this post was submitted on 02 Aug 2026
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My 3D printer does not have any heat insulation on the bed at the moment. It also takes quite a while to heat up and probably wastes a lot of energy maintaining the temperature.

Is this something that makes sense to do? I would probably cover the bottom with some sort of insulating foam. I also don't want it to fall off after a while as adhesives tend to do after a while.

Is this worth doing and what materials should I use for this?

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[–] marcos@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

IMO, if you are printing PLA, it's not worth it.

The usefulness increases with the temperature. It dramatically reduced my printer's consumption when the bed is 95°C, and allowed it to heat up to 115°C without pushing it to its limit (I didn't try anything further).

I have an adhesive insulator from Aliexpress. It has lasted for a few months without any visible wear, but I can't say much about its longevity. But given the price, I would be kinda ok with it lasting only a couple of years.

[–] Rolive@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 days ago

That is also a factor, I almost always print PLA and ABS/PETG only when the part needs to withstand high temperatures (inside a car for example).