http://www.google.com/patents?id=F8sQAA … mp;f=false

there we are... heated build environment.

I used to work with a dimension and that thing was like a little convection oven. Keep in mind they dont have a heated build platform so this was very necessary for their machines. I don't think a solidoodle will ever get to the temps that it did without some serious modifications though.

there we are... heated build environment.

all the other steppers may be different sizes, but all have the same mounting holes.

the Z motor could be taller or shorter without any issues, the X motor mounts from it's face and hangs down (this could be much taller/shorter with no issues. and the extruder motor mounts from the front to the jig saw motor, it's not mounted anywhere else and sits on top of the carriage, so feasibly could be anything with the same mounting holes.

Basically, what I'm getting at is, provided that the motor is strong enough to actually drive the axis or filament, then it doesn't matter what motor you use.

indeed if you did manage to burn up a motor, then it might be a better idea to replace with a larger one that could handle the current/wouldn't be being driven to it's edge in order that you could more safely increase the heat in the build area.

What fails will probably be the insulation. It is rated for 130C, IIRC. So, keep a fire extinguisher handy!

All that being said, if someone can point me to a link to replacement steppers, I have no problem sending them up to high temps just to see what breaks.

If the nozzle rides between the X rods, then there could be a flexible barrier of some kind stretched below them, between the accordian screens with a slit down the middle.  The nozzle would slide back and forth through the slit which would stay mostly closed the rest of the time.

This is probably well covered with patent, so there is no way Solidoodle could so something like that themselves.  Apparently the whole idea of a temperature controlled print environment is patented.  I wonder if they patented an uncontrolled (but still hot) one?

Several layers of spandex would insulate pretty nicely. The issue is you need to have something that stretches 2 dimensionally, with stretch factor exceeding 5. That's kinda limiting.

I used to work with a woman who definitely got a stretch factor above 5 on her spandex, much to our dismay. 

You'd also have to create a heat barrier for the z stepper.

Just brainstorming, what would work along those lines?

Steppers are rated for 50 degree ambient temp as max.
The ambient temp is pretty much there.

I've said in a different thread that to get a proper heated build enclosure basically a new printer is needed.
With steppers outside the build area. (So something like core xy where the steppers don't need to move (so can be out side the box) and the z motor moved down to under the case. And filament supplied by a Bowden cable so that motor can also be outside the case.

Then we need to start making the carriage from metal parts only. So no plastic gets soft...

And now we don't have anything even resembling a solidoodle!!
(But with a lot less moving mass the printer should be a load faster!)

The only problem I could see is that you'd probably get up to temperature quite quickly; at that point you then have a insulating peltier module on the motor. And, you'll add a bunch of moving weight because the hot side of the peltier will need a fan and/or a heatsink.  For the latter reason, I think a peltier module heater system would only be suited for the Y and Z axis. 

That said, I think 60C is quite conservative for a stepper motor. I see no reason why they couldn't do higher, unless the bearings were problematic at elevated temperature (Except for bearings, they have lamination that can do 200C, magnets good to 200C, and a hunk of metal. I suspect they can tolerate 80C fine).

One solution to increase the amount of heat the stepper motor can shed even when the build area is kept at a hotter temperature, is to attach a heatsink (compensating for the reduced temperature difference between the motor and the heat of the printer volume.)

Assuming you could get the chamber to temp (going to insulate mine and go from there), would the motors even take 80 degrees? The X motor i've heard concerns with, but we are killing the effectiveness of the heatsink on the extruder.

They are rated for 50C ambient, max. The x-axis is driven beyond max current spec, so probably not a good idea to push it. I had an idea to use peliters on each motor to keep the motors cool, but dump more heat into the build environment. Haven't gotten around to it yet.