Heaters

[JFettig]

What heaters are people using for their printers(heated chamber)? I finished my enclosure, built a heater enclosure for space heater element and fan but it doesn't quite all work together. The heater is mounted inside the enclosure on the top, the over temp protection kicks out pretty early. Measured temp in the top of the enclosure is 10-15C above at the platform when the arms are all the way to the top, so there is problem 2. I didn't really want to have forced air blowing on the print so putting it at the bottom is not the best idea. I am using a temperature controller for all of this.

Enclosure alone will maintain 32-38C depending on how high above the build platform. I'm tempted to run some heater rods with heatsinks at the towers or something similar. Any pointers?

Yes, the cold end motor will be put outside of the enclosure.


Thanks,
Jon

[bvandiepenbos]

One of those heating light bulbs (infrared ?) that is used to keep chickens warm in the coop?

I am surprised, assuming build chamber is well sealed, that the heated be and hot end are not enough to warm it up enough inside.
Have you tried printing as is? 32-38c plus NO drafts may be enough heat to helps a lot with ABS warping.

[JFettig]

Yes I have printed some stuff like this, anything under 2-3" tall is fine, but my 13" tall prints I'm doing end up with a few cracks. They are supposed to be mock-up prototypes and carry a little bit of weight so I'd love to do away with the cracks.

I think that 40-50C would be all I'd need to make a good print. The big name printers print around 80C ambient temp. With my space heater element running inside around 50C the polycarb door was starting to bow(it got most of the heat).

I'd love to find some sort of heater rod with fins or something to emit convection heat transfer, I'm a little worried about infared bulbs - printing something black vs white could have big change in temperature.

[0110-m-p]

With my space heater element running inside around 50C the polycarb door was starting to bow(it got most of the heat).

Are you sure it is polycarbonate and not acrylic? If it is polycarb then that thing was getting a TON of heat.

[JFettig]

800w. Its a ton of heat.

[JFettig]

Just a heads up - I re-wired my heater so 2 elements are wired in series, it gives me about 200 watts and its more than enough to get it up to whatever temp I want. I did a quick test last night and got to 65C no problem.

I'm using the guts from a small space heater, the only thing I don't like about it is it uses a fan and I'm a little worried that moving air might cause problems. The fan has very low flow but it might be too much.

I'm considering getting 2 50W halogen lamps to see what that will do if they are kept on at all times.

ETA: I jumped the gun a little. The heater element has a thermal overload reed switch that would pop right away before, I went from 20C to 50C in there directly and it still tripped while it was maintaining temp, might have to ramp it up to keep the elements from getting too hot. I may have to keep the fan running constantly to allow the elements to maintain lower temp

ETA2: fan on constantly and it hasn't tripped.

[philosophy_rook]

I've cut a couple holes in my chamber to run 3 inch duct out and I hook it into a hair dryer (1850 watts and very controllable). I have that plugged into a temperature control thermostat and I can set it to whatever temperature I want up to 100 celsius. I had a problem with the intake being too hot and needed to defuse it so I used the defuser that came with the hair dryer to cover the intake and now its just a nice defused breeze coming into the chamber. I have the extruder inside the chamber but the temperature rating on the stepper motor is 135 degrees so it can take it. The only issue I'm having now is if I run at 80 degrees (optimum temp for abs) then the abs becomes nice and pliable and pops out of the extruder. I found an extruder mount that will work with the Rostock Max V2 that is better for softer filament and I'm trying it out.

I also sealed up the holes into the electronics in the bottom and opened up the sides so there is still nice air flow.

The only part that you have to watch out for are the timing belts ... they're maximum operating temperature is 90 degrees celsius and they degrade pretty quickly once you get above that so don't let the temp get out of control. 5 degrees above cuts their life in half and so on.

[philosophy_rook]

So the next generation of heater/venter.

I use 11inch polycarbonate panels with trapazordial bottoms and tops so the entire printer is enclosed with lots of room for the arms to move around and for me to get at stuff in the chamber to tighten and adjust. It forms a very nice hexagonal enclosure. In one of the panels I cut a round hole to fit the air defuser from a cheap walmart hairdryer. I just replaced the screws with longer ones and it grips the panel perfectly and the beauty of it is the hairdryer just clips onto the outside of the chamber. If I need to add a second hairdryer later I can very easily do the same thing. I moved the cold end extruder out of the chamber itself because the stepper motor was heating up too much for my liking. Next I cut a hole on the other side and ran ducting to a dryer vent I put in a piece of wood in the bottom of my window.

The temperature is controlled by a temp control thermostat capable of reaching 100C and the only limitation is timing belts. If anyone knows of some heat resistant timing belts I would love to be able to get close to 120 degrees celcius (I have a replacement thermostat) in the chamber so I can easily print large delicate prints in polycarbonate.

The new studies around plastics like ABS suggest that it's a cancer causing agent and long term exposure to the fumes from 3d printing should be avoided. The above solution works great to heat and vent the chamber.