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Topic: Heated build chamber

Hi everyone,

I'm currently building a temperature controlled heated build chamber and I'm
aiming around 55°c for the ambient temp since that's what a stratasys 3d
printer temp usually runs for ambient temp.

I currently made the metal case, which is 20ga cold rolled steel sheet.

I also applied a black diamond powder coat to make it pop

Here's without the powder coat
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m158/Techbuilder/20130907_153121.jpg

Freshly taken out of the oven in my shop with the powder coat
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m158/Techbuilder/20130907_221152.jpg

Tested fitted after the powder coat
http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m158/Techbuilder/20130907_232508.jpg

I'm currently looking at options to keep the ambient temp up

any ideas?

I've seen regulars lamps, IR lamps, and even a heated build platform attached to the side of the case.

Should I go with a IR lamp like this one?

http://www.amazon.com/Zoo-Med-ReptiCare … +HEAT+LAMP

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

2 (edited by elmoret 2013-09-09 22:42:02)

Re: Heated build chamber

Only do lamps if you can keep the IR energy off the printer's printed parts. I say wirewound heatsunk resistor.

3

Re: Heated build chamber

Should I attach it to the bottom of the platform with a plate elevated by some stand offs?

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

4

Re: Heated build chamber

Are you going to have some kind of insulation to keep heat in?  What would be cool is maybe a heating element heatsunk and then a fan to blow air through it and circulate it around the case, which has insulation on it to trap the heat in.  And then some control to keep the temp at 55C.  Maybe adjustable?

5

Re: Heated build chamber

I do plan on using a PID with a SSR to control the temp

I was going to go with this for insulation

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflectix-4- … i5MGT9bakw

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

6

Re: Heated build chamber

Oh, that looks good!

What's an SSR?

But now that you have made this seem so easy, it makes me want to consider doing it..

7

Re: Heated build chamber

ITman496 wrote:

What's an SSR?

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=What%27s+an+SSR%3F

8

Re: Heated build chamber

Ha.  I know what a solid state relay is, I just haven't heard the acronym SSR to describe one.

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Re: Heated build chamber

I love let me google for you lol

Anyway it's easy enough to make a metal enclosure, however I do have a
industrial brake so I kind of cheated but it's thin enough to do at home.

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

10

Re: Heated build chamber

Here is a really interesting thread that shows how Stratasys does it - http://kisslicer.com/forum/index.php?topic=375.0

I'm a little surprised that they are venting the hot air at the hot end.  I found when I blew hot air into my case with a space heater the print would delaminate if I didn't direct the flow away from it.

11

Re: Heated build chamber

Wow that's pretty awesome

thanks for the link Ian

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

12

Re: Heated build chamber

Started putting in the insulation still have a ways to go on the project but it's getting there

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m158/Techbuilder/20130910_184925.jpg

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

13

Re: Heated build chamber

I think my only worry about that is the filament having a hard time feeding into the extruder.  But I guess you should be fine.  On my enclosure I have a raised roof so it isn't making a tight bend.

14

Re: Heated build chamber

Yeah I know what you mean but I was able to successfully feed the filament
while moving.

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

15

Re: Heated build chamber

Ah, okay.  I mean I guess the SD2 expert comes with an enclosure which is very similar, so you should be fine.

16 (edited by jason_ 2013-09-12 15:22:26)

Re: Heated build chamber

I'd be worried that the filament may act differently (softer) when you actually heat the enclosure and it may not feed as well.  Probably not going to be a problem, but if you start getting extrusion problems after the enclosure is heated.....

Have you considered using large nichrome wire for you heating element? 
Here is a nifty calculator that helps you pick the gauge wire and length based on the voltage and maximum wire temp you want to see.

http://www.jacobs-online.biz/nichrome/NichromeCalc.html

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Re: Heated build chamber

I don't think it will be that big of an issue since I'm only looking at achieving 55°c
and I've seen people run there's at 70°c however they water cooled their stepper motors
as well as their extruder.

Thanks for the advice to use nichrome wire I completely forgot about  that as an option,
I'll have to do some research on what's going to get me to temp the fastest without melting my
carriages.

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

18

Re: Heated build chamber

The more I think about it the more I really like this project.  I think I might eventually do something similar, first though I'm going to replace my carriages with aluminum cnc ones. 

I'm thinking my approach for a heater will probably be a pcb heater, much like the mk1 heated beds.  That should provide a lot of heat, be able to handle pwm control, be easy to slide in and out, and If i need to I can put some type of heatsink/fan on it to help distribute the heat.  With the added benifit of being cheap and relatively easy.

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Re: Heated build chamber

Here's an update on what I have so far

still have two more pieces of insulation to do and put a knob in for the door.
I think I may go with the wirewound heatsink resistor.

I'm going to do a couple of tests to see if it heats up the enclosure faster then the nichrome.

http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m158/Techbuilder/20130913_080949-1.jpg

Powder coated steel enclosure, 1/4" Surface grounded hardened aluminum plate, MK2A Heat bed, .200 Polished fused quartz plate, Machined quick change hot bed mount, E3D hot end, Ramps 1.4, DRV8825 stepper motor drivers

20

Re: Heated build chamber

you may not even need a heat-source besides the heated bed with that much insulation. have you put a thermoprobe in there and watched the ambient while its printing? my printer with its acrylic enclosure tends to keep a substantial amount of heat inside while printing.

21 (edited by ITman496 2013-09-14 05:08:34)

Re: Heated build chamber

That's a good point.  With my bed only getting to 60C or so, the ambient air temp seems to be around 38.5C (if I leave the bed on and extruder off and look at the extruder)

So you might not need much of a heater, with the bed being heated.

EDIT:  and my chamber is some plexiglass double side taped onto the case. No insulation at all.

22

Re: Heated build chamber

techbuilder2175 wrote:

I do plan on using a PID with a SSR to control the temp

I was going to go with this for insulation

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Reflectix-4- … i5MGT9bakw

Is this the insulation you ended up using?  I have a case that I need to insulate.

23 (edited by DePartedPrinter 2013-09-14 18:35:55)

Re: Heated build chamber

Professional printers I have used from Stratasys all had the interior temp around 75C.

The 50c you want to do is a little low.

What's the point if your not going to hit the temp where ABS tends to stop warping?

SD2 with E3D, SD Press, Form 1+
Filastruder
NYLON (taulman): http://www.soliforum.com/topic/466/nylon/

24

Re: Heated build chamber

It helps to get close.  I usually run mine around 50C and that is good enough to prevent cracking in taller prints.  70C would be where you don't need to worry so much about sticking it hard to the bed.

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Re: Heated build chamber

Our SD is enclosed with a cardboard box and heated via a personal space heater pointed through a hole in the side of the box. Interior temp hits 50C (this is read via the temp reading from the extruder before the extruder is heated). We also use a glass bed and hairspray. No lifting from the bed.