Well, I had a few problems here in the USA. I think mostly due to parts from Amazon not being exactly the same as VOG used. The lamp sockets I ordered did not fit the printed part, I had to file and sand out the printed part and sand down the outer plastic rim of the lamp holder. Other than that the wires on the lamp holder are quite a bit shorter than the ones in the video. They barely reach inside the Junction box. Not a big deal, I can solder some wires to extend them. Just a heads up,
Thanks Mike, for this valuable and very important piece of feedback. I seem to remember mentioning in the instructions that a little fettling may be required... and if I didn't, I should have done. The parts should be very, very similar, to the point where a bit of sandpaper or a gentle touch with a Dremel will rectify fitting issues, but as you correctly point out, the products you have access to might not be the same as those I have, or a chap in Australia, Germany, etc. Plus, or course, I can never be certain that what prints on my printer at 99.9 measures exactly the same for you (yours may print at 99.8 or 100.1, etc). So thanks again. I'm posting this comment at the top on the page because I want people to understand they may need to tinker a little... and I hope the results will be worth it for them, as they have been for me. 😁
Just to echo, I just finished my build and had the exact same issue on the lamp holder part. A little sanding and wire lead extension and all was good. I do want to make one additional comment to @VogMan. As a professional CAD designer of over 25 years with extremely high standards of modeling, I wanted to offer you serious kudos to the quality of your design. Every part fit exactly as it should and all the hardware was captured perfectly by the slots and pockets. Great job sir! I have zero regrets purchasing your parts online! Keep up the great work!
Wow John, that's very much appreciated. I always try my hardest to get things as perfect as I'm able, especially when I'm serving the interests of my viewers. It's great to hear I haven't let anyone down. 😁👍
if you want an enclosure with built in ventilation potential you should get a grow tent. It has built in holes for an inline fan for ventilation and you can easily fit a 3d printer into it and this heater.
I had to stop at 4:24 and mention this: if you're comparing energy usage across different devices, you should compare watts, not amps. Yes, there's less current going through the lightbulb, but at a much higher voltage. Both factors matter for power comparisons, which is why energy storage for EVs, etc, is compared in terms of Watt-hours since different systems might be running at different voltages. In this case, your lightbulb is definitely not using 80 times less electricity, more like a quarter of it. Which is still an improvement, assuming it works equally as well as the heating element.
Great guide that goes over all the important points in wiring. I've got some tips for anyone wanting to build a heater for their resin printer: - You can wrap your cardboard with some blanket to maintain the heat and save power consumption. Line the inside with aluminum wrap and you can redirect infrared radiation back also. - For temperature controller, I used to use the identical controller featured in this video for cooking with my smoker, though I found that a binary controller like this which only turns on or off if above or below the target temperature would produce a fluctuation in temperatures, much like a sine wave if you graph the output. I do worry what impact that would have while a print is happening. Our rooms varies in temperatures, though usually not up and down by 4, 5 degrees every few minutes. - What I ended up using is a "PID Temperature Controller". It cost $35 vs $10, but a PID controller would modulate the output to eliminate fluctuations. For example, it would keep flickering the heater/lightbulb on and off as the air temperature come close to your target temp, and the flickering would get shorter as it maintains your target temp. Consistent temperature should equal to more consistent prints. (I think?) Just google "PID temperature controller" and you'll find them on Ebay. Another down side is that they're bigger. -Light bulb is a good choice for how compact it is, but you're technically wasting an amount of power in producing light when you can use a ceramic heating element would would be more efficient. The heater being outside also means that you're heating all the air outside the printer, resulting in more energy used. Though more messy, you can keep the controller outside the printer and just keep the thermostat and heating element inside the printer for way more efficiency. If the heating element is not inside a tiny box you wouldn't need to spend energy powering a fan. There are a lot of cheap consumer products that produce only heat, from cup warmers to heat glue guns, heating pads for pets or those who can solder can simply buy ceramic heating elements. Just make sure the element is not too close to the plastic cover. Currently I have my own resin printer warmer. It's much more ghetto, with insulating wrap around a heating blanket which surrounds the sides of my printer cover. PID controller maintains the temperature and it's weird looking, but it works. :)
Great video! I'll stick with the heater in your previous video however, as it fits inside the printer and is a lot faster to do the initial heating (and I bought the parts 2 days before this heater was announced 😁)
If it works for you, keep going. It was a well designed unit. It was a little thirsty on current for me, but it works, and x3msnake deserves our gratitude 😁
@@vogman I saw a comment on the thingiverse for it suggesting that you can cut one of the 2 red wires for the heater to reduce it to half the energy usage (and prevent over-heating). There's also a new remix that just got uploaded that provides a lot more space for wiring. Sadly, not pre-supported, so we'll see how it goes given the size.
