This is my first winter FDM printing, I need advice on ambient temperature variations.

3D Printing
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1

This is my first winter FDM printing, I need advice on ambient temperature variations. It was a steady 30c in my apartment all summer, but now it has dropped to the high teens in the evenings (18-20c roughly). Any advice for tuning temps? Did a PID tune recently but with my apartment getting up to 30c during the day and as low as 18c at night, I am wondering what effect it will have on long prints? Do I need to stabilize the printer’s environment with this much variation to ambient temps? insulated enclosure?

2

Insulated enclosures are always a big help – both from drafts, and to keep an isolated temperature. I’d consider one simply from a noise isolation standpoint; many benefits to them. However, I’d still leave cooling fans active – while isolating from drafts helps, it can also create areas where air isn’t moving and parts cool more slowly than you want them to – depending on the material you’re printing.

3

While I have heard of people printing ABS and PLA in rather cold instances…one person claimed to be printing in an igloo…cold weather printing sucks.
Definitely get an enclosure. It does not matter much if it is a closet or a plastic bag or a wall that is at least 4 inches high. I once used simply aluminum foil. The need for heat insulation for the bed is why there is an option for printing a wall around the objects. The wall will not help as much if it detaches from the bed and fails to stick to the bed and does not finish printing so that it can not do its job.
After the first 4 inches, I think the shrinkage in ABS should not damage the printability much.
Insulation around the bottom of the heated bed should help heat up times.

4

I think a lot of this comes down to what materials you print. I never notice any drastic changes in PLA but out ABS lulzbots do suffer in the colder rooms. PETG seems to lean on the PLA side for me at least

5

I run an extra space heater to bring room temperature up to the 22 -24 degree range

6

i had a printer in a cold balcony last winter and pla worked fine upto 10-12C ambient temperature. with a heated bed at 60c. The trouble started when the temperature fell in the range of 0-5 C. At that temperature the parts either popped mid print or warped .

7

In case it was not already known, ABS shrinks when it cools which can cause prints to pop off the bed. They just will not stick all the way and at least some of it will curl up. PLA does not really have that problem.

8

My Printer Room runs from 18c to 24c depending on how many printers are running. Heating is kept off as either side of that range I get issues.

9

@NathanielStenzel pla behaves the same way as abs in ambient temperatures of 0-5C… it warps and pops… all plastics behave the same way and shrink , Its just that PLA behaves well at normal room temperature and doesn’t have so much temperature difference between the layers to make it warp… Abs behaves the same way at 50-60 degrees ambient temperature and thats why needs a heated chamber for large prints…

10

Thanks for the advice everyone, looks like a bit lower temps may actually help my prints, 30c being a bit on the high side for some that like active cooling. I think the 30c and the heatbed might have actually been causing some overhang issues on lower layers. Seems gone now that the days are cooler.