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Just curious, I'm not willing to take the leap to a more powerful power supply for the onyx just yet, so in lieu of that, I'd like to explore possible covers for the bed while it pre-heats.

I've used simple plastic Tupperware lids in the past with surprising results in preheating my underpowered Prusa MK2 hobed. I was happy to see only a 5c change in temp when removing the lid after pre-heat. Without the cover on my old printer, it would take 25+ min to reach 100c (110c was impossible, it would stall at 108). With the cover I could achieve 110 in 10-15m.

I've started to think about a custom wooden 2-piece cover that would rest between the rails but fully enclosing the bed (34cm diameter by 2.5cm tall). Anyone else try something like this? I was almost thinking about a deep 12" saucepan lid, but the idea of shorting out my bed is unappealing to me...

I just grab a pot lid that is about 6" dia and use that. Makes it heat up faster.

rs50pilot wrote:I just grab a pot lid that is about 6" dia and use that. Makes it heat up faster.

But a 6" dia wouldn't cover the entire bed, wouldn't that also absorb some of the heat from the bed? I'm looking at covering the entire Onyx with Mhackney's aluminum heat displacer on top

That's an interesting idea cassetti, I have lots of insulating material around (I do a lot of metal work) so I can quickly test this. I'll do that tomorrow morning when my heated bed is cool. I've already timed it heating up so I can put the insulator on and go.

cheers,
Michael

I've been throwing a folded up towel on mine, it get's nice and toasty.

daftscience wrote:I've been throwing a folded up towel on mine, it get's nice and toasty.

Interesting! I hadn't thought about that, thanks!

@Mhackney. Yeah, I don't think it even needs to be insulated. As long as it can trap the heat, that should be sufficient. I'll try to build something simple for now.

Maybe I'll keep a chart of temperature warmup times and test different factors like a lid vs a towel vs no cover

cassetti wrote:

rs50pilot wrote:I just grab a pot lid that is about 6" dia and use that. Makes it heat up faster.

But a 6" dia wouldn't cover the entire bed, wouldn't that also absorb some of the heat from the bed? I'm looking at covering the entire Onyx with Mhackney's aluminum heat displacer on top

I rarely print something over that size so it works fine. Also can take it off hold it for a few seconds and its cool enough to put on the carpet. Use a stainless lid.