Ambient Temperature Chart?
Is there a chart somewhere with the recommended ambient temperatures per filament type? I was thinking of building an enclosure with a mini heater with a thermostat in it. Something like...
...would be perfect. Just trying to figure out what I would set the thermostat to.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Each brand and type will be different. Even PLA of 2 different brands can be different temps. It will usually say right on the spool for recommended temperatures though.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Is there a chart somewhere with the recommended ambient temperatures per filament type? I was thinking of building an enclosure with a mini heater with a thermostat in it. Something like...
...would be perfect. Just trying to figure out what I would set the thermostat to.
I'm not sure the integrated thermostat of this kind of heater will have a good precision regarding temperature target.
I already talked about it in another thread, but there is a plugin used for OctoPrint that does that, based on a DHT11/22 to get the temperature and a mini-relay to trigger the heater:
https://github.com/vitormhenrique/OctoPrint-Enclosure
Regarding the ideal temperature, from what I read the sweet spot *SEEMS* to be 40~50 °C for ABS and almost room temperature for PLA. But I would go to "try and miss" approach to fine tune this.
I'm like Jon Snow, I know nothing.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Regarding the ideal temperature, from what I read the sweet spot *SEEMS* to be 40~50 °C for ABS .
Whoa that is hot. Much hotter than I would be comfortable keeping an enclosure at. Anything over 25ºC and I am not feeling it.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Why is that too hot for you? Sorry if that's a newbie question, I'm still learning all these little details.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
As a datapoint for PLA, with my other 3D printer in a heated chamber, once the temp. gets above 100F the filament gets wrapped around the extruder gear.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Why is that too hot for you? Sorry if that's a newbie question, I'm still learning all these little details.
To maintain a homemade encloselure at that temp, heat needs to be constantly applied. This isn't a metal oven. It is most likely a chip board and plexy glass box. It's just too much power for my comfort.
Now. If I had an old oven, and I converted it into an enclosure with a separate heater. I would feel better.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Is there a chart somewhere with the recommended ambient temperatures per filament type? I was thinking of building an enclosure with a mini heater with a thermostat in it. Something like...
...would be perfect. Just trying to figure out what I would set the thermostat to.
I'm not sure the integrated thermostat of this kind of heater will have a good precision regarding temperature target.
I already talked about it in another thread, but there is a plugin used for OctoPrint that does that, based on a DHT11/22 to get the temperature and a mini-relay to trigger the heater:
https://github.com/vitormhenrique/OctoPrint-Enclosure
Regarding the ideal temperature, from what I read the sweet spot *SEEMS* to be 40~50 °C for ABS and almost room temperature for PLA. But I would go to "try and miss" approach to fine tune this.
So much better having octoPrint control this. Great tip. Thank you.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Well, In my enclosure that is not finished yet, but temperature reach 32~33 °C during ABS print.
Since it's not finished I have to let open the back plate for wiring, so there is 10 cm on the back top that let cold air entering the enclosure.
I read several report stating that a fully closed enclosure of the same type (Ikea Lack based) can reach 40 °C, and that the ABS cooling behavior at this temperature is pretty good. And as far as I know, PR farm are operating in rooms where temperature is around 40 °C. I don't remember if I seen that on facebook or tweeter, but maybe someone from PR could confirm ?
I presume I will be able to reach this temperature, as this printer will be dedicated to ABS printing so the enclosure will be well closed, and that the room where the printer is (my geek cave) is pretty warm due to computers and the printer, so is usually between 23°C to 25 °C. Ambiant temperature will be important to reach that.
50°C is maybe too hot, but I believe that the stepper can handle that, PSU and Rambo maybe probably be better out of the box anyway.
I'm like Jon Snow, I know nothing.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Well, In my enclosure that is not finished yet, but temperature reach 32~33 °C during ABS print.
Since it's not finished I have to let open the back plate for wiring, so there is 10 cm on the back top that let cold air entering the enclosure.
I read several report stating that a fully closed enclosure of the same type (Ikea Lack based) can reach 40 °C, and that the ABS cooling behavior at this temperature is pretty good. And as far as I know, PR farm are operating in rooms where temperature is around 40 °C. I don't remember if I seen that on facebook or tweeter, but maybe someone from PR could confirm ?
I presume I will be able to reach this temperature, as this printer will be dedicated to ABS printing so the enclosure will be well closed, and that the room where the printer is (my geek cave) is pretty warm due to computers and the printer, so is usually between 23°C to 25 °C. Ambiant temperature will be important to reach that.
50°C is maybe too hot, but I believe that the stepper can handle that, PSU and Rambo maybe probably be better out of the box anyway.
I was thinking of venting the enclosure to the outside, basically sucking air out of it. This will add some negative pressure to the enclosure and help keep some of those toxic abs fumes out of my home. But, it might actually make it easier to regulate the overall temp. And maybe I can duct the intake vent (bringing air from the room) into the rambo case and psu to help keep it cool. I am not ready to rip my printer into 3 part to be able to print abs.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
I have a more or less air-tight enclosure that is a 2' cube of acrylic. In a normal 23C room when printing with a bed temp of 60c after an hour or so the enclosure interior temp is in the range 32-36C. As in the previous post I am planning to add a vent with a small fan so that I can expel some air out the window and both limit the temp and get rid of fumes.
