Mic 6 tooling plate

jdacal · Post by **jdacal** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 5:48 am

Solid as a rock. Having to wait for the bed to cool to get the print off.

I think my nozzle was just upset because I replaced its sexy glass plate with a sexy but heftier aluminum one. Seems to be over it now.

jdacal · Post by **jdacal** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 6:42 pm

I just measured all four sides of the two plates I purchased with a Mitutoyo accurate to 4 decimal places. All 8 sides measured EXACTLY .2500 inch thick. That's pretty darn flat.

As a side note, the center still reads less than the edges when adjusting nozzle height. So as I believe Ed Nisley mentioned a while back in another thread there probably is a slight curvature to the gantry that the nozzle and motor travel on. VERY SLIGHT curvature according to my dial micrometer would be within 1000th of an inch.

jimc · Post by **jimc** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 7:03 pm

Excessive x belt tension can cause the gantry bow down. If its been that way for awhile it will probably stay that way now.

jdacal · Post by **jdacal** » Tue Mar 31, 2015 7:10 pm

Mine's been like that since day one, but like I say its a negligible amount.

Bratag · Post by **Bratag** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 1:04 am

Just ordered from https://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.c ... top_cat=60

Have gotten print beds from them before and been happy work the tolerances. Little cheaper than McMaster.

Was toying with the idea of going for the other aircraft grade stuff they have as well as it's available in smaller thicknesses.

jimc · Post by **jimc** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 1:08 am

your better with the thicker mic 6 plate. you dont want thinner or non cast because it has a tendency to warp when its heated. the mic6 is cast and stress free so it will stay flat

Bratag · Post by **Bratag** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 1:47 am

Good call Jim - hadn't really considered that. My only concern was the additional weight

jimc · Post by **jimc** » Fri Apr 17, 2015 1:50 am

the weight is no sweat. my z axis has never skipped a step or slipped and the motor never goes over room temp.....after over a year with the plate.

Bratag · Post by **Bratag** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 2:25 am

Got in my plate and these are my first impressions

1) A small amount of variance in length/width is a PITA requiring some good ole dremel grinding. With clips you can get away with that kind of thing. Not so much with the corner clips. Not a big deal but annoying

2) Heat - takes longer to heat up but the temp all over is much m ore even and holds the heat rock steady

3) Level - yup this sucker is level. Printed out my standard circle after levelling and zstop setting and its pretty much the best its ever come out.

4) Z axis doesn't seem to have an issue with the weight - what does worry me is the x/y I think I am going to have to watch the acceleration etc on prints because this thing has way more momentum than glass once you get it moving.

5) Lightly sanding and then hairspray seems to have given me a nice surface as far as sticking parts to it.

Overall I am on the fence. Ill know more once I get a few more prints under my belt.

jimc · Post by **jimc** » Tue Apr 21, 2015 2:36 am

the default accelleration in the firmware is 3000 on x and y. most of us have lowered that anyway to reduce ringing. mine is at 1000. if you like it fast then just lower the y and keep the x at default. not sure what you mean about the variance in length and width. i guess the plate wasnt cut to size right?

Mic 6 tooling plate

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