60-70C Heated Enclosure

[delta22]

Got the Rostock MAX kit and assembled it last month.
Assembly went well overall and was able to print small ABS parts with good results.

I have long had an interest in model rocketry, and one of my objectives is to print rockets/rocket parts.
Personal rocketry website http://www.bpasa.com

Desired application requires printing larger ABS parts, which called for a heated enclosure to avoid warping.

The one problem I ran into with the original build was the power supply behaving erratically and intermittently blowing AC power fuses and causing Arduino to reset.
SeeMeCNC sent me a replacement power supply which eliminated these problems.
However, the power supply was sagging to 9.5V under full load and would not get the hot end over 220C or the heated bed over 70C.
So I installed a 450W Antec PS, and voltage stays flat at 12V, hot end will now go to 245C and bed past 100C.
It was necessary to put a 2ohm load on the PS 5V output so that it would run stably.

[delta22]

Design goals of the enclosure:
1) Enclose build area and not electronics
2) Get hot enough to successfully print large ABS parts without warping, research on this forum suggested this was in the 50-70C range
3) Be relatively cheap and easy to build

Materials:
Walls and top: 1/4" Sureply, as this is cheap and flat.
Floor and door construction: 1/4" marine grade plywood, as this is stiffer (and I had some).
Corner reinforcement: 1"x2" pine
Heat reflection liner: 18" wide commercial Tinfoil and lots of aluminum tape

Hardest part was shaping the top and bottom as they had to conform to the printer.
Traced printer form onto the wood and cut about 1" inside that, with cutouts for the 1010 aluminum rails.

[delta22]

Covered areas with painter's tape as needed to control where the DAP Contact Cement went on.
Used this to adhere tinfoil to inner surfaces of chamber during assembly.
Elmer's wood glue attached 1"x2" corner rails to a wall.

Then screwed wall assemblies together.
Designed so each wall, top, bottom and door can be removed with screws if necessary.

Used a popcicle stick to smooth out slight wrinkles in Tinfoil and aluminum tape as needed.

[delta22]

First screwed in top and bottom sections.
Then screwed on sides and back.
After each step, applied aluminum tape liberally to seal corners and make sure all internal surfaces were heat reflective.

[delta22]

For the door, used 3 overlapping layers of 1/4" marine plywood.
Middle layer was not as wide as front and back layers, creating a pocket to hold the Lexan polycarbonate window.

As the Lexan was thin, I used two layers with a thin air gap. This fit well in the 1/4" pocket created by the plywood.
Used Elmer's wood glue for bonding plywood.

Then finished covering door with aluminum tape.
3 small hinges and a magnetic door catch secure the door.

The heated bed was only able to heat the enclosure to about 30C, so an additional heat source was required.

[delta22]

Installed a 300W rated ceramic lamp fixture with a 250W (120V AC) heat lamp in the upper left side of the enclosure.
This is temperature limited by an Inkbird ITC-2000 controller set to shut off at 70C.
Most of the time the chamber sits at a natural temperature equilibrium in the upper 60's, once in a while hitting 70C and shutting off the heat lamp for a minute or two.

Moved the cold end out of the build chamber to keep it cooler.
Filament spool sits on a lazy susan.
Stuck a small fan next to the cold end as a temporary cooling measure.

I turn on the heat lamp at the same time as the hot end and the heated bed.
The heated bed comes up to temperature more quickly, and by the time the first few layers are done the chamber is over 60C.
At 30+ minutes the chamber is 66-70C.

I set the heated bed to 70C, and once the chamber is warm, the bed heater is no longer active.
The bed floats above its temp set point heated by the heat lamp and hot plastic.

Have successfully printed ABS pieces 8" across and 2" tall with no warping at all.
Plan to do some larger pieces soon.

[geneb]

Nicely done!

g.

[Eaglezsoar]

Nicely done!

g.

+1

[3D-Print]

Agree! Awesome Job!!!

[delta22]

Thanks.

The Rostock MAX is an awesome machine.

[TheIrishScion]

That is an _excellent_ piece of work. I will likely steal most of your idea verbatim when it comes time to build mine! The only component I can see missing would be a controlled fume exhaust port and fan, which of course is somewhat antithetical to the whole heated-chamber thing.

[3D-Print]

That is an _excellent_ piece of work. I will likely steal most of your idea verbatim when it comes time to build mine! The only component I can see missing would be a controlled fume exhaust port and fan, which of course is somewhat antithetical to the whole heated-chamber thing.

You don't need many CFM to vent all the fumes and still be able to maintain a heated enclosure. Here is part of my build where I did as you mention. (http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=8458" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). With the small squirrel cage fan I can easily keep the enclosure hot to prevent layer separation, lifting off the bed and still vent the fumes to the outside.

[delta22]

Further modded printer / heated enclosure to:
1) Create a plug separation point in the 12 VDC connection between the external ATX power supply and the printer.
Used a large 50A rated dryer plug, which was effective but overkill. Did not want to use a standard 120 VAC outlet as the consequences of accidentally connecting 120V power to the 12V system is much nastier than I would ever want to contemplate. Done so I can carry the printer more easily on those rare occasions when that comes up.

2) Added 4 legs to the enclosure. This allows the printer to have a broader and much more stable base. 7 inch legs hold the original base of the RS max just above the supporting table surface. The enclosure is rigid enough that there is no structural flexing at all. Particularly beneficial when the enclosure door is open, as that shifts the center of balance of the printer more than a little.

Completed both these mods just before I brought the printer to my work for show and tell. I teach a Computer and Networking Tech program at a trade school. The 3D printer generated a lot of excitement and interest.