Belt Materials

BELT MATERIAL

The current belt is made from .2mm thick Kapton, ordered from AliExpress and lasercut. You can totally hand-cut it, but tracking of the belt is a bit of a pain.

The belt is designed to be easily replaced - other materials I have used:

• .01” polyester film: Cuts easily, prints stick very well with hairspray. This belt has higher thermal expansion, but with PLA or lower temps on the heater it works great, and is quite cheap. It does break down at PETG temperatures, so I recommend the kapton as the most versatile belt.
• https://www.mcmaster.com/8567K92/
• Use hairspray to help prints stick.
• .225mm Kapton: Low thermal expansion. More expensive than the polyester.
• https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000699107361.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.19534c4dqCLd9z
• Use hairspray to help prints stick.
• .005” ULTEM/PEI film: Prints stick well, but it’s too flexible. After ~10 hours printing, sheet sheared while printing. It was under a lot of tension. Gets expensive quick.
• https://catalog.cshyde.com/item/films/ultem-pei-polyethermide-resin/36-5f
• .01” ULTEM/PEI film: Same story as the .005; less flexible, of course, so prints warped less on it. However, it did shear mid-print after maybe 100 hours of printing - it lasted longer, but split right in two. My assumption is more due to fatigue from all the rolling.
• https://catalog.cshyde.com/item/films/ultem-pei-polyethermide-resin/36-10f

I have used thicker and stiffer belts, too - various stainless steels and conveyor materials, usually covering the belt itself in PET tape to get good adhesion and release. However, these require larger, stronger rollers - so aren’t compatible with the printers in this repository.