It is mentioned that one should leave the door open when printing with PLA otherwise it might get too hot.
I guess this highly depends on the surrounding temperature in the room.
Instead of this vague “you should print with door slightly open” I’d like to get some insight in what is considered a desired temperature inside the chamber of the P1S or at what room temperatures should the door be open?
It feels odd to me that someone designs a printer with an enclosure and fans running at 100% and tell you you should keep the door open.
As an engineer my reaction is that the fans have the incorrect specifications for the job they are tasked with or am I missing something?
The reason for the recommendation is the risk of heat creep, i.e. for the temperature of the “cold end” (the upper part of the hot end) to exceed filament softening temps (which is particularly low for PLA), causing the material to expand and clog the cold end.
In my case, I have always been fine with comparably high chamber temps of 35-39°C on my X1. A warm chamber helps against warping and curling. There are two very important caveats:
Do not attempt ironing with such a high chamber temp
Do not use such high chamber temps for prints with many retractions in a short time
Unfortunately I do not have an upper experience value for cases where ironing and/or many retractions are needed. I’d expect typical ambient temps of 25-30°C to be OK’ish as I have not come across reports of increased heat creep from printers in warmer environments here in the forum.
Right now the ambient temp is around 24°C and the chamber temp goes up to 38-39°C in the upper right front corner (behind the logo). However, during summer months the ambient temp will go up significantly, up to 28-30°C some days/weeks. We are not used to these temperatures in Sweden so the houses are not built for cooling with AirCon units. We have mainly focused on heating our houses. I can only cool some of the rooms and the room with the printer is not prioritised
Guess I need to keep track and open the door or the lid if the temp goes up to 40 or higher inside the printer.
You could also remove the activated carbon filter before the exhaust fan to increase air flow. Yet, the P1 and X1 series printers don’t have a true inlet for fresh air, so you probably still need the opened door.
On the newer printers, they have addressed that with automated flaps to allow fresh air in.
I solved it by printing a riser and adjusting the temperature by sliding the top lid. As I mainly print with PLA I keep the lid open 1-3 cm and it keeps the temperature down. If I switch to PETG I close the lid.
