Printer Enclosure Questions

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07-12-2016, 11:19 PM
pjfossee

Printer Enclosure Questions

I just graduated high school and am moving on to college in a few months. I have a 12" i3v and I'd like to bring it with me. My roommate likes 3d printing as well so he's ok with this. However, for his sake and my sake, I'd like to build an enclosure for the printer. Its dimensions would be about 24" wide x 24' tall x 30 " deep. My hope is that it will minimize the sound level from the printer, allow a higher ambient temperature in the enclosure for better ABS prints, and possibly filter the ABS smell or vent it out somewhere. I'm also planning on adding an octopi setup. Anyways, I had a few questions.

The first is should I add additional heating to the enclosure or will the 12" bed be enough?

Second, how hot should the enclosure get with the stepper motors inside it? I will be able to move the electronics outside the enclosure but I don't believe that will be possible with the stepper motors.

Third, I was considering using peltier thermo coolers to cool the stepper motors and as a byproduct add additional heat to the enclosure. They are about 5 amps each but would run off of a separate power supply from the printer's. Is this feasible?

Lastly, for filtering the ABS fumes, I'd like to at least eliminate the smell if not the nanoparticles too. What, if any, kind of filter material would you recommend? Activated carbon, HEPA, anything else? I envisioned a fan blowing the fumes through the filter.

Thanks!
07-12-2016, 11:47 PM
Roxy

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjfossee

ind of filter material would you recommend? Activated carbon, HEPA, anything else? I envisioned a fan blowing the fumes through the filter.

I wouldn't filter. I would vent. Even a small 1" tube would be able to pull enough air out of the chamber to keep the vapor out of the room.
07-12-2016, 11:55 PM
pjfossee

Thanks for the reply. That sounds easier. One concern I have with this and with filtering is it creating a draft. Would this be significant enough to affect the print? I thought of a few other question. Could I use a ceramic heater plugged into a temperature controller to control the temperature of the heated enclosure. I'm pretty sure it would work, but would the airflow created by the heater screw up the prints in your opinion? Besides the stepper motors, is there anything I should be concerned about if I maintained an internal ambient temperature around 50C. Would 70C raise other concerns? Just curious for planning purposes.
07-13-2016, 12:58 AM
Mjolinor

I use a travel hair dryer connected to a relay powered off the heated bed wires, heated bed removed. I also use the heated bed temperature input for measuring the temperature of the chamber via a thermistor hanging inside.

For ABS I run it at around 70 C.
07-13-2016, 02:12 AM
pjfossee

Are your stepper motors in the enclosure when it's heated Mjoliner? Is there any concern there. What about the wooden parts of the printer. Should I be concerned about them? And the cooling of the hotend heatsink. I'm assuming there's no problems there since people make heated enclosures but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Sorry for all the questions. Thanks again.
07-13-2016, 03:49 AM
Mjolinor

Yes the steppers are in there. There is no problem with steppers running that heat for ever, they can stand very high temperatures generally.

There are some pictures somewhere on the forum of mine. I think in that show your mods thread, not suer though it was a long time ago.
07-13-2016, 10:14 AM
curious aardvark

Or you could simply just not use abs :-)
07-13-2016, 01:08 PM
Ama-fessional Molder

Quote:

Originally Posted by curious aardvark

Or you could simply just not use abs :-)

Some of us like ABS.
07-13-2016, 08:14 PM
uncle_bob

If you are going to heat the print area to 50 or 70C, you want to get as much outside that area as you possibly can. That includes steppers. It certainly includes all the electronics. Unless you also want to heat up the room when you fire the beast up, count on having about 2 to 4" of insulation on all sides of the heated area.

A hepa filter is useless for plastic fumes. An activated carbon bed can do a pretty good job. It might be the size of a 20 gallon bucket and need to be steam purged on a regular basis. I have run some that were the size of a small house .... You could see us do the steam purge from 20 miles away ....

Bob
07-14-2016, 10:26 AM
curious aardvark

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ama-fessional Molder

Some of us like ABS.

lol there's no accounting for taste ;-)
07-14-2016, 11:42 AM
uncle_bob

Quote:

Originally Posted by curious aardvark

lol there's no accounting for taste ;-)

Hi

Goes well with bacon ... :)

=====

There is indeed a wide range of "stink" associated with ABS. Different people are sensitive to this or that specific "stuff". Filament that drives one person out of the room gagging can be almost un-noticable to somebody else. Get another batch of filament from another vendor ... the first person does not notice an issue and the one that didn't notice anything is now going ... yuck ...

