Heating concerns with my custom UM3 sealed enclosure

[Croy9000 1]

I recently built an enclosure that seals my UM3. I built the enclosure mostly for the air scrubber I also built (with hepa and carbon filtering). A side benefit I didn't plan for is that it keeps the enclosure heated. Something that has had a noticeable improvement on my prints.

 

Since the electronics are mounted under the body, they are mostly shielded from the 45C ambient air generated by the 80C build plate (though I need to measure the board temp to be sure). But one concern I have is over heating the steppers. I am reading about 65C on the case of the steppers. From what I read 80C is the limit before you start degrading them. I was going to order some 40mm x 40mm heatsinks and stick them to the top of them, but before I did wanted to see if others have any experience here.

 

Edited January 4, 2019 by Croy9000

[Smithy 1,146]

You should only use the top cover if you really need it (ABS or similar materials). If you print with PLA your prints will fail, due to too much heat inside.

 

Putting some ventilator in the case can help, but you should make sure, that also fresh air can get into the printer. There is thread here somewhere, where a user put the printer inside a cabinet and had a lot of problems at the beginning with too much heat. Then he put some ventilators to blow out the heat in the back, but it was still not enough because there was no way for fresh colder air to get in. I think finally he made also some holes in the front of the cabinet to get good airflow to bring the heat out of the cabinet.

 

 

[Croy9000 1]

Yep printing in ABS. Thanks for the tips. I was hoping to avoid holes in the enclosure. The "theory" of operation with the air scrubber I built is it draws air from inside the cabinet and expels it inside the cabinet, cycling it over and over again, increasing the efficiency of the filters. 

 

But the idea of drawing in cool air (without actually drawing in outside air) did give me the idea to try a peltier cooling module like this one I just ordered https://www.amazon.com/KKmoon-Thermoelectric-Refrigeration-Conduction-TEC1-12706/dp/B074V4RKXM/ref=sr_1_4. I think I can fit that into my air scrubber so the forced air through the scrubber passes over cooled heatsink fins. If that works well I will add some temp control.

[fbrc8-erin 316]

Aside from the steppers, the other thing you want to keep in mind: the sliding blocks are made of plastic. If you heat the interior of the printer too much, that plastic will get soft, and your printhead shaft won't stay locked in anymore...which could go really badly mid-print. I try not to let the interior get above 50C.

[Croy9000 1]

Yeah atm my max temps are 45C on the interior, but that is whats contributing to my discomfort with 65C surface temps on the steppers. I might shoot for an ambient air temp of 30C.

Edited January 4, 2019 by Croy9000

[Smithy 1,146]

5 hours ago, Croy9000 said:

But the idea of drawing in cool air (without actually drawing in outside air) did give me the idea to try a peltier cooling module like this one I just ordered https://www.amazon.com/KKmoon-Thermoelectric-Refrigeration-Conduction-TEC1-12706/dp/B074V4RKXM/ref=sr_1_4. I think I can fit that into my air scrubber so the forced air through the scrubber passes over cooled heatsink fins. If that works well I will add some temp control.

 

You build a great high tech enclosure 🙂 

But I like the idea, keep us informed if you have news.