Room Operating Conditions

[kivimagi]

What temperature ranges are adequate for running a shopbot? Can it be run at below freezing, etc?

I'm sure it runs more optimal at a nominal temperature, but I'm curious what experiences people have had with this.

[gerald_d]

We ran at 40oC today - no problems. (that is over 100oF)

[stickman]

Ryan, let me chime in here on this one. Good Gerald has been running in temps over 100F. For the last couple weeks, i've been running at any temp from 30 - 50 degrees. I do heat my garage with a wood burner so it does warm up. And I probably haven't ran it much at below freezing, especially when the weather was at a negative. At least until I got a little heat in the garage... But they say to keep a computer cool, for optimal performance. Mine has been quite cool at times. I haven't had any problems with it running at cold temps..

Just my experiences...

We hit the home show this weekend with our samples. Wish me luck!

[bill.young]

I don't heat my shop at night and occasionally it gets below freezing inside. I've never had a problem with the control box or router but I have had trouble with hard drives in computers not wanting to spin up until I've had the heat on for a little while. When that happens I take it as a sign to go drink another cup of coffee and give the heat a chance to run a little longer!

Bill

[kivimagi]

That is good to know. In the last month it has been down to about -25 F, here in the frozen tundra of Minnesota.

[Scott Smith (Unregistered Guest)]

You guys just reminded me why I moved to Arizona. I am looking forward to Gerald’s temps this summer. It’s cold here in the winter, mid 60’s.

[Scott Smith (Unregistered Guest)]

You guys just reminded me why I moved to Arizona. I am looking forward to Gerald’s temps this summer. It’s cold here in the winter, mid 60’s.

[prosigns]

I've often wondered the same thing. I only heat my shop when I have a job to do. I've wondered if there would be a problem with condensation on the electronics. My theroy right or wrong has been if I run it long enogh to thoughly warm up any condensation should evaporate. If I start it up and use it when it's cold I like to let it run long enough for everything to get up to temp. before shuting it back down, even if it's a small jobb I just let it idle for a while before I shut it off.

[don]

I have bot setup in my garage also, and it occasionally drops to zero overnight. I've also been concerned about condensation on the electronics. So for the last 6 weeks I've left my computer and control box on all the time.

[K Simmerer (Unregistered Guest)]

This is my second winter in the second story of a barn. Not waiting for room warm up the first season the first thing that really seemed to not like it was the monitor. Two monitors later I now use two strategies. 1.) warm the room to 55 deg F. before flippin the switch, I keep a thermometer sitting on the computer. 2.) Once started I can shut the heat down if desired and leave running if I plan to use the next day without waiting for a cold start warm up. If the room is below 32 deg. I usually still fire up the heat and don't proceed until room is over 32 deg. Have had no problems with this procedure.

Keith

[artisan]

As Don stated above....simply leaving your control box and computer "ON", should alleviate any temperature problems. Mine runs 24/7....hot or cold. Shop temp (shopbot section) runs from 15 to 95 degrees over the course of a year....D