Pushing my heated chamber temperatures to the limit

Christoph13524

@danal Thanks for pointing that out - makes sense. Then I will close the bigger gaps but won't install an exhaust fan.

@JoergS5 Aren't aluminium sheets more against thermal radiation and not isolation?
I thought about a better air circulation in the chamber to get a more even temperature. But first you need high temperature resistant fans and second I don't really need it anyway. My bottom temperature sensor gives me about 7 °C lower temperatures than the upper one. And that's ok for me. So there aren't any fans inside except the berd-air pump (is of course installed outside).

I have just ordered a second 500 W heater. In combination with the foam all concerns should be cleared.

Phaedrux

Can't wait to see if this actually improves your prints.

RCarlyle

You will want LOTS of airflow with ABS in a 90C chamber. Basically ABS in a 90C environment acts much like PLA in a 30C environment — low warp but needs some help cooling solid. Stratasys printers use giant fans to mix the chamber air and blast the print at nozzle height with hot chamber air. This is pretty much optimal. (Don’t pipe in cold air, blow 90C air.)
If you use a radial blower type fan, you can install the fan OUTSIDE your heater chamber, to pull hot air from a hole in the side of the insulation and then duct it back above the build plate. Yeah, the fan will have 90C air inside it, but the outside will be cool, so a 70C rated fan should work. (I think.)
Or you can just buy better fans. Here’s an 85C blower for $26. https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BFB0712HHD77/603-2092-ND

Phaedrux

@rcarlyle

https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/BFB0712HHD77/603-2092-ND

50db?! Dear Lord.

Christoph13524

I thought about an berd air cooling system. Sucking in the hot air from the chamber and blowing it out to cool the part. But I am not sure if the berd air pump is able to withstand 90C hot air. Although the pump is mounted outside. Depends on the plastic the pump is made from. Anyone knows that? The manufacturer couldn’t answer me how hot the sucked in air can be.

JoergS5

@christoph13524 said in Pushing my heated chamber temperatures to the limit:

berd air pump

You can 3d print your own like
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2070475
and take the filament you want, which is ok for your temparature.

mrehorstdmd

Something like this with the motor located outside the heated area might do the job and do it quietly. It can definitely move more air than you will ever need.

RCarlyle

@mrehorstdmd nice blog post on the fan! People really screw up axial fan implementation a lot. By the way, I tried to send you a Google Group private message recently, do you check that email address? Got something you might be interested in.

Christoph13524

@mrehorstdmd The motor shouldn't be the problem, I think? It's more the plastic that gets soft and there aren't thermal data so I can't buy it..

Christoph13524

After insulating the printer quite well plus adding a second 500 watt heater, I finally reached about 90°C in the chamber with the heated bed at 110°C.
It takes about 30 min to reach 80°C and 1 hour for 90°C which is totally ok. It can't go higher anyway so the chamber heaters are always on.
Also had to do many smaller adjustments like printing all plastic parts out of PC to make this possible.

Now ABS and PC print basically like PLA. Zero warping - I love it.
The water in the water-cooling-system only gets about 15°C warmer with all heaters on.

691175002

Your first post mentioned that your components were printed in Extrudr's GreenTec PRO for heat resistance. Was it necessary to replace them with PC?

Wyvern

Love the water cooling.

I have been building/using water cooled PC's for about 6 years now and I have been wanting to implement it into my printer- PETG tubing would be awesome!

I need to make a chamber for my FT-5 but unfortunately I have a PETG component for the Z-rod spacers so I am unsure it would hold up.

I print mostly PLA and PETG but want to get into Poly carb.

Christoph13524

@691175002
GreenTec PRO is the biggest failure I have seen. The printed parts basically fall apart. I don't know how to describe this. It isn't really brittle; it's more soft or best said EXTREMELY weak. As said, it falls apart. ALL printed parts cracked in many parts without any force. Unbelievable. It's like wet sand...
They get that weak after some weeks. A baby can crack those parts. No joke. I don't know if I got a Monday piece but my spool went into the rubbish.
And yes, maybe this wet-sand-like-filament is temperature resistant to 160°C if you don't touch it.
PC is totally nice and hard.

@Wyvern
PETG tubing would be an eye catcher although a bit unnecessary^^
It depends on the temperature in the chamber but PETG will soften early. Print it out of ABS or better PC!
Now I basically print everything in ABS. And it prints like PLA in the 90°C heated chamber. ABS is just lovely to post process.

Wyvern

Agreed, but my electricity is super expensive, and I have a lot of volume to heat.

But in the summer in FL, it sits in the garage where it can hit 100F. That's when I print ABS!

toskium

@Christoph13524 I am looking for chamber insulation material as well. You mentioned a specific insulation foam/material. What exactly did you use and in what thickness?

Cheers, Markus

Christoph13524

@toskium
Hi,

I used the Techno-Foam-250 from http://www.techno-physik.com/.

The thickness is 11mm.

The material worked well for me. Quite soft, as you would expect it.

Temperature resistent up to 250 degrees.

They also have another insulation material for temp. up to 100 degrees but with a slightly better heat conductivity. But this was out of stock I think.

Cheers,
Chris