Anycubic Kossel Bed Upgrade
Original heated bed with a sticker
Anycubic Kossel Linear Plus comes with a 240 mm round heated bed and a 230 mm printable area.
Why only 230 mm?
For safety and because the bed is usually not straight at the edges.
I have decided to add only Ultrabase nad PEI Flexplate upgrades in this guide, because I do not like using a standard glass as an upgrade.
The price difference between a borosilicate glass (you cannot use a standard glass for high temperatures) and Ultrabase or a PEI flex is so small that I have not added this option in the guide.
The bed comes with an original plastic sticker 0.5 mm thick with 3M adhesive.
It works quite well, but the sticker is prone to damages from a bed leveling.
Typical probles is that the sticker was damaged with a much harder bronze nozzle.
This is a better alternative to Ultrabase. Even 100k$ Stratasys 3D printers use a PEI sheet.The best thing is that PETG or other materials which stick to he bed really well can be easily removed with bending the flex plate.
Bottom surface of printed parts remains almost smooth.
Installation is easy – heat your bed as much as you can to remove the original sticker, let it cool and use Acetone to remove original glue.
Take off protective foil from 3M tape and slowly attach the lower part to your heated bed.
After that attach the flex plate and do a delta calibration and adjust your z probe offset.
Maintenance: using IPA or another degreaser and a 1200 grit sand paper after some time, when parts do not stick well.
You can choose between two versions, both of them with a magnetic part with a 3M tape, so there is no need for additional magnets:
The most common upgrade used to be Ultrabase.
It is a borosilicate glass with a special inorganic coating with a hardness of 8 Mohs.
Anycubic says, that it has a tolerance of +-0.2 mm, normally +- 0.1 mm.
This upgrade works very well, the best thing about it is that after a few minutes after the printing session finishes, printed parts just pop off the surface, so there is no need to use a spatula.
Installation is easy – heat your bed as much as you can to remove the original sticker, let it cool and use Acetone to remove original glue.
Take off protective foil from 3M tape and slowly attach Ultrabase to your heated bed.
Maintenance: using IPA or another degreaser and a 600-800 grit sand paper after some time, when parts do not stick well.
The PEI magnetic sheet is a game changer. I used a solution of dishwashing detergent with water on the heated bed and then applied the magnetic sheet. Must easier to line up and move the magnetic sheet into position. The soapy solution evaporates quite quickly. Just requires a squeegee to press the water from the centre to the edges. It’s the same process used for applying vinyl sheets to glass or cars.
I use gluestick for TPU and raise the nozzle 0.1mm away from the bed, compared to PLA.
Have yet to print PETG on PEI.
Hi, thank you for your comment.
I love PEI, even Staratys 3D printers use it for ages.
I still use Ultrabase on my Kossel, it has been there before Energic stared selling these awesome PEI flexplates, but PEI is the way to go.
Another awesome thing is that you can just guy a new spring plate with PEI for a few bucks instead of changing whole bed/glass.
Water applying solution is the best.
PETG will stick like hell, be sure to print it 0.1mm above (compared to PLA).