Giving the HP it's own space.

[Latigo]

We're almost done building a new addition inside the large shop area. The L25500 arrived yesterday. We have a 4' x 18' 1/2" glass topped stripping table, a Mutoh printer (intermittently running), two Graphtec plotters, computers, tables, film racks ad nauseum in the main part of the studio. Despite the decent sized area, there's no real room for the HP, not to mention the heat.

We've framed and are now sheetrocking an 8' x 12' x 8' high dedicated room for the HP. There's a 16" x 24" intake filter low near the floor on one end and we'll be installing an evacuation fan in the ceiling on the other end.
4 16" x 24" vertical windows in addition to the 4' ceiling strip light with broad spectrum daylight lamps will help with lighting. The floor will remain sealed concrete. The entry door is on one end near the intake filter.

The vented heat from the HP room ceiling will help keep the shop warmer in the winter. Its a large shop with a 16' ceiling, a large natural gas blower heat system that has to keep ahead of the often sub-zero temps here in town.

On sunday we're installing 2 220v wall plugs to handle current requirements. We'll have 8 floor anchored 60" film stands on one end of the room.

So... what are we forgetting or doing wrong with this HP setup? All of this is actually because of the expected generated heat. Can anyone see or think of anything obvious?

 

[Gino]

I don't know much about that printer, but is an 8' x 12' enough room for the printer and to get behind it to load and unload media and not restrict room infront of it a big enough room ??

Seems to me, you're not giving yourself any wiggle room.

 

[Latigo]

Its a front loader, Gino. The depth is only like 29" or so. We wheeled it into the floor layout before we started framing and there was plenty of room on all three sides.
Thanks for the response.

 

[airborneassault]

The only thing I wish I'd kept in mind is loading material onto the aluminum core. Our machine sits in a 12' square room but has to be positioned so the front loading table is at a 90 to the entry door. We did this so we can unload materials the way HP shows using their table, if we'd position it the other 180 degrees different the shaft would have run into the wall before it was out of the material. Hopefully that makes sense.
-Nathan

 

[GB2]

Yes, you really need room on the side of it for loading and unloading material, that's the consulation for the ability to put it up against a wall with no access to the back. So you ideally need about 6'+ to the right side or the second choice would be to the left side. The unit actually does generate a fair amount of heat so that little room will get pretty warm.

 

[Latigo]

Thanks for the advice.
Its up and running and man, the prints are photo perfect. The baseboard air intakes and ceiling fan evacuation in the room also work perfectly, and the room stays comfortable. The evacuation fan can be controlled so it wont overheat in there at all. If it were a closed static room we'd have a problem, but we built it with a purpose and we can control the air flow.
There really is plenty of room in there.

Thanks again for all the direction and advice we've received from S101. We're very happy with the decisions you helped us make.

 

[jayhawksigns]

Did you setup the printer yourself? We pulled ours out of the box but haven't gone any further then slapping on the wheels.

 

[Latigo]

Yup. Its running great guns this morning. Room temp is completely under control with the intake and exhaust system we built.
I stumbled a couple of times with correct programming but I've got it under control and it's begun paying for itself. :Big Laugh

 

[signswi]

Any pictures of your shop space? Sounds interesting. The more pictures the better, we've been through a few shop expansion plans and are still working it out.

 

[Latigo]

I'll get the camera in here in the next few days. Our space was limited because of the shop area. We still need to be able to get 30' long units in here and our CNC takes space to run not to mention the large steel easels with materials and fabrication and operation space required.
We don't do automotive except for our General Contractor clients. We can't avoid their large trailers because its part of the package working for them on their industrial interior/exterior projects. We typically turn away anything involving automotive.
The biggest deal is actually making it a clean-room with intakes and exhaust that's controllable like with an in-line thermostat for the exhaust fan.
It sounds like a room that's too small, but as long as we can load easily and maintain easily, a smaller room is a lot easier to control with air flow and temps. You do what works for you and our shop heating bill is heavy during the winter here.The studio stays warm, but the shop is a 16' ceiling and temp control in that clean-room can be a big deal for us.
That exhaust vents right into the shop so that will also help a little bit with keeping the shop warmer.