Printing in a garage with enclosure
Hello. I'm anxiously awaiting my MK3 (likely mid July :() and have been trying to plan out my work space a little more.
I'd like to not worry about the UFP / fumes from the printing in my house, and have been thinking about setting the printer up in my garage. I'm also planning on building an enclosure for it, to help with printing quality as well as a way to deal with ambient temperatures.
The main concern I have is that I live in Canada, and although the garage is insulated, I expect it would get down to single digits degrees celsius (3-5c maybe) in the coldest winter days, and up to the low or mid 20s on the hottest summer day.
1. I'm assuming the printer itself should be OK with these temperatures. I don't think the humidity is excessive in either direction, but I could install a de-dehumidifier if it's a real concern for the summer months. I'm not talking about the prints themselves here, but just the components of the printer. Again, it is an insulated garage, so it's not the same as being outdoors.
2. The filament could be kept inside if it's a big concern, I could also keep it enclosed in more or less airtight cases if this will help keep the quality. The plan here would be to take the roll out that i need during the print, then put it back after I'm done.
3. Printing quality is my biggest concern. I have read that ambient temperatures can affect materials like ABS a lot, and plan to build an enclosure to help control this and stuff like drafts, etc. From what I've read, most people say the enclosure can add 15-20 degrees (celsius i think) to the ambient temperature inside the enclosure once the printer has been running for a little while. My bigger concern is for the winter months, where the ambient temperature could be lower, especially off the start of the print. Are the mid single digits (celsius) simply too low to start a print, especially if it heats up another 10-20 degrees during printing? For the summer months, I was thinking I could install a basic arduino / temperature / fan on the enclosure to monitor the heat and exhaust if it gets above 40c.
Has anyone done anything like this before? Another idea I had was to turn on a space heater during prints to help with the ambient temperature in colder months if this may be the extra help it needs.
I'd love to hear from anyone keeping their printer in their (insulated?) garage, or similar rooms. Any tips?
Re: Printing in a garage with enclosure
PETG doesn't seem to give off fumes... maybe print with that and avoid the hassle?
Re: Printing in a garage with enclosure
Hello Kristian,
It's always a good idea to keep the ambient temperature constant during printing. For you I would suggest to build an enclosure. Put an external heater inside the enclosure for the cold month and preheat inside before you're starting the print. Depending on the insulation of the enclosure it might be enough to turn it off during printing. The printer itself generates a lot of heat and should stay at a constant temp after some time.
Hope that helps.
Often linked posts:
Going small with MMU2
Real Multi Material
My prints on Instagram
Re: Printing in a garage with enclosure
With all the types of filament available now, ABS is almost extinct imo.
Yes it's better to have a regulated ambient temp, but again... there are better filaments available to use for whatever your prints are designed for.
Anything can be made better
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Joe%20Prints
Re: Printing in a garage with enclosure
Is it just ABS that's susceptible to cooler ambient temperature? There wouldn't be any drafts, but I'd like to make sure the ambient temperature is ideal for the widest variety of materials.
Nikolai, what sort of heater would you recommend for inside the enclosure? I suppose i could rig it up to the arduino fan i mentioned earlier, but maybe that's overkill? Are there any good out of the box solutions?
Re: Printing in a garage with enclosure
Is it just ABS that's susceptible to cooler ambient temperature? There wouldn't be any drafts, but I'd like to make sure the ambient temperature is ideal for the widest variety of materials.
Nikolai, what sort of heater would you recommend for inside the enclosure? I suppose i could rig it up to the arduino fan i mentioned earlier, but maybe that's overkill? Are there any good out of the box solutions?
You can search for "enclosure" in this forum and you'll find a huge variety of different solutions.
For ABS you want to have it as hot as possible. Without an enclosure the bigger objects will fail. Smaller will work.
For PLA and PETG it's better to keep it between 20-30C, otherwise you might get a heat creep. I'm pretty sure there are people printing PLA/PETG even at 5-20C, but I prefer it not too cold. Otherwise it's a bigger shock for the plastic during bonding process.
I don't use any heater (in California 😉 ). Search for something not too big and temperature regulated. This should solve your problem.
With all the types of filament available now, ABS is almost extinct imo.
Yes it's better to have a regulated ambient temp, but again... there are better filaments available to use for whatever your prints are designed for.
People are keep saying that. But it's hardly depends on the purpose. There are Pro's and Con's to almost any filament. PLA/PETG/ABS are really inexpensive. And you can't really substitute ABS with PLA or PETG. Even if ABS is hard to print and not good printable for couple things at all, I still like the properties of this material. It's more like a wood which you can post process after the print. And it's not shattering like a glass (PETG) if it breaks. That's why I'm still using all this three types of plastic.
What is your preferred type of plastic which you would recommend instead of ABS?
Often linked posts:
Going small with MMU2
Real Multi Material
My prints on Instagram
RE: Printing in a garage with enclosure
I've been using 200W "frost guard" heating element in wooden cabinet but its not perfect, have left abs prints etc for summer. Also annoying to run back and forth in carage when things don't go smoothly.
Have been considering if Prusa Enclosure with filters would be good enough to bring printer back indoors.