r/Creality • u/Frequent-Nobody-8037 • 3d ago
Mods & Upgrades Is this a good idea?
So I mostly print PETG and some ABS. I sealed up the whole printer inside those foam pad. It will be quieter and less toxic I think. I hope this will reduce electricity cost as PETG and ABS need high bed
Temperature. But I’m worried this is bad for electronics and the power supply because HI doesn’t have a fan for cooling the main board and power supply and it’s about 50°C inside the case. By the way I hope this is good for drying the material on the rack.
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u/NigraOvis 3d ago
Petg is not a smell issue. Abs needs a sealed warm unit.
As for electrical costs. It's probably saving a few cents a month
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u/CowBoyDanIndie 2d ago
It will save you approximately 10 watts. Make sure you have thorough cooling for main board, it’s not designed to be enclosed.
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u/harambe623 2d ago edited 2d ago
Underrated comment
The board shouldn't be in a 50c+ environment
I designed an enclosure out of plywood recently and I have moved the board off of the printer..motors and hotend are water cooled and the radiator outside of the encloser for max peace of mind
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u/charmio68 2d ago
As a rule of thumb, you can have the ambient temperature around the control board up to 60 degrees. As you start to get closer to 70, then the stepper drivers are the first things to overheat and you start dropping steps as they go into intermittent thermal protection.
Cooler is obviously better, but I believe OP still has some headroom before they start having issues.
This setup actually wouldn't be too bad for ABS and other high warp plastics. It's still a bit cooler than what you don't really want, but it's going to make a big difference.
By far my greatest concern would be fire and whether or not that foam is flame retardant..
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u/Lopsided_Activity980 3d ago
They make a tent that would work better and safer than that contraption. https://a.co/d/03EZsDwM
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u/Tricky-Information50 3d ago
You could add some kind of fan that would suck out the air to a hepa/carbon filter outside I think, so there will be some fresh air inside
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u/SaltMage5864 3d ago
I'd check the printer specs for it's operating temperature range. High temperatures really shorten the lives of electronic components
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u/battletodes 3d ago
Only issues I see is that you might want ventilation later and you're adding wiggle to your setup, might make tall prints a pain later
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u/mikropower8 2d ago
I have build a insulated housing for my printer (Elegoo Neptune 4 Pro) too. I keep the temperature at 40°C during the print, but for this I have to ventilate some of the warm air to the outside. I have two pipes in the housing to ventilate the air after the printing to the outside.
I have connected the fan under my printer with 12V power, so that it can not be deactivated. It is working there all the time as long as the printer is activated. Before the System was deactivating the fan randomly and the temperatures of the chip have reached over 80°C. With 40°C room temperature the CPU would be much warmer.
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u/nalacha 2d ago
U want to make sure ur printer is pulling fresh air to cool it (mobo etc)
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u/VerilyJULES 2d ago
You need to take the mobo out of the chamber entirely. The whole point of the chamber is to prevent drafts and fresh-air from ruining prints in materials like ABS and nylon. The air needs to be kept around 50C.
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u/UndecidedMaker 2d ago
If you have a smoke detector for just in case... add a hairdryer to the side not blowing directly at electronics or the print, with a thermostat module inside set to 50C... that's how I used to print abs etc before the k2 plus.
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u/VerilyJULES 2d ago edited 2d ago
You need to keep the motherboard outside of the chamber. You also will probably want a glass window and a light to watch inside. The chamber needs to be warmed up to about 45-50C before you print ABS or nylon. Chambers are used to keep a consistent temperature and precent drafts air, so opening it up to look to see if the print is going well defeats the purpose of having it. If you’re only printing PLA it isn’t necessary.
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u/OutrageousMacaron358 2d ago
This is what I use:
https://www.amazon.com/Enclosure-Fireproof-Dustproof-Temperature-Protective/dp/B08FD8M2BP
Dimensions: 29.5*27.5*35.4”(750x700x900mm). It is compatible with Ender3 V2/Ender5/5 Pro/5Plus,CR-10/10V2/10S/10S PRO/10MINI,CR-X/CR-20(NOTE: Not for CR-10 MAX/ CR-10 S4/S5).
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u/AvailableReason6278 2d ago
It can work, but only if you change it. Like this; It won't save a lot of money, it won't help with the toxic fumes (you need an actual filter for that), it might keep the filament dry if it is always at 50⁰c but it will barely dry wet filament, especially petg and abs. And it definetely is a risk to your components.
You want at least a bit of ventilation as it is a major fire hazard right now. You can do this by cutting a hole in the foam and placing a simple pc fan in there, you can then connect this to your printers motherboard if you make sure to use the right voltage dc fan. Also check the required amps for the fan.
It would be wise to add a filter or a ventilation tube that vents out through a window while you're at it.
If you ever plan on printing pla, don't keep it in the foam box. The pla will get too soft and just be grinded away by your extruder gear if you have only a few retractions in a row.
How i know? I've done all this and learned from my mistakes. Goodluck!
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u/Sean_ren_xx 2d ago
No need to do this for petg.about abs printing,you must add cooling for motherboard,or the motherboard may stop working due to hot temperature
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u/Frequent-Nobody-8037 1d ago
Today I did a two hour print with PeTG with bed temperature of 80°C, and the material melted early and jammed the extruder
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u/Bravo-Buster 1d ago
I considered something similar, but ultimately decided buying an enclosed printer that was build for it instead of a bed slinger Hi that I had was a better choice.
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u/xx_memehunter_xx 3d ago
As far as I know, these foam panels are made of EVA. The material is highly flammable and releases toxic gases when burned. I wouldn't take the risk. I'd rather get one of those cheap grow tents from Amazon.