plywood bed

I think someone already try this. However I'd like to post my experience.
After trying different solution for the bed I try to print directly on plywood with very good results: good adesion and easy to remove with a sharp knife.
Looking at the results I ask myself why this solution is not in the list of reprap possible bed.
I'm using a 12 mm multi-layer that is manufactured with very good surface finish. Forthermore is a very cheap material.

The downsides are if you want it to be thick enough so it doesnt bend, it makes it a bit heavy.
Also, I had some wood that came on my part, making some hole

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Gersen
Looking at the results I ask myself why this solution is not in the list of reprap possible bed.

So I presume that since you tried it out and it worked for you that you added it to the list? No? Well why not? There's your answer.

My guess is that it's not on the list as the results are not highly repeatable. Every time you scrape off a print you're going to be changing the surface, much more so then a metal, acrylic, or glass bed. Other issues are easily gouged, inability to use a heated bed, surface finish, tearing off wood fibers, weight, flatness, dimensional stabality...The only thing it has going for it is that it's cheap.

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cdru
So I presume that since you tried it out and it worked for you that you added it to the list? No? Well why not? There's your answer.

My guess is that it's not on the list as the results are not highly repeatable. Every time you scrape off a print you're going to be changing the surface, much more so then a metal, acrylic, or glass bed. Other issues are easily gouged, inability to use a heated bed, surface finish, tearing off wood fibers, weight, flatness, dimensional stabality...The only thing it has going for it is that it's cheap.

I've used it quite a lot and I don't see these problem so relevant, if you stay light scraping you have a good lifetime.
I don't use a heated bed thanks to the good adesion, I have a very good finish with no fiber tearing off (maybe thanks to the good material quality), the weight is not so high ans during the production is calibrated to be very flat (mine has no significant bending). The downside is moisture naturally absorbed by wood, that can change lightly the dimension (I have not seen this yet).
For the cheap fact, this may be important for some people, as a matter of fact I try to buil my own printer cheapest as possible: I've built a pretty good printer with less then 250 € (335 $).

I'm not here to propose this as the perfect bed material, I want only propose it as an other possibility.

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Gersen
I'm not here to propose this as the perfect bed material, I want only propose it as an other possibility.

Thanks a lot for posting your experience, I have been wondering for a while about this solution and now I know that it may work.

Wood isn't flat.

wood is not flat, and it warps based on outside temp and humidity but you could use it temporarily. even longer if you clear coat it and then add acrylic to the surface. parts will stick to the acrylic, which will peal off instead of the wood.

but what is most common is to use wood and blue tape. glass is ideal because it is rolled flat.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2014 08:48PM by jamesdanielv.

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Gersen
I think someone already try this. However I'd like to post my experience.
After trying different solution for the bed I try to print directly on plywood with very good results: good adesion and easy to remove with a sharp knife.
Looking at the results I ask myself why this solution is not in the list of reprap possible bed.
I'm using a 12 mm multi-layer that is manufactured with very good surface finish. Forthermore is a very cheap material.

A piece of acrylic sized to the bed is going to be quite cheap also.

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jamesdanielv
glass is ideal because it is rolled flat.

Modern sheet glass isn't rolled. It's floated on a bed of molten metal, typically tin. That's what gives it it's uniform length and makes it so flat.