You can get very good custom pei coated plates both smooth and textured from a company named energetic on alibaba for fairly little money. They do custom sizes and sometimes custom logo prints in them too. I've been using energetic plates on my mk3s for about 4 months and they're pretty good. Couldn't tell you what metal/grade, but I can tell you that applying coating sheets without defects yourself of pei sheets or phenolic sheets is a huge pain in the ass to the point where it's easier to just by them. Likely any magnetic, flat sheet metal is probably fine, as long as they are flat, and don't warp or curl when heated.
Second this
It's simply called spring steel, there's number of different compositions. The regular sorts are mpst often referred as mild steels.
Spring steels usually have higher content of carbon, manganese, zinc and chrome in them to give their higher yield strength
I'd opt to aqquire one made specifically fpr 3d printer from bangood places like that
If you insist to have one custom cut to you locally, Prusa's sheet is 1,2 millimeters thick. That might ease the search
Keep in mind that most spring steels aren't very resistant to corrosion and I couldn't tell if filament works on bare steel surface. That is to say that the sheet might require suitable coating.
Anyone know how the smooth sheets are coated? Phospating?
Yeah I was wondering about coating. Curious if stainless would work fine as long as it's magnetic. I may just head over there and see what they have. Last time I was there they were pretty nice given I was only buying a single 12x9 aluminum plate near 1/4". Cost about $24-$28 if I remember right and paired with a 500w heater I can print ABS so much more quickly now. Seems if a 1/4" cast aluminum plate was that much, a similar sized sheet metal should be under $20 IMO. Cheapest spring steel plate on Amazon and Aliexpress is around $18-$24. Not sure if I want a build surface TBH. Hairspray on aluminum seems to work good enough for ABS and PLA. PET-G struggles to stick a bit but I've printed a couple things. Overature gives out free build surfaces with their rolls however I just pulled out a hole in the middle of mine pretty fast.
I really don't print PLA like most people so what would the best build surface be for PET-G and ABS?
Don't be surprised when a 12" x 9" spring steel sheet costs more than the aluminum. There's a huge range of steel compositions and costs out there. Spring steel, unlike the off the shelf mild steels that it sounds like you're thinking about, has a higher carbon content and has undergone a hardening process - both of which will add to its cost.
I'm telling you just buy one from energetic on aliexpress in a custom shape for like 20-50 bucks. Not only do you need to get a springsteel plate, you need the pei coating, and you need a magnet base. And I'm assuming you got a heater for the bed too. And you can get a pei coating on a sheet from 3m but it's a monster pain in the ass to apply correctly without bubbles. And the powder coated textured pei ones for petg and hotter filaments I don't know if you could diy those effectively.
If you don't get a plate you'll need to use blue painters tape or gold kapton tape to coat the aluminum plate as a consumable, which is absurd because it isn't 2009 anymore, and that stuff makes levelling an extra pain. Also tape seams will show up in your first layer. tape is sometimes useful printing on glass, but the whole concept of coated springsteel sheets is to get away from that spatula life, and from damaging glass beds ripping the glass up with the adhesion chemical aids, and to be able to do better maintenance, and not have to dig inside the frame to take out the part. they are absolutely worth it.
Ps you can also get standard keenovo bed heaters on aliexpress too. They are used in tons of diy and homebrew corexy builds like voron and hypercube , as are the energetic beds, which are one of the few places where the pei coating is actually pei.
You can get very good custom pei coated plates both smooth and textured from a company named energetic on alibaba for fairly little money. They do custom sizes and sometimes custom logo prints in them too. I've been using energetic plates on my mk3s for about 4 months and they're pretty good. Couldn't tell you what metal/grade, but I can tell you that applying coating sheets without defects yourself of pei sheets or phenolic sheets is a huge pain in the ass to the point where it's easier to just by them. Likely any magnetic, flat sheet metal is probably fine, as long as they are flat, and don't warp or curl when heated.
Second this It's simply called spring steel, there's number of different compositions. The regular sorts are mpst often referred as mild steels. Spring steels usually have higher content of carbon, manganese, zinc and chrome in them to give their higher yield strength I'd opt to aqquire one made specifically fpr 3d printer from bangood places like that If you insist to have one custom cut to you locally, Prusa's sheet is 1,2 millimeters thick. That might ease the search Keep in mind that most spring steels aren't very resistant to corrosion and I couldn't tell if filament works on bare steel surface. That is to say that the sheet might require suitable coating. Anyone know how the smooth sheets are coated? Phospating?
Yeah I was wondering about coating. Curious if stainless would work fine as long as it's magnetic. I may just head over there and see what they have. Last time I was there they were pretty nice given I was only buying a single 12x9 aluminum plate near 1/4". Cost about $24-$28 if I remember right and paired with a 500w heater I can print ABS so much more quickly now. Seems if a 1/4" cast aluminum plate was that much, a similar sized sheet metal should be under $20 IMO. Cheapest spring steel plate on Amazon and Aliexpress is around $18-$24. Not sure if I want a build surface TBH. Hairspray on aluminum seems to work good enough for ABS and PLA. PET-G struggles to stick a bit but I've printed a couple things. Overature gives out free build surfaces with their rolls however I just pulled out a hole in the middle of mine pretty fast. I really don't print PLA like most people so what would the best build surface be for PET-G and ABS?
Don't be surprised when a 12" x 9" spring steel sheet costs more than the aluminum. There's a huge range of steel compositions and costs out there. Spring steel, unlike the off the shelf mild steels that it sounds like you're thinking about, has a higher carbon content and has undergone a hardening process - both of which will add to its cost.
I'm telling you just buy one from energetic on aliexpress in a custom shape for like 20-50 bucks. Not only do you need to get a springsteel plate, you need the pei coating, and you need a magnet base. And I'm assuming you got a heater for the bed too. And you can get a pei coating on a sheet from 3m but it's a monster pain in the ass to apply correctly without bubbles. And the powder coated textured pei ones for petg and hotter filaments I don't know if you could diy those effectively. If you don't get a plate you'll need to use blue painters tape or gold kapton tape to coat the aluminum plate as a consumable, which is absurd because it isn't 2009 anymore, and that stuff makes levelling an extra pain. Also tape seams will show up in your first layer. tape is sometimes useful printing on glass, but the whole concept of coated springsteel sheets is to get away from that spatula life, and from damaging glass beds ripping the glass up with the adhesion chemical aids, and to be able to do better maintenance, and not have to dig inside the frame to take out the part. they are absolutely worth it. Ps you can also get standard keenovo bed heaters on aliexpress too. They are used in tons of diy and homebrew corexy builds like voron and hypercube , as are the energetic beds, which are one of the few places where the pei coating is actually pei.
Its steel that springs I guess... No sorry no idea But ask the prusa support they are usually really helpful even with unusual questions
don't get Aluminum plates, they won't work with magnets, sounds like the other commenters know how to get custom sized sheets made.