High Temperature Enclosures - Advice / Suggestions / Success stories
Hi,
Starting a thread for posting suggestions, advice, and experiences with printing with high enclosure temperatures (50C and over).
I've been trying to print larger ABS/ASA and Nylon (PA) prints lately (and plan to try some PC as well), without warping - I've had some success (through some painful trial and error), and was interested in hearing what others have tried and had success with.
My set-up:
- Lack enclosure (with Mylar bubble wrap for the sides and back wall) with the power supply and control panel moved outside the enclosure.
- small 12v fan / 120v heater combo thing with an Inkbird temperature controller
- Extruder printed parts re-printed in nylon12 (which came out a little warped, but I'll print new parts now that my hotend holder parts wont warp)
I've found that smaller pieces aren't too challenging. Depending on the shape, just having an enclosure will give me OK results. (enclosure temps in the mid 40c's).
Anything over approximately 50c and the extruder printed parts start to warp/sag badly. I thought I had a clogged hot end but it turned out the idle door warped due to the heat. The print would start off ok and then it would look like I had a clog because it would start to under extruding significantly. At first I just replaced the idle door with a nylon version I printed, and turned the heat up a little more... but then the PINDA holder sagged - a lot... and at the start of the next print the extruder crashed into the build plate. So, lessoned learned - PTEG extruder parts can't handle enclosure temps 50c+, at least not when printing with 260+ nozzle temps.
With the nylon extruder holder parts, I was able to print a 90mm x 180mm x 130mm tall airbox (for a small motorcycle) out of ASA - so basically a tall hollow box with approximately 20mm radius corners. I'm using Prusament ASA, Smooth Sheet with a glue stick, 0.8mm nozzle, 270 nozzle temp, 110 plate temp, 0.4 print height, draft shield enabled, with the enclosure around 55C. This is pretty successful. Minimal warping - a very useable part.
I had issue with the Thermal Anomaly alerts - I reverted from firmware 3.12.2 to back to the 3.11 version, so that' no longer an issue.
I've also had a lot of Y axis crash detections. This seemed to have mostly resolved when I reverted the firmware back to 3.11, but a few more have come up. I'm not sure if this is due to the higher enclosure temps or if I have something wrong with the Y axis. I don't notice any issues and I've greased the rails and tightened the belt, so not sure.
I'd like to try a larger nylon (PA12) print, which I'm planning on bumping the enclosure temp to 65c for that, but a little apprehensive on what's next to fail when I do this.
Any suggestion on printing at higher temperatures? What's worked, or not worked for you?
- Thanks