Installing PEI Steel Plate to 3D Printer

Nothing fills your heart with sorrow like watching your 3D printer at 90% suddenly releasing your model from the print bed then watching as your nozzle hits the print sending your model moving, turning the remaining 10% into a spaghetti master piece. No matter how well you tune your steps, level your bed, and what brand of filament you’re using, if your model doesn’t stick to the bed, you’ll end up with failed prints.

One of the solutions we have here is PEI (Polyetherimide). We sell two types of PEI solutions. The first type being single sided with a PEI film applied to a spring steel sheet. The second, is spring steel with PEI applied to both sides. One side being PEI film, while the other being textured powder coated PEI. The benefits of having the film applied to spring steel is easy remove from the 3d printer, and also being able to flex the plate to remove prints.

Below we will go through the steps on how to install PEI Spring Steel.

Step 1.

Remove previous plate. Use isopropyl alcohol to wipe down aluminum to remove any debris or adhesives.

Step 2.

Remove backing from magnetic sheet.

Step 3.

Apply magnetic sheet making sure to line up with bed. Using an VISA card or ruler, lightly run over the magnetic sheet to make sure it is firmly applied with no air pockets.

Step 4.

Apply spring steel sheet. After the sheet is applied you will have to relevel your bed. I can not stress enough. RELEVEL YOUR BED. PEI film is a soft material. Having your hot end at operating temperature crashing into the PEI film will damage it. While powder coated PEI is stronger and more durable, I still do not recommend allowing your hot end to make contact with the bed. An excellent guide on bed leveling can be found here.

PEI is designed for the use with no extra adhesives. If cleaning is required, wash with warm soapy water. Always allow PEI to cool before trying to remove print. Once it has cool simply give the plate a flex like demonstrated in the image below.