BuzzBox Universal 3D Printer Enclosure

[Eddie]

Many smaller desktop 3D printers feature an open design, which can lead to some common problems during the printing process. Warping, curling, cracking, noise, heat loss, and fume emission are all concerns for printers with an open design. Apogee Science and Crystal Water Designs have teamed up to create the BuzzBox, a universal enclosure that can be used with smaller 3D printers that have an open frame (think some Afinia and Tiertime models). The BuzzBox has internal dimensions of 12" x 16" x 11", and has some convenience features as well as safety, such as storage and rubber feet. BuzzBox is running on Kickstarter through January 19th. Check out more details: http://3dprint.com/32184/buzzbox-kickstarter/ ‎
Below is a photo of an Afinia 3D printer in a BuzzBox enclosure:

[JRDM]

"Laser cut acrylic design for durability"

I like a *lot* of the ideas going on here, but acrylic isn't the plastic you want to make a durable frame. It will work, but even with the plastic nuts, there's still a risk of fracture because acrylic is brittle.

[h0wkeye]

Eddie - Thanks for the article!

I'm the designer of BuzzBox and it's something that friends and I have been working on for almost a year now. We used to take a cardboard box with a cutout door on it to improve ABS prints, it's come a long way since!

JRDM - Totally understand, Acrylic is prone to fracture if not cut properly and in high vibration machine guard applications it's not well suited.

We built a prototype earlier this year that is still in use today, hundreds of prints with an Afinia H479, with no fractures to report. What helps is that the acrylic is thicker (a quarter of an inch) and then laser cut (whereas machine cutting introduces micro fractures throughout the cut). Another thing that we noticed is the way the fastener points are cut out, designing in broader fillets instead of sharp edges helps tremendously. Finally using plastic nuts instead of metal helps with accidental over tightening and putting warnings in the instruction manual helps too.

Why not Lexan instead of acrylic? The driver is cost. When we did the market studies the BuzzBox suddenly become out of the reach of most maker budgets.

We are constantly looking for ways to improve the product, any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

[h0wkeye]

Due to popular demand, we have opened up 20 more $275 Single Door BuzzBox spots. 8 days to go, get yours today!

http://t.co/QwTRstpe60

[Feign]

Best of luck to you guys but I'll pass on this one.

It is a nice box though.