In the past, the print bed of many common 3D printers had to be covered with PET or Kapton tape to ensure sufficient adhesion of the model to the print bed as well as simplifying the removal of the model. For myself, I purchased a Solidoodle 2 basic model for example, which required a sufficient amount of fiddling with the build area contact point to make it a frustration that almost turned into a regret. There are a number of ways around this, but here, let’s look at the new carbon-based print plate by German RepRap.
Using the carbon plate instead of the tape helps avoid the task of trying to avoid getting bubbles or wrinkles in the tape. At times it can be like putting an adhesive backed smartphone screen protector on or trying to use a very old laminator in zero gravity. Well, maybe let’s not go that far: but it is an obstacle to a greater adoption of desktop 3D printers.
The carbon based print plate by German RepRap, a leading German manufacturer of entry-level 3D printers and a company that this author respects greatly, is aimed to be a further improvement to their own worthwhile PRotos and X400 3D printers, which can also be used on many other home desktop FFF/ FDM 3D printers.
The carbon print plate has been tested by German RepRap using their filaments, except PP, which needs a special printing plate. The models firmly stick to the plate yet can be removed easily. The underside of the model remains flat and smooth. The time delay between prints can be vastly reduced by replacing the carbon plate with the model on it with another carbon plate. That way, no time is wasted waiting for the print bed to cool down in order to remove the object. The plate is held in place using the provided clamps. The carbon plate is re-useable and has a long service life.
The price for an X400 size plate is 99.95 EUR version and 29.95 EUR for the PRotos V2 version.
