Voron 2.4 Build — Build Plate

Voron 2.4 frame with built plate installed

The 350-mm-square build plate is a big boi, massing 3 kg.

Prusa MK3S inside Voron 2.4 frame

Big enough to hold a Prusa.

registering Voron 2.4 heating pad on build plate

Being a little bit … detail-oriented … I clamped guides onto the underside of the build platform to ensure good registration of the adhesive heating pad.

The Fysetc kit came with the thermistor already adhered to the underside of the heating pad. This seems not ideal for accurate temperatures and for accurate PID tuning of build plate temperature, especially with so massive a build plate. I tried prying at the thermistor’s adhesive pad and quit trying for now; but I may need to relocate the thermistor later to outside the footprint of the heating pad, to at least measure some thermal conductivity through the build plate. May even need to buy a replacement thermistor if I can’t extricate this one intact.

It’s easy to loosen the build plate screws and slide the plate back and forth on the deck rails; and I understand that (although the assembly manual doesn’t mention it) a calibration step will be positioning the Z limit switch underneath the back end of the Y travel and then scooting the build plate as far back as it can go without touching the Z switch assembly.

Accordingly, it would be a mistake to cover up the build plate screws with the Fysetc kit’s adhesive-backed fridge magnet that holds down the spring steel build sheet. Although it is true that once assembly and calibration are complete, I don’t expect to need to move the build plate again, it is also true that the spring steel sheet will still stick well to the fridge magnet with a hole in the magnet above each build plate screw. Whose positions I marked on the magnet before installing the build plate on the frame.

Finally, I’m thinking about ways to minimize heat transmission from the build plate to the deck rails. No need to heat up the rails, and particularly no need to heat up the acrylic deck plate, which I hear has a reputation for warping from the heat. It’s probably only a small improvement, but I’m planning to replace the black oxide machine screws holding the build plate to the deck rails with stainless, as I understand stainless has a lower thermal conductivity. I’m pondering searching for ceramic standoffs instead of the provided knurled knobs of unknown metal; and I’m thinking of sliding aluminum bubble wrap insulation between the deck plate and the build plate.

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