# Form1\[+\] resin heater howto **URL:** \ **Category:** General Discussion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form1-resin-heater-howto/8467 "2016-06-05T18:12:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChristopherBarr](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/christopherbarr/32/645_2.png) [@ChristopherBarr](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/ChristopherBarr)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form1-resin-heater-howto/8467/1 "2016-06-05T18:12:33Z")
Greetings, Here’s some detailed info on my Form1+ resin heater build. This should work fine for regular Form1’s as well ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/2X/2/2f2e30933f3062c358ae9e608b8d9273949186f8.jpg) Overview of heating unit setup, with thermometer orange light on (light goes off in a couple minutes, but digits stay visible) ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/2X/3/3bb1f990ee57d5f162191daf3273ec2b09780e89.jpg) Thermometer probe location detail. I had to bend the probe a little tighter to get it to fit lengthwise into the tank. ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/2X/3/3a4a89811543b3f80b3e4ec530af7af7113fe360.jpg) Heater wire/Thermocouple detail view. Tan is silicone heater wire, black is the thermocouple for the controller (controller not shown, outside of printer. See BOM for link to controller.) The tan stub sticking up in the corner is the end of the heater wire. ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/2X/3/39c5e303064fbc602a483127146fd8af6a58ed1c.jpg) Target temp left, actual temp right. Timer on bottom if you need it. Overall a very nice probe thermometer. It came with a self-stick magnet, but it was wimpy, and the self-stick came unstuck. I bought high-power magnets, and epoxied one to the unit. I use the other extra magnet, plus the one that came with the thermometer on the top of the Z-tower to hold the heater wire lead and thermocouple wires out of the way, and direct them out the back of the cover. Not visible, I used a 1/8" thick piece of neoprene gasket material to pad out the hinge of the orange dust cover. This gave me just enough room to allow the cables out the back of the dust cover, without misaligning the hall-effect cover switch. ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/2X/d/da6bfae6e4099d049ef1a32e711b4778c5f866c5.png) Clip used to affix the heating cable to the tank walls. The stagger of the wires makes the resin have to cascade between the wires, enhancing the heating thereof, and keeping the wires low in the tank. The resin is really low in these photos, and I would add more before printing again. Attached is a _compressed_ form file. It’s really a zip file, so **rename it by removing the ‘.form’ extension**. The upload feature won’t allow zipfiles, so I had to rename it to upload it. The form in the zip has 12 clips already arranged for printing. [heaterclips.zip.form](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/2X/b/b9c94b53df88a52826ca9f603b1337fd7d6d9bf6.form) (3.8 MB) **Bill of Materials** - [Thermostat temperature controller](http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=125&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=1&SearchContext=YTo3OntzOjg6IlNlYXJjaElEIjtzOjE6IjEiO3M6MTA6IkRhdGFiYXNlSUQiO3M6MToiMiI7czo3OiJLZXl3b3JkIjtzOjI2OiJIZWF0aW5nL1RoZXJtb3N0YXRzL0dhdWdlcyI7czoxNToiUHJvZHVjdENhdGVnb3J5IjtzOjc6IkhlYXRpbmciO3M6NzoiSGVhZGluZyI7czo5OiJUZXJyYXJpdW0iO3M6ODoiU2VhcmNoX3giO3M6MToiMCI7czo4OiJTZWFyY2hfeSI7czoxOiIwIjt9) - [Heating cable - 11.5’ / 15w](http://www.zoomed.com/db/products/EntryDetail.php?EntryID=116&DatabaseID=2&SearchID=1&SearchContext=YTo1OntzOjQ6IlBhZ2UiO3M6MToiMCI7czo4OiJTZWFyY2hJRCI7czoxOiIxIjtzOjEwOiJEYXRhYmFzZUlEIjtzOjE6IjIiO3M6NzoiSGVhZGluZyI7czo5OiJUZXJyYXJpdW0iO3M6MTU6IlByb2R1Y3RDYXRlZ29yeSI7czo3OiJIZWF0aW5nIjt9) - [Neodymium magnets](http://www.kjmagnetics.com/proddetail.asp?prod=BY0X02) - [Probe thermometer](http://www.amazon.com/Cappecs-Highly-Accurate-Kitchen-Thermometer/dp/B017GXGX18/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1465147014&sr=8-3&keywords=cappec+thermometer) It should be fairly self explanatory, but post if you have questions. ---
**Author:** ![FalconFour](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e0b2c6/32.png) [@FalconFour](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/FalconFour)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 4:07am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form1-resin-heater-howto/8467/2 "2016-06-14T04:07:32Z")
Perhaps a silly question, as I’m still struggling to get a usable print out of my “new” Form 1 (not +), but… why a heater? From what I saw, it has a pretty narrow temperature range in the realm of room temperature (64 to 82 F, or 18-28 C). What happens if you exceed that temperature, like … to 43 C as in the photos? 😲 ---
**Author:** ![ChristopherBarr](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/user_avatar/forum.formlabs.com/christopherbarr/32/645_2.png) [@ChristopherBarr](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/ChristopherBarr)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2016, 10:43am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form1-resin-heater-howto/8467/3 "2016-06-14T10:43:10Z")
> [@FalconFour](#): > > why a heater? viscosity. thinner resin provides less resistance to the forces at play. > [@FalconFour](#): > > What happens if you exceed that temperature, like … to 43 C as in the photos? 😲 the result is _significantly_ better prints. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex025/uploads/formlabs/original/3X/5/b/5bc2bdf993ff27c2e0eecab5010b25626fbb327a.png) [@system](https://forum.formlabs.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2016, 10:43am UTC](https://forum.formlabs.com/t/form1-resin-heater-howto/8467/4 "2016-06-28T10:43:17Z")
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