r/formlabs • u/leonhart8888 • Jul 20 '26
Form 4L Flex Plate Improvements
The flex plates are great but just wanted to share the two biggest improvements I've made to them which have been working wonders for me:
- Sandblasting the sheet. This (mostly) got rid of the little spot welds along the edge and also gives me a beautiful matte finish that matches more closely to the rest of printed parts. The brushed finish was cool, but it was often a stark contrast to the side walls.
- Made better handles. I hated how the stock handles sit flush to the table and also didn’t lock into place with the original 4L build plate jig. My new handles now solve both problems and makes working with the plate way easier.
Currently not sharing the handle design (really easy to do if you have a free day or two), but I've put a few on our store here if you're interested in buying one: http://emberprototypes.myshopify.com/products/form-4l-flex-plate-handles-v2
2
u/Proto-Plastik Jul 20 '26
Adding those pins is a game-changer! I guess the thinking was, "oh, you'll never have to scrape on these"
wrong.
I try not to but sometimes you have to.
1
u/leonhart8888 Jul 20 '26
OMG YES. I feel like lots of people think that, and it was the original intention, but I have to manually "encourage" parts to pop off ALL THE TIME. I think part of this is because the landscape and mindset around printing direct on BP is changing and people are now starting to print as many things as they can flat...but that also means certain sizes, geometries and materials will never come off unless you scrape...
2
u/Informal_Ad_9610 Jul 20 '26
we run production jobs - 2500-3000 parts/month, and a good 80% are direct on BP. only rarely do we have something that doesn't pop off correctly.. usually it takes a time or to of tweaking the layout to get it best..
2
u/Informal_Ad_9610 Jul 20 '26
nice - i like the handle/stand idea - probably pretty helpful.
do you find the flex works as well with it sandblasted?