I went hunting for new bed surfaces the other day on AE (Ender 3 clone and Bambu X1C), and I veered off into other materials. That got me thinking about further possibilities.
The regular options I’ve seen/used:
- Material/coating: Glass, PEI, PET, PEO, G10 (and G11)
- Textures: Smooth, matte (‘textured’), coarse matte, faceted, carbon fiber
I’d like to put together a table of materials, finishes, coating vs. solid, recommended filament, max temperature, price, etc.
Finding G10 made me think that, really, ANYTHING can be a print surface as long as it isn’t toxic and displays decent adhesion to filament. Then I stumbled on to carbon fiber sheets, which got me thinking about patterned surfaces. I looked around but didn’t find many.
So, what else is out there?
Is it possible/reasonable to make my own surface textures, and if so, is there any info on the depths of etching or useful techniques?
Edit: Just found these PEY sheets. Apparently they’re smooth and the only selling point is that they’re sparkly.
Yup. I have seen a few people print directly onto loose-weave textiles. Apparently it’s good for certain cosplay armor pieces.