I am a little worried about the max operating temp of the equipment long term. I am just arbitrarily guessing that keeping it under 38C or so should be reasonable since I imagine there are places where people print in ambient temperatures like that.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
I've been looking around and I can't find a good reference for ambient temperatures either.
My printer is enclosed and heated by the bed (PSU and Rambo are outside). I've seen it get up to 40C when printing nylon or PETG. Top layers of PETG have been peeling up on broader prints. Too hot maybe? I'm gonna go run some tests......
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Welp, I tested with a few enclosure temperatures, and saw no difference. Turns out it was a too much cooling issue. Results in photos below.
Tested with Inland PETG.
Enclosure temp. info on the web is pretty thin. More study is probably warranted here.....
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Here is how I get the ABS to play nice!
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
do you use waste heat to dry your filament?
Joan
I try to make safe suggestions,You should understand the context and ensure you are happy that they are safe before attempting to apply my suggestions, what you do, is YOUR responsibility. Location Halifax UK
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Enclosure Plug in, temperature sensor and fan, along with Filament dryer/preheater.
Re: Ambient Temperature Chart?
I am starting to dry and store my filament in sealed containers with Desiccant bags, then as I dry a couple at a time I can use the heat to preheat the build chamber and print while its running. usually it maintains a good temp. without the heater but takes a while to get there. 12 hour prints turn out fine.
RE: Ambient Temperature Chart?
I'm curious for ambient temperatures too.
I'm building/designing/coding a temperature controller for the IKEA LACK prusa enclosure.
My goals are :
0. Having fun while learning a ton of things (specially coding). 😉
1. Create the same stable ambient temperatures for every print (and thus also the blower temperature).
2. Re-using waste heat for dry filament spools above.
3. Try not to consume much more power (Fans and heaters).
This is what I have made and I'm at the point of testing : 
Servo controlled apertures that controls the amount of heat going to the filament spool chamber based on different kinds of filament profiles you can select (and edit yourself through the buttons and screen). I'm going to publische this as open source (though I'm still kinda searching where the best place is, instructables?). Aperture can be find here already : https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3563742
Now I'm interested in what I should set as factory default value's for different profiles, and what profiles I should include in the code.
Currently I have :
PLA : 25C
PET : 40C
NGEN : 30C
PA (Nylon: 40C
ABS : 40C
Custom1 : ?
Custom2 : ?
But I would like to hear some input from others what would be good default value to set in the code. And if I should add an other profile ( Currently you can't create new profiles.
My experience so far :
My printer is in the garage where it is fairly cold (~19C). I often have stringy PETG or the PETG is warping upwards on corners. My first few test look like higher ambient temperatures give less stringing and less corner warping. I also noticed my ambient temperature reached up to 37,5C. I Guess I can isolate a bit more to get higher temperatures. The leaking hot air reduced the humidity in the spool chamber from 61% to 27%.
I hope people can give me some good starting numbers. I might even invest some time and money in doing an investigation what effect different ambient temperatures have on all the different filament types (except for ABS since that is researched a lot already I think), and make a video or post about it.
Also, I have no idea if people are interested in these kinda things, I'm planning to make everything open so people can build it themselfs or improve it. If people are interested, I could also make a few extra complete sets for people who want to build it, but don't want to deal with coding and SMD soldering. Let me know if there is some interest.
Creative Engineer and 3D printing @ AcEcraft.eu
RE: Ambient Temperature Chart?
Built an enclosure I intend to document at some point that was designed for ABS and found most temperature estimates to be under what was needed for no cracks and good bed adhesion. I could get to just over 40C with ambient heat from the bed in the chamber (it's a bit bigger than the printer and that makes a big difference, smaller enclosures heat much better), but I've found that the minimum to guarantee no cracks is right around 50C. With smaller parts you can get away with less, for sure, but a lot of my requirements have been relatively long, thin, straight parts (almost the width of the bed), which are sort of the perfect storm for cracking and warping issues, and the recorded ambient temperature in my chamber when I've been successful is between about 49.5C and 52.5C. I have my doubts that using standard materials (wood) and keeping the electronics inside the chamber would work much beyond this temperature, but it seems that professional dedicated ABS printers typically have higher enclosure temperatures.
I use a 250W heat lamp mounted on the roof of the enclosure with a temperature controller and an undervolted computer fan to keep a little circulation going - leaving the lamp go without it means a much higher temperature up top than on the bed and more ontime because of the sensor location for the controller, but I've found that at full voltage (12V to a 92mm Vantec stealth fan), there is enough airflow in the chamber to cause some cracking, despite the temperature.
My last big ABS print using this configuration was about as successful as it could be, though. A 24 hour print of long, thin parts almost covering the print surface with lots of supporting material. No cracking whatsoever and the only warping I've seen was actually the plastic flexing the spring steel bed up off of the heater PCB on one corner - looks like I should do these parts in 2 batches so the magnets on the surface can keep up 😀