Hi guys,
Can I turn off the bed heaters after the first few layers are printed? I want to do this to keep the base more rigid.
I was thinking:
- print first few layers
- pause the print
- turn off the bed heater
- resume the print
- when the print is done turn the bed heater back on to make removal easier
Thermal contraction as the first layer of ABS cools is likely to pop your part loose during the print if you turn the bed off. Turning off bed heat at the end of the print, and allowing the bed to cool helps break ABS prints off the tape more easily.
Do you need to add ribs to your design?
You said you wanted to keep the bottom of the part more rigid, are you having problems when you pop the part off the bed or during printing?
After printing you should let the bed cool to at most 50C before removing the part. The bed heat should usually be set so that the plastic is still a tiny bit soft at that temperature. On the makerspace printers with ABS, the bed surface will cause the part to pop off if it cools all the way.
If you have issues during printing, there might be better ways to solve the problem than trying to increase the rigidity of the bottom layers.
@Brian the ribs would be on an internal part that would be difficult to to remove supports…and I’d need to be able to sand/smooth them which would also be difficult. The image below was with minimal support to aid in part finishing. I’ve got another I’ll try printing tonight to aid in printing.
@michaelb thank you for the knowledge. I didn’t even think about the Al+Tape / ABS shrinkage rate differences. I may have to just suck it up and do it in 2 pieces.
Thank you all for the advice.
My apologies. I read that as “rigid”.
Thank you…I had my brain turned off while I was typing…edited and corrected.
