MakerBot Replicator 5th gen: can I keep it on all the time?

[gregfridman]

Greetings and salutations.

I am a lucky owner of a brand new MakerBot Replicator 5th gen. It's sitting in my office, plugged into the office network. The IP does not change so I can easily access it from home or coffee shop or where-ever I go. The camera gives me a nice way to monitor its progress and see if I need to run over and fix something. I don't use it much 1-2 prints a day, usually small parts.

My questions is: Can I leave the printer turned on overnight? Over the weekend? I would love to go home in a few minutes (it's after 4pm on a Friday), relax, get a pint, make some 3D sketches I've been thinking-up and send them to the printer. Sure, it'll take 5 hours to finish the print but them the machine will just sit there buzzing all Saturday and all Sunday. It's at the office so electricity is not that big of a concern for me neither is heat it generates. The question is if the printer is fine sitting there turned on for 48 hours or is it in any way damaging to any of the parts, fans, the extruder, etc.

Your advice and opinion would be very much appreciated.

With many thanks,

Greg

[curious aardvark]

pretty sure that's not a problem. Everything should be powered down once the print is finished.

But I'm seriously impressed with the fact that you'd start a print when you weren't there !
That's confidence :-)

Also sounds like you're the first person on the forum who's got one of these running the way makerbot tell you it will.
Interested to see how this remote print-start thing works for you.

[gregfridman]

Hmm... Well, there's an app from MakerBot plus this printer comes with a camera. I can see how the print is doing right in the app or in my computer. The printer has its own IP address...

There is also a way to turn it off via the app (I think) so I suppose I can turn it off that way.

Basically, my question is if it's OK to keep the printer turned on 24/365...

pretty sure that's not a problem. Everything should be powered down once the print is finished.

But I'm seriously impressed with the fact that you'd start a print when you weren't there !
That's confidence :-)

Also sounds like you're the first person on the forum who's got one of these running the way makerbot tell you it will.
Interested to see how this remote print-start thing works for you.

[pa9k]

We leave our on all the time and after it finishes and cools the extruder back down to ambient it will power most of the components off. As in the fans will not keep spinning, the extruder will not stay heated, etc. It will basically just sit there with only the screen and lights on. Wont be an issue.

[gregfridman]

OK. Thank you very much.

We leave our on all the time and after it finishes and cools the extruder back down to ambient it will power most of the components off. As in the fans will not keep spinning, the extruder will not stay heated, etc. It will basically just sit there with only the screen and lights on. Wont be an issue.