Monoprice Select Mini 3D Printer Beginner's Guide (Part 7) - Cork Insulation for the Heated Bed

[@kamakiri700]

you are awesome. a complete set of videos on how to make a pretty good 200 dollar printer into a 400 dollar printer.

[@iikkakonola]

*with couple bucks into materials?

[@SirDrinksAlot69]

Perhaps coat the top of the cork in gold leaf if you're looking for max heat retention. Gold leaf sheets are cheap and should reflect the heat extremely well. Local craft store or amazon.

[@OneLousyShot]

Ill admit I was confuser as hell why you would insulate the bed, I missed the first sentence..Watched it again you answered question the first sentence..Now I know why..Thanks..Great Vid

[@electromotivated]

Any reason not to forego the foam board and just use 1/4" cork tiles?

[@normie26]

Thanks for the videos, would this be worth doing if I haven't installed the spacer or glass bed?

[@rjmyers5708]

Thanks Tyler! 1. Why foam core & cork? 2. What was the total thickness of your project? 3. Any fears of ignition with the cork?

[@thetylergibson]

RJ Myers 1) cork because it's a great insulator with a very high temperature tolerance. Foam because it's also a decent insulator and a cheap way to gap fill :) 2) I use 1/4" foamboard and 3/32" cork sheet. But I've had to shave the foamboard down on some printers to lower the bed a bit more. 3) Cork is temperature stable up to ~150C :)

[@rjmyers5708]

Thanks Tyler- Using Great Stuff, after taking to their tech support. Formed up around the plate after taking it off. Used some 1/4" styrene from modeling to make the form. In the process of trimming the foam with a home made foam wire cutter. Will let you know if it works Have a Safe New Year.

[@daveyhi3154]

Expanded cork insulation has an R value of 3.6. Expanded Polystyrene aka styrofoam has an R value of 3.6-4. That's cork that's especially formed for insulation. Pretty sure that corkboard in roles is going to be less expanded and have more bonding agents- both of which will reduce the R value. As for temperature, that's hard to say. I don't think they'd make the cork bonding agents out of anything with a particular high temp rating. Likewise for foam it's hard to say as it depends on what you consider the acceptable failure mode. We know it handles 100C boiling water with no degradation. I think it'd be fine for a heat bed without cork- cheaper, easier to work with, and no cork bits floating around to get caught in mechanisms. I think that mylar or even aluminum foil between the bed and insulation would work nicely to reflect back some of the heat. The foil might work to minimize hot spots in the heater and insulation. I haven't taken mine apart yet but I'm guessing it's a typical resistive element so the element will get hotter than the gaps between the elements.

[@thetylergibson]

Davey Hi good info for sure man. If you experiment with more materials and combinations and find something that both works well and is readily available I'd love to give it a go.

[@lindsay5985]

Does this insulation help prevent warping when printing with ABS?

[@lfrey12]

Do you think you will make a more advanced video series? I'm interested in modding my select mini with the E3Dv6 Hotend and also stabilizing the x and z axis but most of the information on these is limited to what is in the thingiverse files, and a video tutorial would be very helpful!

[@thetylergibson]

Lorren Frey I have a z axis video in the works and a few more advanced things planned so stay tuned in the coming weeks :)

[@Blazen.g]

would you using kapton tape on the print bed for printing in pla

[@Bigrignohio]

Hm, Michael's Crafts has a product from Elmer that has the foamboard and corkboard already bonded together. Only rub is that is looks to me to be 1/16" thicker overall (probably uses 1/8" cork instead of 1/16"). Still it might be worth a try. Also given the Mini's history of the heated bed connections breaking would you recommend removing the bed and inspecting/redirecting/reinforcing the solder joints? If so it might be easier to install the insulation in one piece at that time.

[@thetylergibson]

Whoa, that's really cool! I'd say definitely worth a shot if it will fit :) Next time I'm at Michaels I'll see if I can hunt it down. This being a beginners guide I wanted to stay away from electrical work, and really if the bed connections break, I would advise most people to just return the printer for a replacement. This is designed as a removable piece that requires as little invasive work as possible. But yes, if you're already breaking down the heated bed, definitely going to be a better idea to just do it as one piece!

[@Bigrignohio]

Life and Times of Tyler Hm, stopped off at Michael's today. I don't think they will work (for the Mini at least) as it is twice as thick as the normal thin foam board. Probably so it can be used as a tack board.

[@MrDunk66]

What is the cork thickness please? Is the foamcore 5mm? What is the gap between the cork and bottom of the bed? Is ther room for some further height adjustment once installed ? Thanks

[@thetylergibson]

The cork I used is 3mm. Foamcore is 5mm. I ended up shaving the foamcore down to ~3mm to get a nice snug fit. You want as little gap between the fork and bed as possible. The distance will be determined by how thick you print the Z-axis spacer. The thicker the spacer, the more gap room you'll have under the bed itself. The foam is only there to keep the cork as tight as possible to the bed underside :)

[@MrDunk66]

Thanks

[@elibutcher]

I had missed this comment and had noticed that the center of my bed was bowing just a bit, until I pulled the core back out and shaved that off. It might be good to put a note of this in the description for those who might be a bit "thick-headed" and easily miss things in the comment section. lol. Great video by the way. I've pointed "several" people to this series...

[@iikkakonola]

thick headed guy here - by bowing did you mean that the center was raised(from too much stuff under it) or lowered?

[@paulcumber4732]

what can you make with pla and abs filament

[@thetylergibson]

PLA is great for any parts that won't be exposed to high temperatures (generally anything above about 100F). ABS is really useful for parts that need to stand up to higher temperatures and higher mechanical stresses. Check out this video for a pretty solid overview. kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnTCq2mgr9N5hrs The only real drawback to ABS outside of the difficulty in printing with it is UV exposure. ABS will degrade when exposed to direct sunlight for long periods of time. So if you want to make parts to be used outdoors, you'll want to paint or otherwise UV seal them after printing.

[@balancenoptions1322]

whats the highest temp that you got on the heatbed with the cork board installed

[@thetylergibson]

+balancenoptions1322 the highest I've ever reached was 95C with ambient temp of 75F and an enclosure over the printer. Even that wasn't really useful as it took 20+ minutes to get there.

[@balancenoptions1322]

Life and Times of Tyler Koo yeah I didn't have cork board so I just used a piece of foam that they send with motherboards and I set it to 80c in a 65F garage testing it out right now