Temp Control
I've been getting consistent good results with Prusa's Tough Resin. My only failure out of 14 prints so far was, well, my failure.
Still, I'd like to try a couple other resins because that's part of the game. I've purchased Sculpt and Blu from Siriya. The manufacturer is pretty specific that the resin needs to be above 25C and preferably 30C before printing. I live in a cool climate and room temp is 20C in the Summer and a couple degrees less in the winter. Obviously I need to add some heat to give these resins a good trial.
Raising the initial resin temp to the recommended range is a piece of cake and Siriya says that's the important part though they go on to say that it would be better if the build chamber remained at 30C or so.
So here's my question: I could easily rig a mod or just an encosure that would keep the ambient within a range, but should I? Would I be messing with the printer's cooling? Also, with the FEP resting right on the LCD and the heat-generating UV LED panel right below that, I would think the resin catches some of that heat and I might be chasing a problem that's already solved.
I'd appreciate any insight.
Thanks!
RE: Temp Control
As far as I can tell there is one input vent and two output vents. One output is for electronics, the other is for fumes. I have been warned by Prusa's support (repeatedly) that messing with the air balance can cause over heat failure mode, causing prints to fail. Heating the main air input would be a bad idea because it would heat the electronics as well. I am probably the main SL1 owner who is modding his unit right now, but I would not recommend a heating mod.
All resins are temperature sensative to varying extents. What is the ambient temp in the room you are using?
RE: Temp Control
Thanks for your reply, Maxwell.
The ambient in the room I use runs about 68-70F in the Summer and about 65F in the winter so 20C or below. There is no doubt I need to heat any resin prior to putting it into the printer, but that's neither hard nor risky.
I was thinking about using an enclosure to raise the air around the printer to roughly 30C (a reptile heater to raise the temp and an 80mm fan exhaust to lower it). But that would probably be too warm for the electronics. And I thought about fixing a small space heater to the acrylic lid similar to some of the mods on the Moai, but I'd rather not go there.
After a bit more research, I think that between the tank leeching heat from the electronics and the exothermic reaction from curing resin, the temperatures should stay in range. At the very least I shouldn't try anything more drastic than heating the resin prior to pouring it until I'm sure there's a problem. Pre-heating the resin is just another reason to clean the tank between prints.
Thanks again!
RE: Temp Control
No problem, I hope it works out for you. 🙂