Has anyone swapped out the magnetic PEI sheet for a glass bed? I assume it’s a similar installation as that of say an Ender 3 Pro? I’ve found glass beds of the proper size (310mmx320mm) but was curious if anyone had anything to say on the subject before I barged forward. Thanks!
I haven’t tried it as I don’t see the gain, I only see drawback.
Since we have an autobed level on the SV04, getting a flat bed from glass doesn’t gain us anything and glass is very heavy. So this mean the bed will have to move really slowly to keep the same quality print; so you will lose printing speed.
The only gain I see from glass would be the smooth glossy finish that the first layer would have.
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The smooth, glossy finish is precisely what I need, unfortunately. All of your other points are spot on, though!
For the sake of reference for anyone else wondering, the glass bed installation is essentially identical to that of the Ender 3 Pro or similar. Just be sure you get the proper size 310x320mm for this printer. Heat the bed, peel the magnet off, and install the glass bed. Run through the leveling process again and your good to go!
Thanks Schtoom
It makes me wonder, how much printing speed did you lose to keep the same quality?
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None, really. I’m printing mostly PETG so i use a combination of slower speeds (35-40mm/sec) and tuned retraction settings to eliminate the stringing that PETG is famous for.
The primary point of the glass bed for me is the smooth, glossy finish in the end. If I were printing busts or anything where no one would see the bottom of the print, I’d definitely keep the stock bed (I did, it’s just in the closet).
mannnnnn…
I must say that leveling the SV04’s print bed requires an absurd effort. I changed springs several times, tried some with greater elasticity constant (longer length and larger wire diameter) and finally I’m using silicone ones and I couldn’t even level the stock bed. I’ve come to the conclusion that the aluminum platform is warped.
To solve this problem I turned to glass. Now the maximum height difference between two points on the bed has been lowered to 0.22mm. With the stock bed the variation was approximately 1.18mm.
With this encouraging result, I went on to research which bed I was going to use, I first tried a borosilicate glass bed, and I don’t know why, but it cracked during the cooling process right after the first print. So I switched to using a 4mm thick 320x310mm mirror and the flatness remained very good.
I even made a modification to the firmware so that the automatic leveling was taken at 25 points on bed instead of 16.
Returning to the question about the use of glass, for me it was the solution, because before I could even print the first layer, either at 5mm/s or 50mm/s. As for speed-related defects, I must remember that the printer’s gantry is very high (>400mm) and the SV04 does not have stabilizer bars, so even at extremely low speeds I have been experiencing a lot of vibration, especially on the X axis and that’s why all the prints I make are always around 15 to 30mm/s. Another thing that should be mentioned is in relation to adhesion, HIPS, ABS, PETg and PETg Carbon Fiber for me did not adhere to the stock bed, only on glass with adhesive.
Honestly speaking, I will never use a magnetic base or stock bed again.
Ahhhh I was forgetting, some 3D printer manufacturers, here I will mention Creality, because I have an Ender 3S1, they advise against and even prevent the user from applying a temperature above 100ºC in certain printing beds.
This was absolutely clear when I requested a firmware increasing the bed temperature to 110ºC, with Creality’s R&D stating in the email that they couldn’t do it.
When questioning them why, the answer was that the magnetic base does not support temperatures above 100ºC.
I explained that I had removed the magnetic base and was using a 4mm thick mirror bed applied directly to the aluminum surface and only after I sent pictures showing that I had removed the magnetic base was when Creality developed a firmware from which I can select up to 110ºC for bedding.
Check out Makers Muse videos on YouTube, he suggests an alternative that’s inexpensive and gives good results.
I have a similar material on 2 of my printers I got from MamuRubot but they no longer sell the product, but it works very well and is much lighter than glass.
I bought my Sovol 04 in June, 2 months ago. I think its a good printer, with a few crippling flaws.
The stock print bed, being one of them.
Today, my stock magnetic PEI print bed cracked. Imagine, like eczema on your print bed. The black synthetic material is cracking like asphalt, and peeling up.
No clue why? Does anyone know why this has happened???
Time to order a new print bed… after 2 months of use… yayyyy :l
I am sorry for the problem. Could you please email info@sovol3d.com with your order id and a picture showing the problem? We will reissue it for you after confirmation
It’s the luck of the draw as to the flatness of your bed, and that means good luck with the copy and mirror modes. The autobed leveling is not going to correct each nozzle correctly.
Hi there,
the printing bed surface of my SV04 worked well just for a few days. Despite exact bed leveling & cleaning my prints warped or did not even stick to surface without any extra adhesion stuff.
I had been using a FR4 fiberglass plate on my SV01 printer for years without any adhesion issues at all. Therefore I got rid it of that pesky bed coating & put a matching 1mm FR4 plate to the metal plate instead. The bed coating was easy to remove with a hot-air gun. The remaining glue on the metal plate was sufficient in means of smoothness & adhesiveness to keep the FR4 plate in place without any other adhesive. It sticks even during bending the plate when removing prints from it.
/R
Bjoern