Pretty cool, i might try this in winter as for now getting my room to sit under 25c is a chore even with both windows open! on a day like today that wind is a blessing! I'm in a new build with that tripple glazing and upstairs in my room is all the LEDs for the work bench as a modeller also and round the roof then the Aquarium and 3 resin printers so its a stable 26c durn the day and 21c 22c at night through early hours. the printers are up on the back wall its always warm there and out way of direct sun as got them thermal covers for when scorching sun and black out thermal sheet that velcros to the window to keep a stable heat its a great system well it works anyway! what im needing to come up with is something like a fin to sit at the side of my saturn 2 when printing the fan is on blowing cool air out at me as i sit at the side of it and get blasted with this air, so need to redirect it with an outter fin maybe? But it's been pleasant in this hot weather haha, just glad i changed to Sunlu abs it also has a pleasant resin smell compared to elegoo and anycubic stuff that stunk the gaff out to hell! I have 2 bottles of anycubic one Basic and one ABS still near full and both off with the heat! They have not held up to storage conditions and it's like when you fail at making cheese sauce all that clumpy way left in the bottom of the vat! Just good for the bin i think such a waste! Its never been in direct sunlight always shaded under bench in card boxes but think the heat itself has caused a reaction in the resin! I was just trying to use it up as changed over completely to Sunlu and so impressed with it!
Coming from an fdm printer with an enclosure and a heated bed, I was surprised that there wasn't a similar option for resin printers, at least in the common models I looked at.
An FDM machine doesn't need a transparent bed so it can have heating filaments built in easily, You could build heated filaments into the surround for the vat, but you'd either have to unplug it when removing the vat or have some system of contacts. Which would make printers much more expensive.
Great project, Vogman. I am currently using an oil-filled space heater under the table that my Anicubic Photon M3 Max sits on in my Maine-USA basement. Takes about 30 minutes from dead cold 55f to get to 68-70f when I can start printing. Also, I recommend pre-heating resin in the bottle in a bucket of hot water so when you pour that in, you have a head start. I have not had any print fails since doing the vat heating thing. My wife (the CFO of our family) tells me that I am using a couple of US $$ per 24 hour print cycle which is how long it takes to print one of my 9x11x.6 inch models. Honestly, if I had time, I would build your heater. I like that you are using a loop temp controller which makes a lot of sense. Good luck to all those who are building this cool accessory.
Will be making this for sure, but swapping the bulb+fan combo with a fermentation belt around the resin vat. Hopefully I'll be able to tinker with the casing to make it fit into my printer housing too (fingers crossed at least)
Them hot boxes are now being converted in to curing stations on The auction sites woth the controls mounted into the top for the Turn table and UV lights im interested in these for a bigger curing area and there so cheap! Also has a view window that a flap covers it of same material
THX i am going to build one...:D . It was to cold in my workshop the last weeks to print. So for the coming winter that will be solved...... Parts are on their way.
@@vogman Also very important that the build plate is warm too. I leave mine on the storage heater overnight. The resin I'm going to use gets the same treatment. The USB warmers go on full power with the lid on for around 15 minutes before I start printing. Once the printer has begun, the uv light gives out enough heat to keep things going. My idea may be better for smaller resin printers. Plus no cables. I've no idea if it would work on a larger printers. But definitely a very good point that a lot of people often don't think of when prints fail.
Great project every detail thought out. And yes why don’t the manufacturers get wise? Even using the heat from the printer. One thing I would suggest is to NOT use green/yellow insulation tape for live conductors as this is used for Earth identification which could cause confusion for fault finding by future users. 😊
You could have also used a ceramic reptile heat lamp. They are cheap, have standard light bulb sockets (E27), come in different powers (50W, 75W, 100W, 150W) and emit no light (at least not the visible type).
