Printer enclosure

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Rick
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Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2003 8:34 pm
Location: Stone Mountain, Ga.

Printer enclosure

Post by Rick »

Started printing some larger parts and was having warping issues. Been wanting to make a temperature controlled enclosure for quite some time. I had a brain cell spark to life the other night and remembered this old popcorn unit that was up at my Dad's house in his junk pile. This set up has worked out well. Warping issues are all but gone, I am still experimenting with enclosure temperature. Best of all it was free and now I have a conversation piece in my shop
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Rick

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)
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Bill Shields
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Re: Printer enclosure

Post by Bill Shields »

Clean the butter off the sides?
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Rick
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Re: Printer enclosure

Post by Rick »

Bill
Butter was the least of what I had to clean off. There was stuff growing, probably feeding off of the butter. It hadn't been used in years.
Rick

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading". Unknown
Murphy's Law: " If it can go wrong it will"
O-Tool's Corollary: "Murphy was entirely too optimistic"
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Bill Shields
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Re: Printer enclosure

Post by Bill Shields »

Had a lot of experience with repairing one of those things for the local theater.

It was totally gross what was growing up top behind the POPCORN sign..this in a machine still in service!

darn sure that no food inspector had EVER looked in there.

To say nothing of the WD-40 that somebody has sprayed in the gearbox when the bearings started squeaking.

They were amazed when I got out my supply of edible grease...
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Rick
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Re: Printer enclosure

Post by Rick »

Bill,
This one came from my Dad's church, not much use but a whole lot of time sitting and growing stuff. About 10 years ago Dad brought it home just to get it out of the way of a remodeling project. The Church decided they didn't want it back. The whole pot where the popcorn popped was corroded to the point of being useless.
Rick

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading". Unknown
Murphy's Law: " If it can go wrong it will"
O-Tool's Corollary: "Murphy was entirely too optimistic"
joe.joseph
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Re: Printer enclosure

Post by joe.joseph »

Do you use the enclosure to keep the heat in, or do you cool the enclosure? I'm using a Formlabs 3L and we have had warping issues on and off.
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Rick
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Re: Printer enclosure

Post by Rick »

Joe
To keep the heat in. My printer is in my basement and its always cool down there. The main goal is to keep a constant temp. Some of my bigger prints are taking 24 hours plus so the temp swings low during the night. I also added a small heater unit with a temperature controller to maintain a steady temp in the enclosure. I find conflicting info on the internet about ideal air temperature but have settled for about 75F. From what I can find out a constant temp is the biggest factor but you don't want it too cool as the filament cools too quickly
Rick

“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965)
"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading". Unknown
Murphy's Law: " If it can go wrong it will"
O-Tool's Corollary: "Murphy was entirely too optimistic"
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ChipsAhoy
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Re: Printer enclosure

Post by ChipsAhoy »

I did some fairly large pieces, wall sections for a building, and found a few that seemed to be warped. My printer is in a second bedroom of our forced air HVAC home. In the evening, I closed the door to the room so that it didn't distract from watching TV.
It turned out, closing the door must change the direction of air flow. I placed a plastic sheet over the printer and so far... no more warpage. Guessing the draft was my problem. I don't have a popcorn machine, but now I have another item to be on the lookout for at the garage sales.!!!
Scotty
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