Homebrew warming belt for resin printing in an unheated garage?

[Lacathedrale]

I've got my Elegoo Mars Pro 3 in an unheated garage and it's been a superstar in the summer, but now the nights are drawing in and the temperature is hoving around single digits, the 'ideally 25c' resin I'm using is starting to protest.

 

I've seen a home-brewing warming belt recommended for this - wrapped around the resin tank and powered off 12v it seems like an ideal solution, rather than trying to heat the entire garage by fan or radiator.

 

Here's an example: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brewing-Mate-Home-Brew-Heat/dp/B0963YQG67/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2F8UNNVMG9VFQ&keywords=heated+belt+brewing&qid=1699895201&sprefix=heated+belt+brewing%2Caps%2C72&sr=8-5

 

Can anyone help me out?

[SteveM666]

That’s a cheap and effective solution but the belts can be a bit on the large size - I know, I use one for the same purpose.

However, I built a lightproof box to keep dust and stray UV off my setup (in reality it’s a cabinet where I keep all my 3D stuff safe in the garage) and I found that there is enough heat retained in the cabinet from the printer itself to keep the whole thing warm.

[drduncan]

Mine is in the attic which gets cold… 

I use reptile tank heat pads stuck inside the printer cover. I’ve also added a ‘tea cosy’ made from the rolls of radiator reflective material to keep the heat in. It’s very effective.

 

Regards

 

Duncan

Edited November 13, 2023 by drduncan

[Lacathedrale]

27 minutes ago, drduncan said:

Mine is in the attic which gets cold… 

I use reptile tank heat pads stuck inside the printer cover. I’ve also added a ‘tea cosy’ made from the rolls of radiator reflective material to keep the heat in. It’s very effective.

 

Regards

 

Duncan

Can you send me a link of those pads? I can see a few knocking around on eBay but I'm not sure what I'm looking for!

 

Cheers!

[stevel]

1 hour ago, Lacathedrale said:

Can you send me a link of those pads? I can see a few knocking around on eBay but I'm not sure what I'm looking for!

 

Cheers!

I would recommend a 16 watt model try this link https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=reptile+heat+mats&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_2_6

 

Cheers

[The Fatadder]

How do you keep a good seal on the lid of routing the wire through for that (or does it stick to the outside of the lid?

[drduncan]

7 hours ago, The Fatadder said:

How do you keep a good seal on the lid of routing the wire through for that (or does it stick to the outside of the lid?

On my photon mono I just used a round file and filed a 1/4 diameter slot at the bottom rear of the printer cover. For the photon Mono X2 it came with a slot and it isn’t as precious about the kid position as the Photon Monos are. I also use a thermostat too (again for reptile tanks, came with the first pad).

 

Duncan

[Lacathedrale]

Thanks @stevel - I've ordered one. Did you use something like double-sided tape to hold it in?

[njee20]

I’m running 7 printers in an unheated garage. I use a heat gun on the vat for 30 seconds before printing. The curing is exothermic, so it’ll stay warm. KISS. 

[drduncan]

11 hours ago, Lacathedrale said:

Thanks @stevel - I've ordered one. Did you use something like double-sided tape to hold it in?

Mine were self adhesive.

 

Here is my printer tea cosy:

 

And this is what it was made of:

Regards

 

Duncan

Edited November 14, 2023 by drduncan

[Bedders]

I put together one of these and found it very handy -https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3442165

Edited November 15, 2023 by Bedders

[stevel]

On 14/11/2023 at 00:02, Lacathedrale said:

Thanks @stevel - I've ordered one. Did you use something like double-sided tape to hold it in?

I just place it underneath the printer, and then cover it with the cardboard box the printer came in. most of them come with a self adhesive back to stick them on things.

Once you start printing the printer stays plenty warm enough, so that the heat mat can be turned off if you wish. I like to print at about 30c so the box helps get the temperature up quicker.

[stevel]

4 hours ago, Bedders said:

I put together one of these and found it very handy -https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3442165

Vogman on Youtube has design something similar and has videos on how to build this.

