cvbrg begins his Instructable titled “iPad glass as 3D printing build platform” by eloquently asking the following questions:
- Are you tired of scratches on your Kapton tape, or the bubbles that show up when trying to remove your parts?
- Are you fed up with having to change your tape after every 3-4 builds to get optimum results?
- Are you having trouble with your parts warping and delaminating?
- Do you want a reliable 3D printing build platform which is durable and low maintenance?
As if to answer the chorus of “yeses” from those who are sick of working around the limitations of their printers’ build platforms, cvbrg (which is an obvious abbreviation of “curriculum vitae cyborg”) responds with a hearty, “Then this is for you!” In searching for the best solution to warping, delaminating, scratches, and tape application, cvbrg realized that his best option was Gorilla Glass, that indestructible, highly useful material from Corning. And, while no one knows for sure if Apple uses the material exactly, it’s clear that they use something like it and, so, cvbrg turned to the world’s favorite tablet/coaster, pointing out that the iPad’s screen has all of the right stuff:
Thin, yet flexible tempered glass- Scratch-proof (well, scratch-resistant, but the only thing I found to scratch it was diamond or tungsten carbide tip scribers)
- Great thermal conductivity (for uniform heat distribution)
- Very low thermal expansion/distortion (at the usual printing temperatures of 110-120C)
- Resistant to pretty much all solvents I could find (Acetone safe)
- Pretty cheap (bought mine for $15 on Amazon)
- Not too hard to hack it into a build plate (see instructions)
cvbrg outlines in his Instructable how one can order an iPad screen online, remove its touch sensitive circuitry and capacitive glass, clean it, and mount it to their 3D printing platform with some trusty, black binder clips. The iPad screen is heat resistant, so cvbrg can 3D print with a heated bed and ABS, and the Instructable’s author has achieved good results.
The idea’s so impressive that Joee, in the Hack A Day comments section, called it “the first legitimate use of an iPad I have seen.” Though you might be tempted to use an iPad itself to create some sort of bed-leveling and accuracy software, you’d probably lose your warranty when the tablet heats up and melts the electronic components inside.
Source: Hack A Day
