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?
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.
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).