My 3D Printer Purchase - Monoprice Select Mini 3D Printer

[FryingSaucer]

Now I went all gun hoe last night and cut a piece of glass

Is it easy to cut glass. I watched two videos that made it look really easy. But snapping the glass after scoring it looked a bit scary. Do you need to practice to get it right, or is really as easy as it looks?

 

[Nifty]

would you not design a covering cap for safety, also does the scraper not damage your platform tape.

I'm not worried about it being exposed... it's mostly out of the way. I do have to be mindful about it not cutting the tape, but if/when I do, it's easy to replace

then lowered the platform

Did you print the spacer and add it to the limit-switch to compensate for the extra space from the glass?

 

[The Hat]

Is it easy to cut glass. I watched two videos that made it look really easy. But snapping the glass after scoring it looked a bit scary. Do you need to practice to get it right, or is really as easy as it looks?

The glass is already stressed once you score it with your cutter, then it’s only a matter of firmly tapping it on a firm surface, if you don’t get it right the first time then do a few practice runs.

The scoring is the important part, don’t be afraid to lean on your cutter tool.

Did you print the spacer and add it to the limit-switch to compensate for the extra space from the glass?

To add the glass, I first set the head to the starting calibrating position, then just lowered the platform by rotating the adjustment screws a few turns till the glass fitted under the extruder head, that was now the time to recalibrate the head to the new glass height and that was it.

I used 2 small paper clamps to the front and back of the platform, O’ and by the way I cut the glass 10 mm bigger to accommodate the clamps, here is a Pic of the usual type used, I prefer the low profile one on the left...

 

[The Hat]

(Whiz - slang for urinating)

Whizzing is moving fast, rapid, swiftly, flying, but I’ve never heard it called (Pi**ing)..

 

[stratman]

@Nifty - instructions for making and installing the glass are in the videos I posted.

 

[stratman]

Whizzing is moving fast, rapid, swiftly, flying, but I’ve never heard it called (Pi**ing)

Well, you are a whizzer. I'll let you figure out which one I mean.

 

[Nifty]

I’d recommend using glass over anything else I’ve used so far

Ok @The Hat , I think I'm going to give this a try!

How thick is the glass you're using? I'm hoping to use some thin mirror glass or thin regular glass so that I don't need to add the limit switch spacer and can just move the bed down a bit with the bed screws.

 

[The Hat]

I'm hoping to use some thin mirror glass

My glass is 2mm thick and the platform had no problems accommodating the extra width, and I’m sure a mirror would work great too.

Like 3D in duplicate...
P.S. just remember to cut it a little bit over size front and back..

 

[Nifty]

I just did some experiments with the mirrored glass I had on hand and honestly, I like my blue painter's tape setup better

Maybe down the road I'll advance to glass, but I'm pretty happy with my current setup. The only downside to the tape is that the heating of the bed sometimes seems to make the tape curl / lift off the bed. I'm wondering if that's because the metal expands / contracts.

 

[Nifty]

A few tips:

1. Cleaning off the bed with alcohol helps the tape adhere to the bed
2. Extending and wrapping the tape around the edge and under the bed helps hold it in place
3. Cleaning the tape with alcohol makes prints REALLY stick!

I can usually get a few prints on each strip of tape before I need to replace it.

I'm happy to report that my success rate is increasing over time!