I don't know where else to ask about this. I am trying to build a 3D printer that has a build area of 600mm x 600mm. I want to be able to heat the bed so that I can print ABS on it. Although it is very difficult to find heated beds of that size. I found some on Alibaba but as you might be aware, they don't really give you much information on there. The one I am looking at is here but I am in the U.S. so I will be using 120 V to power it, but it gives no wattage. Theoretically I would want to someday control this to heat at a specific temperature programmatically but for now having a dial would be fine. Although I want to know how much power I will be using, is there any way to find out? Earlier Alibaba gave me 0.9 W/cm^2 and that came out to 3240 W. I didn't think that was quite correct. Should I just get 4 300mm x 300m build plates and use them all side-by-side? I am lost.
Thank you to anyone in advance for helping me with this.
I think that you want to make your own metal bed, which can be heated by any number of heating elements. You can turn each one on and off as required for the desired bed temperature. Using 110V instead of 230V gives only 1/4 of the rated heat.
As with all trading companies: for reliable data you contact the manufacturer/supplier.
filbertwatson:
Should I just get 4 300mm x 300m build plates and use them all side-by-side? I am lost.
I think that would be my choice as you would know what you are dealing with. If your bed is aluminium it will go a long way to spreading the heat evenly
Keep in mind that you need a faily plane surface. A machined aluminium plate would be a good start. And by all means, do use linear rails, not rods. And do not forget the enclosing, you'll need a heated interior, too.
Depending on the weight of the Y-axis + printhead you get a noticable (static) sag in the middle. If you use cheap stepper driver and/or agressive acceleration, you have noticable sideward forces. All combined make the machine suffer from ringing.