Finally got some free time to do some experimenting with the RepRap again, well I chose to do some experimenting. I've actually got quite a bit I should be doing :)
The first was switching the Bumblebee II over to the new 512mb Raspberry Pi that I got today. Shut down the old one, moved the SD card over and plugged everything in to the new one and it was up and running. The memory does make it a bit snappier, but more important I can load almost all the gcode files into pronterface without an issue. It's still just a bit much for the full MendelMax part plates, but I have those on an SD card anyway so it's not really a problem. I'm still waiting for the new WiFi dongle to come.
The next thing to experiment with was kind of driven out of necessity. The window tint once again started to come off the bed, and I decided to go ahead and try the glass plates that I etched at TechShop in Raleigh. I had about 4 different patterns to experiment with.
I tried the plain checker one first. It seemed to do well except on the parts where the glass was still smooth. After several layers that part of the print started to peel up. So I ended up stopping the print on that one (and yes, I'm using RoundTuit's as my test prints)
Next I decided to skip the other patterns that had smooth glass in them and go to the 100% etched piece. While it did much better it still had some trouble starting a thread of plastic, it ended up pulling it up off the glass as it moved away from the start point. So I ended up applying an extremely thin coat of slurry and that seemed to do the trick. Nice matte finish on the bottom, no warping, and it came off the bed very easily. A nice side effect is that the rest of the slurry left was easy to scrape off with a razor blade.
So for me right now the 100% etched piece with light slurry is a huge improvement over the window tint I've been using. No worries about having to replace the tint when it get's damaged or starts to break apart, and it seems to work great with no warping.
I'll probably buy another month at TechShop and etch the borosilicate piece I have for both the Bumblebee II and the Hippie printers. I also have a few other things I want to cut before I have my laser cutter up and running (I've started ordering the last pieces I need)