Simple chamber heating mod
Instead of doing something complicated, I use a simple small 100W heater, mount vertically on the left-side flat panel I designed, to add ~15C (~32F) chamber temperature, before I add any insulation.
You can find left-side flat panel here:
https://www.printables.com/model/1547448-prusa-core-one-left-side-flat-panel
M3 nuts holes pattern as:
10mm height from the chamber bottom.
50mm spacing in between.
Enjoy~
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
Thank you for sharing! I have many questions... 🙂
- What is the heater brand and model?
- Is is powered by mains or by 24V?
- Where do you run the power supply cable?
- Is it simply controlled locally via the switch at the front?
- Does it have thermostat control? How do you set the target temperature?
- Does it do proportional control, where it reduces the heating power as it approaches the target temperature?
- How hot is the air coming out of the heater?
Many thanks for some additional detail!
I would probably not 3D-print the new side panel but buy sheet material and drill some holes into it. Or is there some more complex feature which I am overlooking?
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
I thought about making a new side panel for my heater (Creality heater mod), but didnt want to lose the tight fit against the heat bed to make the passive heating of the chamber worse, have you tried that? I measured a bit with a temp probe and the C1 really keeps the volume below the bed really cool during printing and not wasting energy there, not sure it would make a big difference.
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
Good morning.
That's another way to do it.I'm also modifying my Core One with a heater.
To do this, I used the openings at the back where the fans are connected.It works without insulation, but at what cost?
If you've ever heated a house in winter that isn't insulated, you'll know that it takes a lot of energy just to reach the desired temperature, let alone maintain it.The Core One has a metal housing and metal axles. It takes a certain amount of time for all the metal parts to absorb the heat. Added to this are all the gaps, slits, and holes through which the heat escapes again.
I definitely want to insulate my Core One, just as I have already done with the Prusa XL. My XL is housed in a homemade enclosure and achieves a chamber temperature of 55 degrees after 10 minutes without active heating.This means that the print bed, with its 120 degrees and proper insulation, could easily reach 60 degrees.
If Prusa ever provides hardware and software that allows printing at high temperatures with the nozzle, then a consistent chamber temperature (especially for large prints) is essential.Nevertheless, your idea of placing the heater on the left side is a good start.
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
I thought about making a new side panel for my heater (Creality heater mod), but didnt want to lose the tight fit against the heat bed to make the passive heating of the chamber worse, have you tried that? I measured a bit with a temp probe and the C1 really keeps the volume below the bed really cool during printing and not wasting energy there, not sure it would make a big difference.
The original Core One's chamber will stay cool below the heatbed since heating occurs only by convection of warm air from the bed. But with an additional active heater, I prefer the approach of blowing the hot air in at the bottom of the chamber, well away from the printing level. So the whole chamber will (and should) be warmed up.
That's another way to do it.I'm also modifying my Core One with a heater.
To do this, I used the openings at the back where the fans are connected.
I like the "minimally invasive" approach. Have you seen any issues with the warm (hot?) air being blown directly at the part and the print level?
Also, how do you print PLA and PETG with this setup? Does the heater need to be removed to enable venting of the chamber?
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
Air that is heated (in a closed environment) always tends to transfer its higher energy to “colder” objects or air.
No matter how you look at it or argue it, the heat in the chamber only remains constant when everything is at approximately the same temperature level and no “colder” component absorbs energy.
However, it is true that the air that is heated at the top also remains at the top (in the area of the pressure bed) and the lower part is cooler (provided it does not escape anywhere). Nevertheless, physics can also be circumvented with this approach—heat finds its way.
I don't want to spark a fundamental debate; these were just my professional thoughts on the matter.
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
[...] I don't want to spark a fundamental debate; these were just my professional thoughts on the matter.
