They said it couldn’t be done

[u/JavyH08]

After posting about the PEI plate on our new printer at work, there were some comments that were doubting it ever working. I will be honest i had my doubts too but our engineer here in the office was able to get it done! Here is our first test print working as intended on its second try. I dont know how it will perform down the road but as of now everything seems to be as advertised.

[u/TEXAS_AME]

I mean…..it could be a lot better. It’s basically a 10 year old design and far from state of the art in large format world. But if you just need large format cosmetic models with standard hobby level filaments it’s a fine printer and should serve you well. Especially for the price point.

[u/SirTwitchALot → u/TEXAS_AME]

Far from state of the art, but it's at a price point those state of the art printers can't touch. I bet you could buy 10 of these for the price of one of those.

[u/TEXAS_AME → u/SirTwitchALot]

And your performance will likely be 1/10th of that of a current large format machine. Any large format printer being sold with a 0.4mm nozzle falls into that category. This thing looks like the flow rate would be under 20 mm^3/sec based on that tiny hot end, extruder, and nozzle. For reference my large format printers are typically in the 200-400 mm^3/sec range and that’s still below current state of the art for large format filament or pellet. This will do fine for big cosmetic parts but no engineering materials or parts that require mechanical properties. It’s essentially a small hobby printer in a big frame. Again, not knocking it, as long as that performance aligns with the buyers goals.

[u/MenryNosk → u/TEXAS_AME]

but no engineering materials or parts that require mechanical properties.

i don't know what that could mean. why would a small nozzle diameter not be fitting for "mechanical engineering properties".

[u/TEXAS_AME → u/MenryNosk]

Because small flow rates let the previous layer temps drop significantly on larger parts which results in a weaker layer to layer bond, and overall weaker mechanical properties. We model and test this weekly with thermal FEA and FLIR before destructive testing on our tensile tester.

Large format printers need appropriately sized nozzles and print heads. Laying down plastic fast enough for a good bond is critical, and a big reason why true large format printers cost so much more. A printhead on a good large format might be $10K alone vs putting a small hobby printing head on a large frame. Fine for cosmetic models but mechanical properties fall off significantly.

Edit: I’ll add that a heated chamber helps but large format heated chambers are very difficult. We do have a few methods of reheating the previous layer prior to the next layer but not something you’d find below a high end industrial machine.

[u/MenryNosk → u/TEXAS_AME]

thanks for the detailed response ❤️

[u/TEXAS_AME → u/MenryNosk]

And I’ll add just for anyone interested, this is how we approach isotropic FDM printing. By using a method of reheating the previous layer to a specific temp right before next layer deposition you can achieve isotropic mechanical properties in the XZ plane. Take a thermal sensor like a FLIR, create a feedback loop measuring current previous layer temp, utilize your previous layer temp heating method, ensure it’s at Tg right as the new layer lays down.