Remixed Silicone Heat Bed Mounting Kit for 8 inch (200mm) bed

thingiverse

When upgrading my Prusa's MK2B PCB heatbed, a post on soliforum caught my eye. The forum moderator, "lawsy," had shared an extensive upgrade guide complete with photos, comparisons and STL files on http://www.soliforum.com/topic/1819/heated-bed-upgrade-guide-with-picscomparisonsstls/. I later found the .STL design files posted on Thingiverse at http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:64607 Upon researching silicone beds, it became apparent that I was headed in a similar direction. The post sparked enthusiasm, and I shared lawsy's design; however, the dimensions were suited for a 150mm silicone heat pad and mine is an 8" or 200mm bed, so a change had to be made. Resizing lawsy's original files to fit my 200mm heater took priority. While modifying them to fit, several alterations suited my requirements. Since I'm utilizing the same binder clips on each end of my new heatbed as with the old one, cuts for those were added near each clip hole. It allowed a solid mount, securing my aluminum plate beneath. Sturdiness and rigidity were desired, so incorporating existing mounts on an 3-point leveling system helped keep my entire bed intact using just two screws at each end was not sufficient. In that instance, additional screw holes became a part of the updated design. Given that I had changed the dimensions, there were no problems with how I modified and fitted in new cuts that now perfectly suited my silicone heat pad on http://www.amazon.com/200x200mm-Silicone-Rubber-Heater-Printer/dp/B00I50G3IK/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1442817872&sr=1-2&keywords=200x200mm+12V+Silicone+Rubber+Heater+for+3D+Printer+Heated+Beds from Quintessential Universal Building Device, Inc (aka, QU-BD, the same company that produced lawsy's old bed). Since the bed itself was pretty thick initially, using a 30A/350W power supply added significant force to it, as seen by ABS's 85-90 degrees Celsius surfaces requiring minimal use of extra hold hair spray on borosilicate glass. Printing at high temperatures took considerably less time now. My new heatbed's 90-degree target was achieved in 3 minutes and 18 seconds - a drastic change from 20-30 minutes previously using the old heater. It must be mentioned that the updated heat bed belongs to lawsy, as his posts greatly helped inspire me in upgrading my own system and this information sharing was highly appreciated.