[Graham R]

I tried one of the 16W terrarium pads last winter, outside the printer body but inside an insulation-board shroud I made. The pad made a 4-5 degree difference after an hour or two but was not really man enough for overnight prints in Scottish winters (maybe I should have put it inside the printer). For this winter, I bought a cheap 30W fermentation belt of the type found on Ebay for under nine quid. I would have been better to get one with proper cable and a thermostat instead of the rubber-coated ‘elf an safetee nightmare which turned up. You get what you pay for of course. As steveM666 says, they are also much too long and inflexible to fit snugly round the resin tank. They would also be way overpowered for that without a thermostat: 30W of heat is a lot, and I think the resin would get too hot. That said, I simply coil it loosely around the bottom of the printer inside the shroud, shut the lid, and it is very effective and fast at warming things up until the print gets going. Sometimes a lossy system is easier/faster/cheaper/good enough …

 

Graham

[JimFin]

I also went for the vivarium pad option, 3 X 14w self adhesive inside the printer cover and insulated it. They are all connected to a thermostat with the probe inside the cover that controls the temperature in the printer. My concern with the belts concept is that it will warm the resin but for the first layers a lot of that will be lost as you plunge the cold build plate into the resin. Having the plate warm at the end of the print also makes removal of the prints easier. 

[F2Andy]

I have recently got a heating strip for brewing, and it seems to be working well. I got one with a controller, and keep it fairly low. I also got an IR thermometer so I could see just how warm it is. I set it going a good thirty minutes before hand, and turn it right down before starting the print.

[bradfordbuffer]

I'll throw my hat in to ring....

Anycubic mono x

Unheated but lined single brick garage I started to get loads of failures ....went for this set up failures are less than they where 

Overnight prints temp inside hood 20° to 22° with reptile heater

I mounted heater on to glass with the thinking isolates from cold out side so warms interior! Don't mount glass with hot glue gun like I first did ....fool!...now mounted with ct construction sealant glue.

 

Don't forget Don't block any air vents or fans at rear of printer

 

Just bought little heater for mini geeeteck 80quid printer to!

 

Black insulated hood ebay

 

I have posted the details and photos on a other thread so sozz for duplications 

[bradfordbuffer]

[F2Andy]

Further to my earlier comment, the heating strip is adequate for lowish temperatures, but not the near freezing we have had recently. I think the build plate is too cold. Now considering some kind of thermal enclosure... or accept I cannot printed when ambient temperature is less than about 7-10°C.

[njee20]

I ran an overnight print on my Saturn 2 the other night. Temperature in the garage was 3 degrees. Heated the resin and build plate (which took a while) with the heat gun, and had no issues. Perhaps combine with one of the more technical solutions for really long prints or if you have long rest times, which could contribute to resin cooling. 

[Fen End Pit]

I've just put together a heater/fan and a thermostatic controller to heat the build area of my Phrozen Sonic Mini 4k. The heater isn't too powerful and I'm only running it from a 5amp 12v power supply so all the electrics is 12v. Once running in the garage (temperature 6C tonight) it took a while to hit 25C but then would kick on for 10 Sec every 2 minutes. Best thing is I got a successful  4 hour print in the winter for the first time.

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DM4TD5W?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WK16JSX?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

 

I also used the original packaging of the Phrozen to make an insulated jacket.

 

A not so Frozen Phrozen.

 

David

Edited December 3, 2023 by Fen End Pit
addition

[Lacathedrale]

I used one of the 14 W reptile heating pads inside the enclosure of my printer. I had a electric heating fan pointing at that area too for about an hour.

 

Both of these got shut off when the printing started, and I was able to print out without any problems - so I guess there are many ways to skin a cat!

[woko]

I stick my build plate on my fdm printers build plate and warm it up that way! If you have an fdm printer it is a quick way of heating up the build plate as I find they get too cold in the winter months, and as mentioned can have a cooling effect on the resin when submerged into the resin!

 

I need to look into heating as its pain not being able to print consistently over the winter months! Njee20 you heat the vat as well with a heat gun, im wondering if I can whack that on the creality ender 5plus build plate as well to heat it up, though I think the anycubic vats aren't metallic, and may not hold the heat as well! 

[njee20]

Yes, I literally just point a heat gun on high power at the vat for a minute or so! I usually then give it a mix with a gloved finger to test the viscosity. I then point it at the build plate to make sure that’s not too cold. Seems to work. This was a 16 hour print last week, in a garage hovering around 5 degrees, the exothermic reaction is enough to keep it warm, this even has a 4 second rest-after-retract time to avoid surface blooming. 

 

[bradfordbuffer]

7 minutes ago, njee20 said:

Yes, I literally just point a heat gun on high power at the vat for a minute or so! I usually then give it a mix with a gloved finger to test the viscosity. I then point it at the build plate to make sure that’s not too cold. Seems to work. This was a 16 hour print last week, in a garage hovering around 5 degrees, the exothermic reaction is enough to keep it warm, this even has a 4 second rest-after-retract time to avoid surface blooming. 

 

Ohhhh nice wagon..

Just goes to show with temperature....many ways to skin the poor cat 🐈 

 

 

Edited January 10 by bradfordbuffer