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:
- 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
- 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?)
- 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!
I think the other user pretty much nailed it about the enclosure. Unless you are printing materials that require high heat it is not necessary.
Now if you are in a very dusty environment you might consider one just to avoid the hassle.
However you also may want to look online, there are some simple and fairly inexpensive pop up enclosures that work very well. I have been using one for a while now with mine and I print ABS pretty regularly. I just tore all the electronics out of my printer and printed a control box for it (external) to the outside of the enclosure.
It is a pretty dusty environment, and when it’s raining it may also get pretty high humidity, so I was thinking of a sealed enclosure to protect while it is not used, with a removable front side when it’s printing to avoid overheating the air inside