UMS5 Pro Bundle S5 Air Manager - Realistic Maximum Temperature?

[rachael7 74]

So I know the S5 is limited to 50C chamber temperature with the Air Manager and I know higher temps will damage components. What I don't know is what temps people are actually getting. I'm printing polycarbonate and I really want the chamber temperature at the safe maximum for the machine, but even with the bed at 120C, I never get the chamber even close to 50C.  The most I'm seeing is about 35C, which is about 15C over ambient in my office.  I'm sure if the machine was in a heated closet or something I could get it hotter, but that's what I'm getting in a normal (if slightly cooler than average) office environment.  What max chamber temps are you seeing?  Has anyone added an auxiliary chamber heater to get the chamber up to the machine's maximum of 50C?

[rachael7 74]

Also, can anyone confirm if the Air Manager actually does close loop chamber temperature control? As near as I can tell, it just picks a fan speed at the beginning of the print and keeps it the same, regardless of what the chamber temperature actually does. @SandervG ?

[GSGRHouseAccount 0]

Interested in the same thing. I just started printing PC, and while the prints have been turning out amazing, I'm wondering if we can keep the chamber temperature up as the PC material requests. 

[rachael7 74]

Recent firmware upgrades appear to have changed the air manager behavior. It will now report out the chamber temperature through the REST API and while I don't have any official confirmation, it appears they may have finally implemented closed loop chamber temperature control.  45C is about the highest chamber temperature I've been able to reliably maintain, without changing the hardware. With a supplemental heater, I've gone as high as 60C, but even at that point, things get challenging for the motors and the hotend fan (the one that cools the heat breaks). Heat creep became a very real problem at that temp and I was not able to get very good results. I've done better using 50C chamber temp settings (which again, produces more like 45C) and a draft shield to keep the heat around the model. I stopped using the UM PC though, since I couldn't get it to work with soluble support of any kind and the supplied profile was not very good anyway. I've had great luck with Polymax PC, along with AquaSys120 soluble support when needed.

[Jasonjason 6]

Are you sure you are actually seeing a closed loop temperature control?

I have just tested with a heat gun and brought the chamber temperature all the way up to 50c and the fan did not change its speed at all.  Running newest stable firmware.

I can’t understand why this is not implemented properly- it’s like the assume it’s always running in a climate controlled office. The reality could be 30c ambient temperature chances over a single print.

[rachael7 74]

4 hours ago, Jasonjason said:

Are you sure you are actually seeing a closed loop temperature control?

I’m not sure at all, no. In fact, not long after that post I had to give up on the air manager altogether because it kept killing my long prints with random unrecoverable errors. 

[Jasonjason 6]

Yeah- this feels like a expensive and flimsy plastic lid at the moment.