"Heat soaking"?

Is this just something that's done the first few times I print to get everything settled in? It seems like a hassle and a waste of energy to leave a printer heating for an hour before each print sesh, especially if one were to only print a few times a week.
5 Replies
Woodside
Woodside•2y ago
I am building a 400x and wonder how necessary this is for non-critical prints
miklschmidt
miklschmidt•2y ago
heat soaking is something you do on an enclosed printer when printing stuff like ABS or PC. 30-45 minutes is enough, and hour is best, and you do it before each print. It will allow everything to expand from heat so it doesn't change while printing (which can cause all sorts of problems).
Woodside
Woodside•2y ago
So if I leave the enclosure open for PLA or PETG it's not really as necessary?
miklschmidt
miklschmidt•2y ago
Indeed, it isn't 🙂
Woodside
Woodside•2y ago
Wheewh, thank goodness. Was worried I doomed myself to needing to wait an hour every time I needed a 10 minute PLA part. Heating up for ABS is fine became those parts usually take a long time anyway. Not like I'm regularly wanting ABS benchies.
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