People have been saying that 3d printing is dangerous, Unfortunately it is true, but following these 3D Printer safety tips, you can make it as safe as any other electronics in your house. take a look on our tips to make sure your printer is safe!
#tip one! fix your thermistors!
The thermistor is a device used to measure the temperature, and if it get off the heater block, the temperature reading will be lower than it actually is, this temperature can get dangerously high and igniting the plastic on the nozzle. Take a look on these two examples
#tip 2! Enable the WatchDog!
Repetier and Marlin latest versions have support for an watchdog. This feature will look for errors in the system, one of these errors is caused by a loose or defective thermistor, which will power on the heater for more time than it should, overheating the nozzle and risking starting a fire, This process is easy, but requires you to have access to the configuration.h file
#tip 3! Check for electrical hazards!
Examples of unsafe conditions that can lead to fire:
Two big mistakes have been done in this picture, the connector is not properly rated, and the cable have a lot of exposed areas
In this picture, we had Insufficient clearance between plastic connector and power components, which has melted the connector, luckily it did not touched the metal part, if it did, a huge short would have happened.
This chinese PSU is supposed to deliver 500w. but actually it only delivers about 140w RMS. What is RMS? it means the real power, how much can it handle for a long time. On cheap PSU’s bad quality components will be used and this might be dangerous for long time prints
Now that you have seen some tips on how to make your printer safe, get of your chair and go check if everything is fine. If you need any further help, just asks us on the “reply” section below. Also, feel free to share your ideas and tips to us!
Good to know. I have a hand held laser pointer that reads temps. I plan on using that as a back up check. It’s really accurate. Back when I I used it in my gas powered R/C cars and buggies I had to check the engine heat sink temp every 5 to 10 minutes..it always matched up with the thermostat that physically hooked around it. I have a healthy respect and fear of fire these days because I can’t eccape in a wheelchair as fast as others. I imagine the majority of people here use their 3D printers in the garage or somewhere that has a cement floor..Or do you use it on your ketchen table or somewhere inside the house?
Safety first!
thanks for the tips
thanks for the tips did not know about watchdag
watchdog
Wow, those are some great tips to look out for.
I was wondering how many of you use your 3D printer inside the house or in a garage/shop? I’m wanting to have my 3D printer inside the house because it would be a hassle to go in the garage each time I needed to check on it. I was also wondering what the likelihood of having a fire is (if you keep check of all these tips in this article)? I will be very careful when it comes to using the printer and NEVER print while I sleep!
Important tips I will take not of for when I buy my 3-d Printer.