Oh I have everything I need to add a glass bed to my Wanhao Duplicator I3. I have a piece of Borosilicate glass, I have heat conducting material to adhere it to the bed I have M3 tape to adhere the PEI that I purchased. Do I pull up the material on the bed now with the Wanhao rhino logo and start there or do I put it over that piece. Ill be honest Im kind of nervous I dont want to ruin the printer after a weeks use lol. Please Help.
Out of curiosity why are you adding so many layers? Also remember that glass and borosilicate glass degrades over time, mine last about 4-6 months and need to be replaced. Why glass and pei?
every tutorial I have seen adheres the PEI to the glass bed as it is very thin. Advice I got on here I believe said to put the PEI on the glass I may be wrong idk…
Personally I removed the BuildTak (The black material with the Wanhao Rhino logo) on it. I couldn’t get the silicone pads to adhere to it - they kept moving around. Removing the BuildTak is messy (it leavs a glue residue that I scraped off carefully), and you need to be careful to not bend the aluminium bed. I lifted a corner, and then used the scraper that shipped with my I3 to gently pull and lift it off the bed. Not that the scraper is pretty much ruined afterwards - the glue that was used between my bed and BuildTak was sticky, and more pain to get off the scraper than was worth my while. I’m sure there is some solvent that you could use to easily get rid of the glue - I only tried methylated spirits and it didn’t work, but perhaps acetone, rubbing alchohol or turps might work. (In fact, I’ll try tonight and give you feedback if you’re willing to wait).
I assume by “heat conducting material” you mean the silicone pads. I bought a large sheet of silicone (I gave you a link earlier), and cut it into 5cm x 5cm squares (some guys use more), and place 9 of them on the aluminium bed, and then place the glass on top of that. Note that the whole point of using the silicone pads is that it holds the glass on the bed quite well, but it is still very easy to get the glass off again.
I suggest you try it yourself before removing the BuildTak: just put the silicone on the bed with BuildTak, then place the glass on top of it. If the silicone pads move around on the BuildTak, you’ll have to remove it, unless someone else has a good solution for that.
I purchased a Maker Select, so my printer didn’t come with the Wanhao BuildTak. But, heat is often quite useful for removing sticky material. Might try heating your bed to 100° when removing the BuildTak. It may make it easier.
-EDIT: I had no idea these things come with Build-Tak now. It used to just be this giant metallic sticker at the top of the bed. Probably better to remove the Build-Tak first, but the rest of your plan is spot-on -
As far as the sticker thing, just put the gino pads on right over it, it’s no big deal. I use the exact same setup, and printing has never been easier. Only gotcha is to make sure you get the bubbles out of the tape - I adhered the tape to the glass first, used a razor and credit card to make slits and get the bubbles out, then applied the PEI sheet. You may get some little ones there too, but go slow and it will work fine. The PEI also comes with a layer of protective film on both sides - don’t forget to remove it!
So if you are installing glass, why are you going to add PEI back to the glass? Doesn’t make sense. Glass works really well with PLA and PETG. I guess if you are going to attempt to do ABS you can use PEI but I think ABS also works with glue on Glass.
Because the PEI works great on its own for basically everything, but you need some kind of solid substrate for the PEI since it’s just a thin, flexible sheet. You can adhere it directly to the bed, but there’s a lot of convenience in being able to remove the build plate, and glass is the most logical option in that case. I’ve used bare glass a lot as well as tape, glue, hairspray - you name it - and as far as I am concerned PEI is the best all-around bed material, hands-down.
The PEI will allow almost any material to adhere without the use of hairspray or glue which requires messy cleanup afterwards. I have gotten advice that this is the way to go as the glass adds a nice flat level surface that will not warp and the PEI adds the easy adhesion properties.