When I DIY for my FDM printer, I used an easily available foam board with a metal film on one side from the local hardware store. It cuts as easy as cardboard, with the metal film aimed inwards, it provides some heat reflection and heat safety. I used the metal tape to secure panels together. It's as structurally sound as cardboard, and just as light. I put the deign on Thingiverse. I agree with your concept of having larger space and not just for a heater. It allows for easier access without removing the whole case and just by opening a front panel (like the hotbox, but larger). Also, if fumes are an issue in your space, you can add an exhaust fan that when your print is done, you can trigger it to pull the built up fumes to an external exhaust vent (dryer vent).
This is a great idea! A nice upgrade would be for someone to design a printable spacer that separates in two halves that fits on the printer where the original cover sits and raises it up an inch or so, but is hollow ducting. Then have it connected to the top of the heater. That way you could have the heater pump in warmed air into the chamber, retain the original cover, and not smother the whole printer causing heat buildup that could lessen the life of the uv led array inside.
That's an interesting thought. I'm not sure we need to worry about the UV array though. The temperature never goes high enough to be an issue and there's plenty of air still moving around. The idea here is MODERATE or GENTLE heating to keep things safe and, if anything, make life easier 😁 When you mentioned and amendment, I was waiting for you to say an extra module to incorporate a carbon filter. I toyed with the idea 😁😁😁
@@vogman I was thinking about a filter. Essentially one half of the assembly would be the intake where warmed air would enter the chamber, the other would be the exhaust vent allowing the relief of the pressure of air entering the chamber which you could insert filters to filter out the resin fumes. I felt like my comment was getting a little long winded. I am definitely going to look into building your heater, I do sell a couple items I designed myself that I print and have had several instances with delays do to multiple failures caused by the resin temperature getting too low. I started using water washable resin which seemed to be less prone to these issues, but the things i make and sell are subjected to some decent physical forces and varying temperatures under the hood of a car so I switched back to syriatech blu which almost turns to a thick molasses consistency when it gets cool
Nice design there VOG. I reckon a more advanced wiring connection, albeit more expensive, would be to use the Wago 221 series cage clamp blocks with the appropriate series 221 mounting carrier; these carriers can be secured inside the 3d printed housing/module for the connections.
I am doing the same for my filament printers as they dont like to print below 15C. Those controllers where AC powered can burn out the voltage converter section on the PCB which I suppose is one way to heat your enclosure. To avoid that buy 12vDC units and a small PSU and then you can also use dual ballbearing 12v PC fans which is safer.
I agree. They could simply have ducting that ducts the air coming off the led array heat sinks up to a vent inside the printing chamber and us the dissipating heat to warm it.
Absolutely. It seems like such an obvious idea to provide an internal power socket and a small heater. Even on my small Mars 3 there's actually a reasonable amount of unused volume inside the electronics enclosure - so it could even be possible to make a low temperature (e.g. 30C) heating element entirely built in and not even visible to the user.
I agree. I've been nagging manufacturers for a while. Peopoly make a nice heater unit, but it's dimensions don't fit easily inside most enclosures - a little like my offering here 😁 Peopoly are fitting heated vats on some of their models.
I'd never heard of Biltong. Thanks for the education 😁 A quick Google Search shows me what it is and yes, the bulb in the box trick is being used there too. Nice!
Rather really handy video chap, thank you very much, did i notice you used the allen key from elegoo to pop it together? ive only just got my mars 3 pro with cleaning kit and getting into the amazing world of resin printing. i already have the Voron 2.4 and have been having amazing results with it but as im an 80's DnD fan i wanted to do more hence me getting the Mars 3 Pro, also because ive had spinal surgery i needed to keep my brain ticking over while i recover. ive been going through your videos and id just like to say thank you so much for keeping me sane as well as educating me, love your honesty, thank you chap your awesome
Great video, I used a similar idea for my first resin cure box, but instead if light bulbs, I chose to ceramic reptile heat lambs. They work just like bulbs but give off no light.
