Hello there! My friends gifted me an Ender 3 printer, and I achieved my first successful print today! I have a few (probably stupid) questions:

  1. I will store it in my garage, in a shelve among other things. It is quite dusty, so I’m thinking of building a plexiglass hermetic box to keep it while powered off. Would it be a problem to keep it closed also while printing? This would change the type of box I’ll build, because there is not much space and I’m trying to save the most of it
  2. How do I store the filament? I (currently) have only one filament (black PLA), so I see no need to remove it from the printer each time, but leaving it “connected” (I don’t know how to say it) will not allow me to store it in a different way the printer is stored. Do I need to store it in special ways or can I leave it connected? (And bonus question, what is the correct word to say it?)
  3. If I don’t move the printer, how often should I calibrate it?

Sorry if these are basic questions, I’m taking my first steps into this magic world… Thanks in advance!

  • rambos@lemmy.worldEnglish
    9·
    2 years ago

    Enclosure will protect printer from dust and it will also keep the ambient temperature more stable. Dont make it hermetic sealed, better add few holes on the front and few on the back for example. I have a low rpm fan with dust filter because I mostly print PLA and in long prints (12h+) temperature can go a bit too high if there is no airflow at all. Keep in mind that enclosure should be removed sometimes for mintainance, removable sides is what you should look for.

    You can leave filament on the printer, but if you dont use it for a long time it could get wet and then you have to dry it. Keep the rest of the spools in plastic sealed box or bag and put some silica gel inside.

    Full calibration should be done once, but fine tuning when you face some issues or when you change to different brand or filament type. It depends how well the printer is assembled and how experienced you are, it can take only 5 min every few months, but begginers can spend days sometimes.

    Extra tips: clean your rails and wheels whenever you can (once a month at least) for dusty garage. Get a kitchen sponge, drill a hole in it and guide filament trough the hole to remove any dust before extruder.

    Welcome to the most fun hoby and happy printing!

    • tubbadu@lemmy.kde.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      Thanks for the great answer! The enclosure should have holes while printing, but is not necessary when it’s powered off, correct?

      I’ll grab a kitchen sponge!

      • rambos@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        2 years ago

        Correct and sounds like the best of both worlds

        I’ll grab a kitchen sponge

        You can just cut 30x30 mm peace and zip-tie it over filament 😉

  • www-gem@lemmy.mlEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    I will not reiterate the great things others have said but I’ve used old windows to create an enclosure for my printer and it definitely helps with the prints. Also since you’re a new user and have an Ender 3, I would recommend you to take a look at thingiverse.com and printables.com - if not already done - for great tweaks to protect your printer but also to find great things to print.

    For your printer, you may be interested in cable guides, filament guide, spool roller, fan duct, bed lock (they will keep your bed in place so you will not have to deal with bed tramming anymore before your bed leveling sessions)…

    Finally, although a little bit off topic, if you get bored to walk to your printer to watch the prints and would like to add some level of safety in case anything goes wrong I would highly recommend considering octoprint.

    • tubbadu@lemmy.kde.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      Thanks for the answer! The first thing I printed is indeed a tool holder I downloaded from thingverse. I don’t understand very well the purpose of the bed lock: it basically avoid the “calibration screws” to accidentally “unscrew” while the printer is working?

      Octoprint seems very very VERY interesting, but sadly in my garage there is no internet connection :(

      • www-gem@lemmy.mlEnglish
        1·
        2 years ago

        I don’t understand very well the purpose of the bed lock: it basically avoid the “calibration screws” to accidentally “unscrew” while the printer is working?

        You are correct. The screws will move a little bit when you print which will result in your bed being unleveled after few prints and you’ll have to recalibrate your printer. This hack will eliminate that so you will have to level your bed less frequently (because as others said, leveling your bed will be needed for other reasons).