A heated
chamber reduces tension caused by temperature differences within the part
during printing. This greatly reduces warping and cracks in large parts. For
printing in PLA, a heated chamber is not needed. For ABS it is very helpful. Combined
with the ABS-acetone-slurry preparation of the heated bed this pretty much
eliminates failed prints caused by warping and sticking to bed issues.
Only the
hinges of the door and the cooling fan shroud need to be screwed on the
Ultimaker. The other parts are mountable without any tools. Also they are easy
to remove. The increased temperature makes it necessary to add some additional
changes.
Parts of
this Ultimaker Original+ Heated Chamber Mod:
- Acrylic
top cover
made of 2mm Acrylic sheet:
2 Pcs Front and Back: 316mm x 300mm
2 Pcs Sides: 330mm x 300mm
1 Pcs Top: 320mm x 330mm
I used CA glue but you might use some special glue that works better.
The “guide” and “lid” parts are pushed into the slot of the back acrylic
sheet. Do not glue the lid on the top cover. It is removable, so you can easily
mount the cover on the Ultimaker, then seal the gap with the lid.
As a gasket I took a brush and cut it in two halves (see picture). This
reduces the amount of hot air escaping the chamber.
- Snap-in
side covers
Print the “Frame” parts in ABS. PLA will not last at 50°C. Print the ABS parts
1% larger to compensate shrinking. If you forgot to do so (like me), use 4x the
“latch_long” parts on the bottom and 4x the “latch”. Else just 8 times the “latch”.
Puzzle the Frame parts into two complete frames. Note, the left frame has a
cutout for the stepper motor.
print the pdf with the shape of the acrylic glass on a A3 sized printer scaled 1:1.
Glue the print on the acrylic sheet with glue stick, then cut and drill. For
mounting the acrylic on the frame, I used self-cutting screws (wood screws)
with a diameter of 3mm and a length of 10mm (actually they were longer and I cut
the tip of)
- Removable
acrylic front door with hinges.
The door is removable and locks with magnets. I used some strong magnets which
are a little overkill but that’s what I had around. Glue the magnets on the Ultimaker
so the screws of the door handle are attracted to them. Use two 4mm diameter rods
that you glue into “hinge2”. I like how the handle turned out.
- UltiControl
Bracket
I have placed the Ultimaker on a shelf facing with its front to the right. This
way I have better access to the feeder and the filament. With the front door in
place, I cannot mount the Ulticontroller on its usual place. So I made this
bracket with which you can mount it on the side of the Ultimaker. Print the bracket
twice and once the distance holder. Use countersunk wooden screws to mount the
three - pieces together. -Edit: made a shorter version of the bracket so the door can be opened when the Ulticontrol is mounted on the front side.
- Mounting
the X and Y Motors outside of the chamber
The increased temperature makes it necessary to move the X and Y motor to the
outside of the chamber. This can be done very easily. Make sure to reverse the
turning direction of the X and Y motor, else you will get a crash when auto
home. You just need to switch two wires in the connector of the motors:
https://ultimaker.com/en/modifications-and-hacks/view/2499-heated-build-chamber-flip-stepper-motor-direction?page=1#reply-11883
I had to add a 3mm distance holder between the Y-Motor and the side wall for
getting the correct alignment with the belt. (no drawing included). Also I had
to increase the size of the hole for the Y motor so I could tighten the belt
enough. - Cooling fan for mainboard (recommended) Though the electronics is not inside of the chamber, it is mounted at the
bottom of the Ultimaker, where it has little cooling airflow. In the original setup,
the board gets already quite hot and heats the bottom plate. When we raise the temperature
of the bottom plate with our heated chamber, the cooling gets even worse. Time
to add some airflow! I used a 40mm, 24VDC Fan and attached it directly to the
24V Pin on the board. If you have M4 thread-cutter, cut the thread after printing and use M4 screws to mount the fan on the shroud. The fan is quite loud, put some rubber between the fan shroud
and the bottom plate to improve this. The bottom plate is acting like a
resonance body. (Same issue with the Stepper Motors btw)