At the same time, you want the internal temperatures higher for filaments like ABS,
which happens naturally because the recommended bed temperatures are much
higher than for PLA, typically in the 105-120C range. With the fans turned on we shoot
for internal temps between 35C and 40C for 3D printers that use E3D hot ends,
because E3D recommends that temp range to avoid clogging. By keeping the
temperatures in that range it puts the least stress on the equipment and follows the
manufacturer's guidelines.
This works great for people either interested mostly in air quality or those who are risk-
averse and don't want to take a chance of clogging their hot ends or decreasing the
useful life of their printers.
More experienced 3D printer owners though, those for whom a clogged nozzle is an
acceptable risk, might want to run the temperatures higher for less warping of ABS
parts or to print nylon. In those cases, you can turn o
ff
the fans or even print one of
the vent covers and just not vent at all. For our internal print farm, we do the later on a
couple of machines where the temperature when printing ABS gets as high as 46C.
They've been running like that for years with no clogging and even with no venting of
the power supplies, we've never had a power supply fail either. Obviously, your mileage
may vary, as it depends on a lot of variables such as filament quality and the quality of
the power supply in your printer.
If you're looking for the highest temperature's possible, try turning the bed heater
on for an hour before you print.
The other part of the equation is the printer design. Those printers where the hot end is
at the top of the enclosure make it easier to achieve higher temperatures because the
hot air rises to the top, and the vertical hot end position is fixed. Those printers with
the hot ends at the bottom are always going to have more problems managing
temperature simply because the temperature is more likely to vary as the hot end goes
from the bottom to the top of the enclosure.
If you're looking to achieve a particular temperature with your enclosure, let us know
and we'll give some advice on how to manage, but its really not that hard:
Lower Temperature = More Air Flow
Higher Temperature = Less Air Flow
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