This heater is great! The only thing I would change is connecting the fan F2 to T4 (the switched output) instead of T2, why does the fan have to run all the time when the bulp isn't on? Maybe there are safety concerns, but when the bulp is off, there shouldn't be that much heat left ...
Genuinely blown away with you dedication and efforts in providing information and stellar ideas to others. This is marvellous and I just wanted to express how grateful I am for your content. Bravo 👏 About to buy the bits and build the VOGheat2022
The thermal covers are great for these i got the larger slip over covers £20 each no viewing window but not a problem, i have kept the boxes the printers came out of and have slipped them over the boxes with the centres cut out so like a card frame supporting them! They are solid work great and will have enough room to house one of these this way no bother!i was also just looking at your design and thinking i wonder if it can be mounted to the clear cover itself? with a quick release connector for removing cover? Somewhare at the top out the way of the build plate like on the Saturn 2 at the side above the carbon filter is a perfect area for it to be mounted to inside the red cover! The cover for the hole can maybe be used for feeding the wires up or adding some vent that would open on raised temps?
I have a question regarding the GU holder. The ones you linked and I bought seems to be to short? Are you sure those are the ones you use in the video? Sitting here with a box I can’t really use
I saw somewhere in your archives that you used a PID control on a furnace repair. PID controls are considered the Rolls Royce of thermostats for 3d printers because they self teach and control a constant temperature which avoids heat expansion ripples in the prints from high=off low=on thermostats. Any chance you might revisit it with a PTC heater fan for larger printers?
Great guide! Really neat design too. Unfortunately my print enclosure is in my uninsulated garage and I don't think that heater would put out enough heat to keep my enclosure at 25c during Canadian winters. I use a 1000w space heater connected to a thermometer-controlled outlet, and importantly a smoke alarm in case something goes wrong. It's powerful enough to keep it at temp and heat it back up after I open the enclosure and all the hot air gets out. I've tried a 100w heater in the past to save money but it couldn't get anywhere near the desired temperature.
So a 25watt halogen is all i need? I have a thermostat already and just need a bulb setup inside. I saw by august 1 2023, the usa is supposed to phase out halogens. What would be a good replacement? Infrared? Even though you showed in the video, i'm worried abiut resin curing inside. Any assistance would be lovely.
I don't think oven bulbs give off heat... it's more that they can withstand heat. But with that said, there are infra-red (heating) bulbs out there. I just went with plentiful, easy and cheap 😁
Rather glad that i live in a rather tropical country that have a consistent 29~34 ambient temperature 25~28 if raining /storming. i have no issues with temperature.. i also dont have an AC
I don't envy you the heat. I'm a real wimp when temperatures hit the high 20's here in the UK. I much prefer things cooler. But hey, it's a big bonus to 3D printing. Well done!!! 😁😁😁
I love your heater plan and have purchased all the components to build it plus your STL files. I am fairly new to resin printing so I have a question. I will be printing on an Anycubic M3 Premium with the resin you recommended. Do you have suggestions for the printer settings? I could not find anything in the community settings. Thanks.
What an ingenious solution! Also entertaining and a pleasure to watch. Resin stinks and of course can be a bit toxic if inhaled. Do you have any misgivings about opening the enclosure after a long print? Thanks for sharing 5⭐'s
Great idea and video! I bought and printed the pieces and I'm waiting for the components to arrive. Do you think it's powerfull enough to heat a closet? About 2 feet deep, 6 feet high and 4 feet wide in dimensions
/!\ You did some mistakes with the energy calculations but this is still a very economical design, mostly because it uses so simple and cheap components! Let me explain: The current between your power supply and the heater doesn't matter, because in the end the power supply only pulls a small current from the electric grid (for 100W and assuming 5% losses, that'd be: 105W/230V = 0.46A) and the 100W heater will be running around 4x less often for the same needed temperature, even if it was a 1000w heater it would still use the same amount of energy to make the same volume of air reach the same temperature, it would just run 40x less often. I've been looking into ways to make my resin warmer too and I must admit youdr approach is really the best, I almost regret I ordered a complete unit for 60€ already..
