Cheap enclosure success!

[buggy]

Hey everyone! So I started my weekend off by trying to build a cheap enclosure cause to be honest almost anything was better than printing in the open air lol. Being that I live in an apartment it was going to be a challenge to cut any material so I had to use easy dimensions. I decided that 24x24x48. With the general idea in mind I went to home depot to see what I could scrounge up. Decided to make the frame out of wood and was able to persuade one of the guys working there to cut all the pieces to the correct size even though they said no precise cuts ( to be fair he did a terrible job cutting them all to the same size lol). For the side panels I went with some 1/2" thick foam boards with foil on one side. For the door I just grabbed a 1/4" thick 24x48 sheet of pressed wood. After a few hours of hand screwing in self tapping screws, aluminum taping the panels on, cutting out a window in the door for the acrylic sheet ( done by hand with a pull saw, did I mention I hate living in an apartment with no power tools lol) found some nice xenon light kit that actually put off a little heat when on. There was a lot more to it but all in all it turned out way better than I expected. Decided to do a semi quick print of about an hour to make sure everything was still in good working order. I printed with some hatchbox black abs. I was about 20 mins into my print when I realised I didn't use anything for bed adhesion just printed straight down on some painters tape. To my surprise I had no warping or bed separation by the end of my print!

Things I still plan on doing:
- add a way to heat it a little more (hovered around 34c as is)
- create a way to exhaust the fumes ( took an old computer fan and wired it up to a switch and power cord)
- mount a webcam to remote watch my prints.

The enclosure is nothing fancy but so far it has been working brilliantly!

[3D-Print]

Nice job!! That looks great and as you said, it has already have improved your prints.

I tried the old computer fan which did not create enough pressure to ventilate my enclosure. After 3 different fans, I did finally find one that worked very well to exhaust the enclosure. Here is the amazon ( gotta love Prime) link to the squirrel cage fan (12CFM, 16 mmAg pressure, 42 dBA) that I used. (http://www.amazon.com/Brushless-Cooling ... hat+I+used)

Here is the link to my ventilation fan and etc that I build. If anything give you ideas or helps..... awesome..... (http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... 458#p70707)

[buggy]

Awesome thanks for the tip! I will definitely check it out after work! Any tips for heating?

[3D-Print]

Awesome thanks for the tip! I will definitely check it out after work! Any tips for heating?

I hung 3, 50w halogen bulbs on a dimmer switch in the chamber. Easily get the chamber to 60°C at Print head level when on full intensity and a bed at 90-100.

As well nicly lights up the chamber.

[AlanZ]

Keep in mind that the electronics and stepper motors are also been heated in this type of enclosure. This could result in various types of failures.

[buggy]

Keep in mind that the electronics and stepper motors are also been heated in this type of enclosure. This could result in various types of failures.

Thank you that is a very good point. without any extra heating it stays about 32c inside the enclosure when i was printing. Im going to do a longer print in the next few days to test how well it prints in this condition to see if heating it further is even necessary. My only concern with exhausting the fumes is will it create some form of draft within the enclosure as the air is sucked out? has anyone experienced this? would the location of the fan matter say being mounted on the enclosure versus being mounted at the exhaust nozzle exit?

[AlanZ]

Buggy,

The question is what is the temperature at the electronics board (especially when the power supply is exhausting its heat into the base near the electronics)

[buggy]

Buggy,

The question is what is the temperature at the electronics board (especially when the power supply is exhausting its heat into the base near the electronics)

To figure that out im going to need a more accurate temperature measuring device other than the indoor/outdoor thermometer that i am currently using lol.

[3D-Print]

I have used my chamber at 40-60 degrees for a year without issue. However, agree that the only thing that was exposed to the high temp is my extruder stepper (the Rambo was in the base, not exposed to the heat of the chamber) which as been OK..., however, it does get hot!!!

I am shortly moving the extruders above the chamber to get them out of the "heat."

[delta22]

Nice job.

What material do you plan on printing?

PLA would likely be fine with no heater or ventilation fan. This would keep things more simple and safe.

ABS would do better with the chamber heated closer to 60C with a small fan vented with flexible hose directly to the outdoors. You would need to be very careful about overheating your stepper motors. And the risk of fire increases with more heat sources.

[buggy]

Thank you guys for the advice, tips, knowledge, and safety concerns! I think for now I will leave the temp where it stands to lessing the rise of any further issues. You guys make great points about the limitations of this type of enclosure. Does anyone have a recommendation on the best way to enclose just the build area? I've been reading a bit and people say the raymond enclosure is a good set up, thoughts?

[3D-Print]

I have really liked my enclosure which is JFettig's design (http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=7149). This was easy to print and assemble and in my build thread is where I added the lights and exhaust fan (http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php ... =50#p63313).

The great part of this community, is there are many great models........ gives you many options such that you can pick what fits your needs. As always if something is not quite what you need you can design and print something new!!!

[Xenocrates]

I'm a big fan of Raymond's design (And in fact the guy who adapted it to the V2), but Jfettig's is also quite nice. Perhaps nicer from the perspective of it has smaller gaps between the panels and the bottom/top decks of the machine, but it requires more hardware.

[buggy]

Oh wow that is nice! Maybe I will start printing out the pieces required! I mostly built this one out of necessity and yes the community is quite amazing! Everyone has been super helpful and give great advice!

[delta22]

I built and documented an enclosure here:
http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=9706

Pros for this design:
1) capable of achieving fairly high chamber temperatures, as aluminum surface + wood structure is very effective at containing heat.
2) economical, total cost < $150

Cons for this design:
1) not nearly as pretty to look at as the polycarbonate = Lexan enclosures linked to above
2) requires tools and time to build

I suggest you drive enclosure build/mod plans based on what you want to do with your printer.
Many folks make a lot of great stuff using PLA.

> If PLA meets your needs, then the enclosure you have now should work very nicely
> If you want a very nice looking enclosure, then the Lexan = polycarbonate linked to above are great
> If you need to print ABS, then you need an enclosure that will contain heat very well and is also ventilated to the outdoors

[buggy]

Thank you for the feedback, I like the design of your enclosure but like I said earlier I live in an apartment with no tools. I might go the route of lexan as I have access to some scrap tho I may need to design joining ends as I don't think they will be the required size.

As for what I want to print I've been using abs lately but want to try out more exotic filament like nylon, carbon fiber pla, and other ones as I learn more about 3d printing!