Greetings,
I just received my Artisan 3-in-1 and am trying to decide the best place for it due to it’s rather massive footprint. I purchased the Air Purifier add-on thinking I might be able to put the setup in my Study but that’s looking like it might not work out.
My second choice for where to put it is in my Garage.
I saw a post on the 2.0 (https://support.snapmaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/4417387746455-2-Operating-Environment) listing it’s environment ranges as 32-104F and 30-70% Humidity but cannot find a similar post for the Artisan. Does it have similar tolerances?
I live in Georgia so good ol humidity is ever present 24/7/265. Right now my Garage is ~54F and ~50% Humidity. In my Study it’s more like ~74F and 40% Humidity currently. Both environments can fluctuate wildly and randomly throughout the year with the Garage probably seeing the upper and limits of both Temp and Humidity at times.
Does the Artisan enclosure w/ Air Purifier provide any help with Temp and/or Humidity control?
Given the size of the Artisan I’d rather assemble in it’s permanent place rather than move it later.
If anyone has any thoughts or insights I’d appreciate the advice.
Garage is a bad idea IMO, especially for 3D printing. The print performance is heavily influenced by ambient temp/humidity. For consistently good performance you want low humidity and higher ambient temps (>65f). Garage in Winter is low humidity but cool, in Summer it’s high humidity and warm. The changing environment will make it very difficult to get consistent results.
High humidity will soak into PLA filament requiring you to dry it or the moisture will gas as steam during printing and cause the nozzle to spit/pop. Low garage temps will cause bed and layer adhesion problems. I considered my garage but ended up in the basement with a dehumidifier.
I have the air purifier too. You generally don’t want to run it during 3d print so the ambient temp inside the enclosure can rise. If you’re printing with ABS or other material that makes fumes you want to filter, then the inside enclosure temp is going to nearly match ambient.
While I do not want to contradict @Fishstyx, I can say that my Snapmaker 2.0 is in a basement which tends to be relatively humid and in winter around 10-15 °C. I never had problems with too much humidity in PLA - IMHO the humidity problem with PLA is highly overrated! This video supports my claim:
I even run a 3+ hours print with PVA in that basement, and PVA is highly prone to suck up humidity. But even with PVA I had no problems (here’s my showcase: Tabletop miniature with 0.2 mm nozzle and PVA support (Dual Extruder)). Only the next day, when I loaded different filament into the PVA extruder, the PVA that was still in the nozzle emitted steam and popped with cooking water.
Regarding ambient temperature, PLA is really forgiving, unless you have a drought, which may cause your print to warp. For me, the enclosure of the SM2 (which has much more openings and slits as compared to the Artisan one) is enough to quickly create a warm atmosphere as soon as I have the heated bed at 60°C.
I hear a lot about ABS being a bugger regarding ambient conditions - I yet never used it, so no first hand experience.
The purifier I cannot say anything, I don’t own it. With a garage, would there not be a way to directly vent to the outside?
I live in a relatively low humidity environment, but I do notice that exposed filament gets very brittle if left out. I assume it’s humidity. I usually unload the filament if I’m not planning to print within the next week. When I next print, I straighten the filament out by hand, and the brittle parts snap off. If I don’t unload, the filament is prone to breaking off flush with the print head.
My experience, though anecdotal, was clear. PLA left out for weeks in warm humid conditions became both brittle and stringy. YMMV so give it a try. If the garage conditions work out then great, but I stand behind my comments that if you want consistent results you need to limit the variability of ambient conditions.
My PLA prints come out best when the filament is dry and the ambient temp is between 70’ and 90’f inside the enclosure.
From what I’ve found in a few YouTube reviews, the CNC produces ~85db so having it in my Study wouldn’t work out given the number of conf calls I’m on during the week. Gonna have to be the garage.
I do have some DIY filament boxes that I’ll be employing with the Artisan and looking into a dehumidifier for the garage. Currently building a table for it and monitoring temp/humidity in the garage to see how things fluctuate. I have a weather station outside to reference and know when it’s ‘safe’ to open and not muck up the inside conditions
Should be an interesting adventure getting things dialed in once everything is assembled and running.
I too have mine in a garage. I live above the 45th parallel, it gets COLD here . I’m with @Hauke , the enclosure is really good at stabilizing temps. Outside ~25°F, garage ~30°F, in enclosure after a 15min preheat @65°C ~65°F (+/-5°), rising to the ~70sF after a few layers are laid down. Operating enclosure temperature fluctuates based on bed temperature a little, not by much. I just bump the bed temp 5° when its super cold. Keep in mind thermal expansion/contraction. I always run the Bed/Z calibration prior to printing, and keep that door closed!!! I have had very minor issues with adhesion. Only the smallest, teeny tiny parts sometimes don’t stick (first layer is literally a dot; top of hinge); functional part, just add a brim and forget about it. I don’t know how higher temps will affect it but it’s more than capable of keeping itself warm. I threw a few towels over the enclosure to insulate, I don’t really think it’s necessary though. We will see when winter finally decides to arrive if I have issues, but luckily I can heat the garage in a pinch. In Sub-Zero temps (-20°F is not out of the question here), I expect with some insulation and warming up the garage first for a bit, I won’t have to constantly heat the garage for the duration of long running prints. If I find extreme cold inhibits printing I’ll probably just have to settle for laser/CNC tinkering for the winter, oh woe is me .
I used to live in Louisiana and kept my printer in the garage. I didn’t have the air purifier at the time and just vented under the garage door when I needed to.
I kept my filament dry with a dehydrator and never had issues from it. I printed in cold (20f was about it) without issue; obviously would take longer to heat up. The printer actually liked the heat.
I live in MN now; I keep it inside my basement now and use the air purifier.
Got the rolling table built and the Artisan assembled.
What a BEAST!
Ordered some longer filament tubes that should arrive today. The default ones won’t reach to the dry box of each spool.
I’ve always stored my opened filament in an igloo cooler with some DampRid that’s worked out pretty well but have started looking around for a decent filament drier that doesn’t cost a ton without getting a cheaper one that turns out to be crap.
Garage temps and humidity since I started monitoring have been low 40s to high 50s (F) with humidity ranging low 30 to mid 50% when not raining. Currently 55F/34% today so seems to be within ranges I can work with.
Of course, Summer in GA is a whole new level of fun with Heat holding you down while his brother Humidity beats you to death so adjustments may be needed in 4-5months
Testing fun begins later today once the filament tubes arrive
and not muck up the inside conditions
. I’m with 
.