This is also a good design but i prefer the old one as its a compact design and fits inside printer easily. I modified your previous model file to print with ABS fdm printing flat on bed for cheap print cost and it works amazing. I can share with you files if you are interested to test it. ABS material hands heat very well and is very efficient as well. For current optimization you can move to 24v system from 12v. I am working on it i will let you know when thats completed.
Love your design and I want to try to build it now, but are the 25w bulbs mandatory? They're hard to find in Italy and so far I managed to find only one place that sells it only in boxes of 6 for around 5€ each, the 35w instead cost 1/3 of that, are there risks of overheating that way?
These thermal switch do work and I have heard of folks using them in the way you're describing, but it's not an ideal use. I'm happy to include one as an additional safety feature, but for reliability and accuracy, you may as well use the STC1000 controller which is reasonably priced 😁
In my tests the light didn't effect the resin at all, and if it did, it was so small I couldn't detect it. Not all bulbs emit the 405 wavelength, so we're fine 😁
Is it theoretically possible to use the same controller as well as the terminal block to operate the same ceramic-based heater setup as the last heater? Probably a bit of an obvious one, but i'm considering trying to combine the two designs
This is a large heater and doesn't really fit inside standard acrylic enclosures, but it NEEDS to be inside something (like the box I showed in the video). Once inside it protects from dust, stray UVs, etc, and gets warm. So no, the standard acrylic lid isn't needed. 😁
On efficiency: a halogen bulb is (I believe) around 10% efficient - in the sense that about 90% of the supplied power is lost as heat rather than light. Another way to look at that would be that a 25W halogen bulb should produce about 25*0.9=22.5W of heat. Resistant PTC heaters may well be a bit more efficient (e.g. the 100W PTC heater may be outputting over 90W of heat for 100W of input power), but for a fair comparison with the 100W PTC heater, 4 of the 25W bulbs would be outputting 90W of heat so it's actually a pretty decent solution. With the 100W PTC heater I've found that running it inside the enclosure of a Mars 3 (tight fit but possible) it'll get the temperature up to 26C fairly quickly (i.e. leave it for a good 10 mins). I can then turn it off, and with an ambient temperature of 14C (my garage at the moment) the enclosure will still be 19-20C after many (e.g. 9) hours.
Well, the halogen bulb is less efficient in this use case, as (more) light potentially escapes the plastic enclosure, and when it hits the cardboard, some of the heat will escape more quickly than if it is was used to heat the air. But anyway, it's all not by a large margin. But a normal incandescent bulb would be better than halogen, an IR lamp would still be better, and a heater element would be best in any case, particularly if directly combined with a fan, as it puts out far less IR if constantly cooled down by air.
So im thinking tp put my mars 3 pro in a tiny growtent, is this then the perfect solution fpr that? Since here in finland inside temps during winter is around 20-22 degrees
I live in a desert environment and our temps are getting down below freezing. This morning I clocked the thermometer in my WHAM BAM HOTBOX at 0.6C. It took 2 hours to get just around 18C. I think I'm going to have to go to a larger bulb. Any suggestions are welcome.
Okay... I'm going to be honest but a little nervous here... It's 2C in my garage right now, so a few days back I switched to a 50W bulb. It still takes a while to heat the enclosure, but it does the trick. It fits perfectly, BUT PLEASE TAKE CARE INITIALLY. I know the resin I used is up to the job, but obviously I can't be sure what other people are using. So test it for a little while first, keep a close eye on it, and make sure nothing goes wrong. It really shouldn't, but better safe than sorry 😁
@@vogman Thanks. I finally reached the coveted 26.5 inside my wham bam enclosure by switching my bulb to a 50W. Its surprising to me how long it takes to heat considering that the saturn 2 barely fits inside of it. I just learned about grow tents which I think would probably have been a better option. My use case is probably on the more extreme end of things so I think I need to temper my expectations. I am running a thermal vatband and the heater and I finally had the first complete plate of the winter. I appreciate your help.
@@vogman I enjoyed building it. With the 50W i think I can finally focus on other issues with my prints like supports and such like. Clever idea. I think the only things I would probably add are maybe a 3 prong cord for safety and maybe an inline fuse. I realize you were working with the cord supplied with the fan but something to think about.
