M2 Heated Enclosure

[ever3tt88]

I was having alot of trouble with ABS due to my house always being set pretty cold. So I decided to build my own enclosure for my M2. I searched around and looked at different enclosure just taking away bits from each that I liked. Anyways here is what I have come up with so far. I built it out Of Solid 3/4 Pine and coated the inside and outside with Rubberized paint to seal it in. Then I went over that with a thick Textured white paint. I'm running the STC-1000 Thermostat - Cold is ran by 2 80mm 115V Cooling Box fans. Heat is ran on one Ceramic Disk Heat plate in the Top of the box. There are 2 18" by 24" glass windows and another in the door. I also Have 3 Led bars inside running to a switch and a 120mm 115V Box fan in the back directing Fumes to a window through a 3" exaust tube,also ran one the switch plate. so far all issues have been fixed, ignore the mess as I am still routing the wire and the electronics box for the M2 through the bottom and out of the side of the box. Im happy with how its going so far.

[jsc]

Those are some big images. It's easier to view them in the forum if you resize before uploading.

Your enclosure looks great. What temperature are you running it at, and does it help with printing ABS?

[ever3tt88]

Didn't realize just how big they were haha. It has helped alot with ABS, I have only ran it up to 36C but I am scared to go higher until I get the electronics box out and under. But I havent had any warps or splits since on taller models.

[jdacal]

Pretty neat box, nice and huge too! Wish I had the room for something like that.

[jsc]

It is huge. The M2 looks like a half size model in it.

[pyronaught]

I've run my enclosure as hot as 42C when printing ABS but I still get issues with gear teeth curling upwards unless I print on a raft. I don't think my curling issue is really related to the ABS cooling too quickly but rather the ABS actually shrinking when it gets too hot. Thus the ABS contacting the heated plate will shrink over time due to the heat, whereas the layers farther up the stack do not shrink. Each successive layer that is further from the plate shrinks less and less, so you get a taper effect around the edges. Using a raft does a pretty good job of eliminating this problem though-- not because it holds the first layer down better but because it acts as an insulator. The raft itself doesn't seem to have this shrinkage problem, probably because of the thin lattice it is built from which allows it to dissipate heat a lot faster than a solid mass. Support material that starts on the plate also does not shrink since it also has a similar lattice structure. Solid pieces with 100% infill printed directly on the plate will shrink the worst.

I haven't had issues with layers delaminating easily, but I have noticed that threaded fittings made from ABS will pull themselves apart more easily than PLA when two threaded parts are exerting opposing forces on each other. On the plus side, ABS seems to be more air-tight than PLA in terms of making parts that need to hold pressurized air or water. PLA will leak like a sieve, whereas ABS leaks considerably less and can be made completely air tight by spraying with acetone enough times to create a glossy shell around the outside. It would be nice if there were a way to do that same thing with PLA. I'm guessing there is probably a way to fix the pin hole leaks by tweaking the print settings too, it's just so time consuming using trial-and-error to get there that I haven't bothered.

[uslimey]

Here's my enclosure... It's actually a wall mounted 19" server rack that I added feet to... It has access panels on the sides and doors on the front and back... I have yet to add a heater, although so far my ABS prints have been pretty good without it...

M2 enclosure.png (891.64 KiB) Viewed 15173 times

[pyronaught]

Here's my enclosure... It's actually a wall mounted 19" server rack that I added feet to... It has access panels on the sides and doors on the front and back... I have yet to add a heater, although so far my ABS prints have been pretty good without it...

M2 enclosure.png

You've already added the heater-- the M2. The heated platform is a very effective chamber heater that eliminates the need to ever add a separate heater. In fact, it works so well that what you really need to add is a cooling fan to vent off excess heat.

[rsilvers]

Making an ABS print in mine now. My bed is on 110C and the enclosure is at 120F near the top but cooler under the bed. 120F is as hot as I want it to get due to the electronics.

The idea setup would be to get a temp controller from Amazon and set it to turn on a 300 watt light bulb below the set point and activate a fan above the set point. I have this one, but have not used it yet:

http://www.amazon.com/Lerway-All-Purpos ... controller