long to heat up. You might want to wait for the heated bed upgrade for the UM1. No idea when it will come out though. But the HB for the UM2 heats up almost as fast as the nozzle.
Mine takes 20 minutes. :(
Well, to me it doesn't really matter how long it takes to heat the bed up. What matters to me is the print results that I get. But I guess with the silicone heater it shouldn't be much of an issue, you can put quite a bit of power into these things... 
I guess I'll just try this out. The bed only costs 30$ (plus 60$ shipping :??? and if it's too heavy, I can probably find some other use for it (e.g. a nice surface to do soldering work on)
Little update:
I got all the parts now and am ready to try out my new Basalt heated bed from QU-BD.com. It actually is pretty heavy, being a 200x200 mm large and 10mm thick, massive Basalt-glass plate. But I think the UM will cope. If it doesn't, I'll probably add additional support rods on the front of the printer bed...
And I guess it will take forever to heat up, but that doesn't really matter if your print takes 10 hours or more anyways... And you don't need to heat up the bed for small prints... AND I think the silicone heater can put quite some heat into that bed, so maybe it won't even be that long.
If nothing works, this will be the perfect plate for doing solder work on. It looks pretty much indestructible.
It will take me some time to put the stuff together, but I'll report back when I'm done 
Hi!
I'm looking foward for a heated bed upgrade to my ultimaker. I was looking at the basalt bed and silicone rubber from qu-bd.
Did you finally do that?
How it finally works for you? Do it manage this 2 extra kg? It the material stick well?
Thanks! I think is would be grate if you report your impressions...
Hi R4ix
I've assembled the bed and created a holder for it, but it's still laying around and I haven't gotten around to doing the final assembly :(
However, I've contacted another user who already has installed a Basalt HBP from qu-bd on his Ultimaker.
He said that the Ultimaker takes the weight without any problems.
I'm planning on printing directly on the Basalt bed, but haven't tried it yet as it's not yet installed correctly. It should work (qu-bd claims so), but I have yet to try it myself...
I should be able to finally put the thing together over the christmas holidays, but until then I probably won't have enough time.. :(
/edit:
I will post a detailed report as soon as I'm finished with the assembly and have tested it!
Hi!
Thanks for answer!!! I will wait for your report so i will decide if order it cause i think i should print in ABS for my next projets. Would be nice if you could upload some pictures about the bed, in the web they don't have and i wonder how to make the proper holes, if it's able to drill and so...
Thanks. :-P
I have a QU-BD printer (and hence a QU-BD bed) and the bed part works pretty well (unlike the printer part). However, it does take quite a long time to heat up (around 12 mins to get to 95º).
I think the Basalt bed is actually a simple floor tile. It's a massive piece of Basalt, 203x203x10 mm large. The top is polished and seems very flat, although it's not as smooth as glass but has "pores". I'd say that's a good thing for making the parts stick better. If you have a granite dinner table or kitchen work plate, that's pretty much the same surface.
The other sides are just roughly cut and ground, but very straight and the angles are perfect 90°s.
All in all, it really looks like a standard outdoor floor tile which also makes sense - why reinvent the wheel?
If you think about drilling holes into the basalt plate, you have to know what you're doing. I don't think that can be done without any special tools. I plan on just seating the plate on top of four screws (for minimal surface area where I don't want to transfer heat) and clamping it down with some metal parts.
I'll post some pictures and drawings as soon as I get to it - no progress since last time I'm afraid :(
Today, I made my first prints on a basalt bed from QuintessentialUniversalBuildingDevice (it was easier when they called themselves QU-BD... ). 'Fascinating' as a famous character with spiky ears would say. It's absolutely great! Heat it to 60 degree and the PLA sticks like hell. Let it cool down and just take the print away... ok, it takes its time to cool down... but by far the best material I printed on so far...
And the other good thing: it gives weight to the z stage which is really not a disadvantage with an UM1...
And the other good thing: it gives weight to the z stage which is really not a disadvantage with an UM1
Except that now you have to re-level every few hours for about 10 months as it takes about that long for the arms to stop drooping.
But I agree - it sounds like a great modification.
Except that now you have to re-level every few hours for about 10 months as it takes about that long for the arms to stop drooping.
I hope to have at least reduced this effect (maybe not completely) by using additional aluminium struts along the arms. But thank you for reminding me so I can keep it under observation.
btw: Why not adding weight in the unused space between the z thread and the vertical rods? No base to put it onto? Shouldn't be too difficult to change that with a 3D printer...
Except that now you have to re-level every few hours for about 10 months as it takes about that long for the arms to stop drooping.
But I agree - it sounds like a great modification.
Actually, I never ever have to re-level my bed
There is no drooping, the z-stage is solid enough to stay where it is.
BUT, I can't get it levelled perfectly at all. No matter how much I try, I always get stuck with one corner being too low, and it is not possible to raise it any more (the screw just sticks out in the air without the bed coming up).
It seems to be a problem with my 3mm aluminum frame which I built to interface between the z-stage and the Basalt bed: It flexes as soon as there is too much force applied (by the springs, which I already replaced for bigger and much stronger ones) and prevents effective levelling.
Also, the four point system sucks
So - I will still try and make a more solid z-stage for the UM1, as soon as I get to it -.-
But that has nothing to do with the Basalt bed - it's a really good thing for PLA, that is true. And, I don't have to re-level my bed frequently...
Btw, just for the sake of completeness:
I consider the bed "levelled" when there's the same amount of light passing between the nozzle and the bed surface on all four corners. I "measure" just with my eyes, and I try to get as little light as possible, just barely not touching the surface.
And of course the nozzle must be clean at that moment - no filament sticking out.
I think that's enough precision. With a flat and glossy surface, this gets much easier than with a taped surface...
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3dcase 37
Hi,
no heated bed expert all, but they seem to have a day off, so....
As an engineer i'd say, the rotation force for the motor should be no problem.
But I think you might reinforce the wooden plate where the motor is mount on.
And you want to make a separate bearing to take the (axial) load of the motor bearing(s).
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