Heated cabine for ABS printing

Hi folks,

I was thinking about to build a 3D printer in a heated cabine which can be heated up to about 90 degrees celsius (194 degrees farenheit) in order to print ABS better. The benefit would be that i can cool down the whole piece slowly and consistently after the print job is done.
I would build the whole printer with metal and avoid plastic parts which could melt.

Do you think the stepper motors would still work reliable at this temperature?
Would this temperature be suitable to avoid problems with ABS prints which are up to 60 Centimeter (2 Foot) with a thickness of about 5mm? The walls are not straight but have some curves in Y and X axis which make it more stable and there would also be some support material printed arround to provide more stability while printing.

Cheers and thank you in advance!
Yoda

Here is a link on max temp for stepper motors
[forums.reprap.org]

I think 90 would be too much

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/27/2015 05:39PM by t0bb.

Best design your printer so that the stepper motors and electronics are outside the heated chamber. This is easy in delta printers, less easy in Cartesian designs.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Would be easier if bed on z axis with bowden drive. You can use rubber liner for the z platforms arms that goes to the threaded rods or leadscrew which can be located outside the chamber without draft. It will be very little even if there is a slight leak. Wouldn't be enough to effect anything. Design a gear drive to mount x and y motors above frame to drive those 2 axis without motor inside the chamber is not too much to work on either. I'm building a large printer like that.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2015 04:48AM by deaconfrost.

90C is a bit excessive. At 90C you're going to have to circulate room temperature air to cool the hot-end via hoses. Stratasys industrial machines only heat the chamber to 70C. I have found that 45C works fine and print large ABS parts all the time without warping or delamination.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/28/2015 12:09PM by the_digital_dentist.

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Ultra MegaMax Dominator 3D printer: [drmrehorst.blogspot.com]

I agree with the Digital Dentist.
I have found that temps over 55C (and perhaps lower) cause problems, even with outside air cooling the hot end and the part. At 60C I see small details overheat - this is shown by discoloration and melted, distorted perimeters.

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My printer: Raptosaur - Large Format Delta - [www.paulwanamaker.wordpress.com]
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I have a heated chamber on my delta, Yes the motors and electronics are outside the chamber. I have the chamber insulated as well.

Here are a few things to consider.

- 90C is way too high, I run between 40-60C depending on the size of object. If its under 100mm cubed then no heating is necesary for me. Larger objects require 60c (300mm and bigger)
- Insulation, you will be fighting to keep the temperature in. I use a 150w heater and it heats the chamber to 45c in about 5-8 minutes. However every 5c higher requires exponentialy longer due to thermal loss. Unless you want it to act as a space heater in the room it is in, its wise to insulate it well. Remove air leaks.
- Mixing fan. You need a way to mix the air in the chamber, hot air will rise causing a temperature gradient in the chamber that can cause issues. Mixing the air in the chamber is a good idea and saves on power.
- Power controls, you need some sort of proper thermostat to control the temperatures. I used a ~15usd unit that seems to be working well. Tested temps in the chamber and they are +-1c the set temp.
- Power use. My printer uses nearly 500w of power when its heating up and drops into the ~300w range when everything is up to temp. This may sound small however some quick math shows the consumption. 8 hours a day with average of 400w/h miltiplied by days of the month = 96000w/h per month times the rate of power here ~ .19$ = $18.24 per month in electric, add taxes/delivery charges here in the 24c per kw/h = $23.04 = $41.28USD per month in electric, multiply it by 12months = 495.36USD per year in electric charges for a machine, this is nearly 3 times higher than a refrigerator. Every watt hour you save you can spend more money on consumables like filament, so design this printer wisely when you add in a heated chamber.

-Bruno

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My Personal Blog. Build blog.
[engineerd3d.ddns.net]

Modicum V1 sold on e-bay user jaguarking11

There is a gcode command that you can use to control a chamber heater, if your electronics and firmware support it. See [reprap.org]. You can use a DC-AC SSR to switch an AC mains powered chamber heater from the electronics.

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Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Quote
the_digital_dentist
90C is a bit excessive. At 90C you're going to have to circulate room temperature air to cool the hot-end via hoses. Stratasys industrial machines only heat the chamber to 70C. I have found that 45C works fine and print large ABS parts all the time without warping or delamination.

Newer Stratasys P-class machines actually go a smidge higher to 75C, but they will throw an error at 77C and have a thermal fuse that kills power to the chamber heaters at 83C. The big T-class machines do run hotter chambers (so they can print Lexan, Radel, Ultem, etc.), but the steppers and drive components are located outside of the oven with an H-bot style X-Y stage and the head poking through insulating bellows into the chamber.

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[haveblue.org]