Bob
07-14-2016, 03:39 PM
Ama-fessional Molder

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

Goes well with bacon ... :)

=====

There is indeed a wide range of "stink" associated with ABS. Different people are sensitive to this or that specific "stuff". Filament that drives one person out of the room gagging can be almost un-noticable to somebody else. Get another batch of filament from another vendor ... the first person does not notice an issue and the one that didn't notice anything is now going ... yuck ...

Bob

I don't smell it at all most of the time. By product of my career in plastic injection molding. And when I do smell it, I find it somewhat pleasant as it reminds me of my motorcycles.

ABS is used for the bodywork, and they can get quite warm at times, plus I have done a few repairs on the plastics in my day. Much like how some people love the smell of gasoline, because they spent a lot of time at the races as a kid.
07-14-2016, 03:55 PM
uncle_bob

Hi

ABS does not really bug me much either. Occasionally I'll get a batch at a temperature that I will notice. When I do, others generally do not notice it.

Bob
08-07-2016, 09:51 AM
sealfab

as far as toxic fumes are concerned is it ok to have an enclosure with no vent tube and than just have the printer near a window fan?
08-07-2016, 10:31 AM
uncle_bob

Hi

I have always just run the printer in a very normal room and not worried about it. So far I have not dropped dead because of it :) I have never seen any data that shows normal filaments at normal temperatures are a health hazard. Some of the older (years ago) ABS formulations were a bit stinky, that's about it.

Bob
08-07-2016, 05:15 PM
sealfab

Some people would disagree

https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/...es-vocs-60796/

Quote:

Originally Posted by uncle_bob

Hi

I have always just run the printer in a very normal room and not worried about it. So far I have not dropped dead because of it :) I have never seen any data that shows normal filaments at normal temperatures are a health hazard. Some of the older (years ago) ABS formulations were a bit stinky, that's about it.

Bob
08-07-2016, 06:06 PM
uncle_bob

Hi

I have never seen a HVAC system that does not meet their "air exchange" criteria.....

Bob
08-17-2016, 08:59 PM
adamfilip

Switch to PetG
its like ABS
except it doesnt Smell, warps way less and its stronger. oh and considered food safe. (not harmful particles) so ive heard.
08-18-2016, 02:45 PM
DrMacZed

Quote:

Originally Posted by pjfossee

I just graduated high school and am moving on to college in a few months. I have a 12" i3v and I'd like to bring it with me. My roommate likes 3d printing as well so he's ok with this. However, for his sake and my sake, I'd like to build an enclosure for the printer. Its dimensions would be about 24" wide x 24' tall x 30 " deep. My hope is that it will minimize the sound level from the printer, allow a higher ambient temperature in the enclosure for better ABS prints, and possibly filter the ABS smell or vent it out somewhere. I'm also planning on adding an octopi setup. Anyways, I had a few questions.

The first is should I add additional heating to the enclosure or will the 12" bed be enough?

Second, how hot should the enclosure get with the stepper motors inside it? I will be able to move the electronics outside the enclosure but I don't believe that will be possible with the stepper motors.

Third, I was considering using peltier thermo coolers to cool the stepper motors and as a byproduct add additional heat to the enclosure. They are about 5 amps each but would run off of a separate power supply from the printer's. Is this feasible?

Lastly, for filtering the ABS fumes, I'd like to at least eliminate the smell if not the nanoparticles too. What, if any, kind of filter material would you recommend? Activated carbon, HEPA, anything else? I envisioned a fan blowing the fumes through the filter.

Thanks!

I made enclosures for both my printers, 8" i3v and a 10" Pegasus. they were made from fairly cheap materials, 3/4"x 1/16" aluminum angle from the hardware store, Foamboard with aluminum foil glued to the inside and some corner peices I designed and printed. I have not had a need to add any additional heating to them the heated bed gets the insides plenty warm. My printers live in the garage which is thankfully heated and insulated but I don't keep the heat up too high, 40F in the winter. I have not had any issues with the steppers nor the electronics getting too hot. I did relocate the power supply to outside the thermal envelope so it can breathe cooler outside air and so as not to cause any odd air currents inside the enclosure. I posted some pictures a while back but I can't seem to find the post.