UM in cold room -> warping and other unpleasantnesses

[aag 6]

I have no other option but to place my Ultimaker S5 in an unheated basement room. This was fine until the room temperature dropped to 10°C (or less), and now it is becoming impossible to get good prints. Breakaway and PLA tend to warp horribly, and I presume that this is because of the huge temperature gradient: the newly added layers cool down too quickly and contract, whereas the lower layers are kept warm by the heated bed plate.

 

How can I remedy to this situation? As I said, moving the printer is not an option. Heating the whole room is impractical and too expensive. I was thinking of adding a cover (https://accante.com/en/) but I fear that this is not going to be enough. Are there any add-ons that would allow to keep a well-controlled air temperature within the printing chamber?

Edited December 16, 2018 by aag

[Smithy 1,144]

Hmm, you need definitely an external heater to bring the printer environment to 20-25°. So the cover you have linked will not work, it will be better but not enough.

 

Do you have the possibility to build a small print room within this basement and put a small heater inside, just to heat this area? I don't know the word in Englisch, but I mean to use these plaster panels (hope you know what I mean)

 

Or if not possible to build a bigger box of wood, but not just for the printer, higher that you can put a small table inside and a small heater.

 

Another idea, but just an idea, not sure if it really works, if you put a radiant heater beside the printer, which should just heat up the area around the printer and only during printing. They are normally quite fast with their ventilation. 

[RudydG 62]

I had the same problem with another printer in the past, closing the printer made it impossible to print with pla (no more cooling), so i gues that if you close your printer, you also have to "regulate" the temperature otherwise it will become to warm.

[aag 6]

I thought that I might attach something like this to the cover: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Black-NEW-100W-12V-DC-PTC-Fan-Heater-Constant-Temperature-Incubator-Hot-Space-Thermostat/32839650955.html

 

It would still need some kind of thermostat though. It's going to be a rather involved modification, I fear.

Edited December 16, 2018 by aag

[RudydG 62]

aliexpress page doesn't exist?

[aag 6]

sorry, now corrected.

[RudydG 62]

100W 12 is at least 8amp power supply.

Once you close the printer, the problem will not be to cold, but to warm i think.

[aag 6]

If I understand correctly how these thermistors work, the surface temperature is constant, and the heating power will depend on the dissipation (=airflow), which in turn can be controlled by replacing the (probably horrible and loud) included fan with a nice Pabst high-quality voltage-controlled fan.

[RudydG 62]

i would turn the fan on, and switch the heater with a thermostat.

[aag 6]

I think I will use a thermostat like this one: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/12V-High-Precision-Thermostat-Digital-Dual-Relay-Alarm-Thermometer-Temperature-Controller-Air-Regulator/32842614345.html

 

It has two relays, which in principle would allow to control both the fan and the heater.

[RudydG 62]

Just one remark, make it safe!!you don't want these things to fail, risks are high. Get at least on the heater circuit a safety thermostat, if this aliexpress thing fails, and you are not around (prints can take a long time), you don't want the thing to overheat.

[yellowshark 153]

I have a similar problem in a room above the garage with no heating. I bought an oil filled radiator four years ago which does the job for me. it probably runs on no.2 out of 6 or so and keeps a constant temp of 20-22 at that level, at a cost that we do not notice

[geert_2 557]

What if you put a piece of plastic or cardboard in the front opening, like a sort of primitive door, but with a few holes in it? So there is some circulation to evacuate the heat, but not too much?

 

At least, cardboard is cheap, so it could be a good test to see if this really is the cause, and not something else that happened to occur at the same moment (e.g. dirty, oily glass).

 

Edited December 17, 2018 by geert_2