The thermostatic switch link you provided for Canadian customers says that it's rated for 250V. Does that mean it's incompatible with our 120V standard outlets?
Hi Jack. Thanks for the question. I'll be honest, I hadn't really thought too hard about the voltage issue. I'm ignorant of the Mains Voltage in Canada if I'm truthful, though from what you're saying I'm guessing it's 120v. I assumed Amazon.ca would sell the ideal products for Canadians 😁 I've just spent a few minutes looking more closely. There's lots to choose from other than the one I suggested, which is great, and all seem to give a voltage of 250. This makes me think this is probably a 'maximum' voltage, which should therefore be perfectly safe. In truth, these are very simple components, usually composed of different types of metal (often termed bi-metal strips). The idea behind them is simple too... when cool, 2 pieces of metal touch and form a contact. But when the ambient temperature rises, the metal contacts expand and curl slightly, breaking the contact. It's a very basic heat-safety switch, but one that's worth including I feel. So in short, whilst I'm still no expert, I'm pretty sure these will work fine for you. I hope this helps.
Brilliant engineering. But haven't you considered putting electric heater inside the box? This things are fitted with thermostat and ready to use for 20€.
PLA is a no-no, but... ABS, HIPS and ASA fare much better, cost a fair bit less and be faster to print. Another way to reduce cost and printing time dramatically would be to use one standard sized can with bottom and top removed and adapters on both ends. Less sexy, but also safer for heat (metal is better at heat transfer and dissipation)
I actually toyed with drinks cans, etc, but settled on resin for easy build. It's not the strongest material, although of course there are strong resins out there (such as Siraya Tech Blue). But once assembled, it holds together nicely. Though like porcelain, etc, I'm not sure it would survive a high drop. Luckily repairs / replacements are just a print away.
@@vogman yes but not from wall sockets by standard. They have a +110 rail and -110 rail so have 220 potential. Technology connections has a good video about it
Man, you resin users have it easy. Meanwhile I'm trying to figure out how to make my fdm printer go over 65C without breaking my wallet or frying the printer
The problem with the 12v halogens is the bulb connectors. They're very temperamental. The bayonet fixing on the GU10s is far superior. As for safety, this is effectively just a table lamp.
@@vogman I meant the 220V being present on the entire circuit (as 12V lamps can be used with an isolated 12V power supply), but you also made a good point.
I'm not sure as I haven't tried a heated mat 😁 The benefit of an enclosure heater is that EVERYTHING gets warmed to the same temperature... so that's the resin, the plate, the vat, the z-arm, the whole printer! So whilst it takes a little longer to heat up, within a good enclosure the temperature will remain much more stable. Hope this helps.
@@vogman haha fair enough. I’ve been using a heated mat used for seed germination and it seems to work pretty well. After 20 minutes the resin in the vat is at 26c in a coldish room. Just bought a power meter so will be interesting to test it’s power consumption. Thanks and keep the vids coming. I’m a few month into owning a sonic mini 8k and your videos have been invaluable. 🏴👍
To be honest, I had flu a couple of weeks back and that really knocked me about. So far Covid hasn't been as bad as that, but fortunately I'm fully vaccinated and I like to think that's helped. Thanks for the kind words 😁
I did do a video using True Blue here - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ruiUgZ9r3yg.html but it didn't use the Mars. It's a nice resin but it takes a lot of fiddling to tune in the settings. I'd recommend Exposure Prints for that ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jOjB3Fr-0no.html
@@vogman thank you!! Much appreciated I think I got the setting close to right, though the curing is a bit of an unknown process.. siraya won’t really reply and I’m kinds stuck..
It shouldn't need anything fancy (no glycerine, etc). But I prefer to be generous when UV curing castable resins. I know Resinworks recommend at least 40 minutes on their castable wax resin, so keep that in mind.
Coils freak people out 😁😁😁 In honesty, a bulb is cheap and easy. In this set up it stays cool enough to not be a problem and yet gives off enough heat to make a difference in a small area. I like the idea of using low current devices like this.
Makes sense total sense. You got me thinking if one could set an old hairdryer on a very low wattage. It would also be an element module that most have lying around. However jerry rigging electrical things is not a great idea. I'll have to try your design when I get the chance. ^^