That's all correct. I am not sure if it was meant as a reply to my questions -- if so, I may not have made it clear what I was wondering about, since you did not address that:
I am concerned that, if you blow hot air directly at the printing zone (at nozzle height), that might interfere with the filament cooling and hence the print quality. That's why a heater that introduces hot ar in the bottom of the chamber seems advantageous to me. And on the other hand, I was wondering how you vent (cool) the chamber when printing PLA or PETG -- can that be done with your chamber heater installed, or does it need to be removed?
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
[...] I don't want to spark a fundamental debate; these were just my professional thoughts on the matter.
That's all correct. I am not sure if it was meant as a reply to my questions -- if so, I may not have made it clear what I was wondering about, since you did not address that:
I am concerned that, if you blow hot air directly at the printing zone (at nozzle height), that might interfere with the filament cooling and hence the print quality. That's why a heater that introduces hot ar in the bottom of the chamber seems advantageous to me. And on the other hand, I was wondering how you vent (cool) the chamber when printing PLA or PETG -- can that be done with your chamber heater installed, or does it need to be removed?
Material that uses alot of part cooling is often not materials that use high chamber temp, so i dont really see the cooling part as an issue. Rather the opposite that the blowing of hot air cools the filament when you try to run with no part cooling, though the draft is not super strong.
The drawback of heating all the steel below the printer is that there is an additional 10kg of cold steel or whatever it is that needs to be heated up, so it will slow down the heating up process (which is the primary issue that i want to fix with a heater). So far i actually shut the heater of when its up to temp, since it can sustain the temp by itself, at least if you arent using the complete built height. I will try do do that soon, which will be interesting to see how the chamber acts during winter times, if i might have to start the heater to keep up with the chamber temps and how that works.
RE:
That's another way to do it.I'm also modifying my Core One with a heater.
To do this, I used the openings at the back where the fans are connected.
I like the "minimally invasive" approach. Have you seen any issues with the warm (hot?) air being blown directly at the part and the print level?
Also, how do you print PLA and PETG with this setup? Does the heater need to be removed to enable venting of the chamber?
Hello Jürgen.Please excuse me for overlooking your questions. It was not intentional!
I am planning to heat the entire chamber. I wanted to draw in the cold air at the bottom, direct it upwards, feed it through an existing opening, and then distribute it passively throughout the chamber.Regarding question two, I would use the second opening to implement a kind of “cooling”/ “ventilation” (as before).
Unfortunately, I'm still at point one: installing the heating and adjusting the controls.
I am concerned that, if you blow hot air directly at the printing zone (at nozzle height), that might interfere with the filament cooling and hence the print quality. That's why a heater that introduces hot ar in the bottom of the chamber seems advantageous to me. And on the other hand, I was wondering how you vent (cool) the chamber when printing PLA or PETG -- can that be done with your chamber heater installed, or does it need to be removed?
In any case, I don't want to implement a solution that always requires something to be removed or added. So it should be comfortable and useful.
RE: Simple chamber heating mod
It'a Yamazen DMF-D021. I don't know if it's available outside Japan.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B0DDKR28Z9
It's a very simple 100V AC manual ON/OFF heater with only 130W power (first post info is wrong). There is no temperature control. Inside the heater there is a thermal fuse, but that's it.
I keep it running all the time while I need slightly higher chamber temperature. Adjust the chamber temperature setting in the slicer (or from the Core One control panel) to use chamber fan as "control".
This (keep heater running all the time and using chamber fan as control) can be done only because the heater is 130W power. If you go something higher power you will need active control on the heater.
Heater keeping running even the print is done. It only raise the whole chamber by 15C from ambient anyway.
Yes, it does make the frame/smooth-rod directly on top hotter. I'm testing an angled exhaust to direct the hot air flow to the gap between frame and bed, so it air doesn't blow directly to frame/smooth-rod, nor the print.
Yep the testing exhaust is printed with PETG. It survive 50C chamber temperature print, need to do ASA print later.
The whole idea behind this is keep it as simple as possible. No hackerboard, no relay, no custom G-code. Just plug it to the AC outlet and switch ON. If printing PLA/PETG, keep it OFF 🙂