After the economic collapse here, We are not allowed to order anything from abroad above a certain limit. Practically anything on sale on Amazon international is above those limit. We can not afford to buy them either.
As local manufacturers too can not buy raw materials either because of limitations or excessive taxation manufacturing is almost on hold. We all have resorted to Mc Gyver style make shift solutions for our needs even for the thing we were able buy from a local shop in the neighborhood, last year. We are in a surreal post apocalypse. I am thinking twice even before printing a prototype not to waste the low quality filament we can buy.
No personal. Turkey. I am retired MD. You assume I earn a lot but in fact my monthly retirement pension is around USD 600 and house rent is about 700. So guess. During the Covid period our economy collapsed. Month by month they increased taxes while keeping the salaries almost same. Inflation peeked and our incomes are getting lower and lower when exchanged to USD. Meanwhile the prices of everything sky rocketed. Even locally produced foods becoming luxury as farmers need to import fertilizers etc from abroad but the can not afford. Since last spring, government took very drastic preventive measures to decrease inflation but they are not working at all.
As we can not order anything from abroad as individuals, the companies (dealers) which can import things turned in to scalpers. Their prices are 3-4x more than EU and US prices.An when you consider how low our incomes are, it feels like 20x more.
Thanks for the response. At first I thought you were going to say somewhere in the Micronesian Pacific, Australia and or the Caribbean. I had no idea that there were failed economic policies in any NATO countries outside of maybe Greece. Itās easy to overlook and take for granted the conveniences of living in the US. Your story is truly eye-openingāthank you for sharing those details.
Because our government pissed of both EU and NATO as they have been flirting with Russia, China and Middle East and confronting EU and NATO.
We lived in Germany quite a while. When we had to return back for family reasons seven years ago. We suffered a serious culture shock. The shock was not related to Germany vs Turkey but rather the Turkey we left vs the Turkey we found.
I suggest you make an insulated enclosure for your printer. It serves two purpose: stabilizing chamber temp for ABS printing and keeping bad particles from spreading into the room.
Then upgrade it with 2 air ducts to bring fresh air in and take bad fume out after the print. Say, run air circulation for 30 minutes after print should mostly eliminate most of bad particle in the enclosure.
I am glad I went this route while trying print ABS with bed slinger Anycubic i3.
Bought a MDF panel 600x900 from Bunnings and just cut to size 600x600 without much cost.
The front panel is just a double-wall pc sheet (sunlite brand) that used for roofing. I cut this sheet with hand saw and utility knife, then embedded magnets at corners
The cost for the enclosure:
Book shelf $23 x2
Flat bracket $5
6mm MDF sheet 600x900 $9 + 1 cut $5
sunlite sheet 600x1200 $26
wood glue + wood screw $10
Aluminum Thermal Sheet from bargain store $6
Total cost: AU$107 + about 2 hours of work
You can add led strip for better lightning as well.
Before buying P1S, I needed an enclosure for my Ender 3 S1 Pro. The room is so small that no enclosure solution was fitting in. I bought P1S just for its slim profile that will allow me to fit an enclosure solution. Even P1S hardly fit on the stand after placing a poop chute.
I know double enclosure systems are used not only for 3D Printing but also for woodworking, CNCs, Chemistry and biology labs etc. It has lots of additional benefits. If we can ever move to a bigger house I will be considering it as well. Thanks
Did you see the trend from the Blue ABS Benchy?
I have some sensors that require a higher voltage than the MCUās can provide alone.
Those are particulate sensors and in addition to the VOC sensors the particulate sensors paint an ugly picture of the environment inside the P1S enclosure.
It is really great that you do al this testing and checking as it seems there really isnāt too may people doing it.
Probably because most donāt have the equipment.
I donāt care what filament is in my printer and always assume that once printing bad stuff comes out.
Friend of mine has son with a 3D printer in his room.
Basically running 24/7 and more often than not all doors and windows closed because of the fancy central heating and air conditioning.
Sadly they donāt think there is any harm in 3D printing because everyone does itā¦
The hose and inline duct vent will be coming within a few days. While planning the design for adapters and fittings, another thought hit me. What about the fumes from the filament dryer, I am trying to build this for ABS which has to be cook in dryer for long hours too. Do you think I should make a T connection to the big hose and connect a smaller hose from dryer to it. This will definitely kill the fans of dryer that I have to remove them first. I am hesitant. This will force me to use the vent system whenever I need to use the dryer. If I could buy a second one, I would have sacrificed one and made it dedicated it for ABS.
I donāt think that will be a problem. For fumes to outgas, the filament must reach its melting point, which the dryer will never achieve. Even the warmest dryers can only reach up to 80Ā°C, while the glass transition temperature for filaments is above 140Ā°C. Additionally, the melting point, where outgassing begins, is much higher (above 180Ā°C). You can rest easy knowing this isnāt an issue that requires a remedy. In my case, my dryer sustains 70Ā°C, and Iāve never smelled any fumes.
Did you see the trend from the Blue ABS Benchy?
I have some sensors that require a higher voltage than the MCUās can provide alone.
Those are particulate sensors and in addition to the VOC sensors the particulate sensors paint an ugly picture of the environment inside the P1S enclosure.
If you are interested I can put a VOC instrument in my dryer. It stays running most days. I already have a humidity and temperature sensor in the dryer which is a Sunlu S4
One thing you have to get an understanding of is what the sensor is telling you and understand the numbers.
VOC and Air Quality are Indexes. By way of an abundance of testing and agreement among scientists you have a scale, Zero to Whatever. You have Indexes which I think the term is qualitative. Good, So-So, Bad and then you have quantitative instruments. Those, you have units such as ppb or PPM.
The below picture shows how they interrelate.
Itās not the fumes in the enclosure you need to worry about, but the fumes that escape and end up in the air that you breath and at what concentration.
ABS fumes are toxic, especially at certain dosages. If the air you breath contains very little VOCās and small particles from the filament you are printing, then you are not really at risk. If the air in the room that you are printing in is turning over or its change rate is high enough, then enclosing the printer isnāt really necessary.
If you are unsure, then you should be placing the AQ meter āoutsideā the printer in the air you are breathing to determine if the quality is bad enough to mitigate. At that point you will have an idea of what the air you are breathing looks like while printing and you can takes steps to mitigate it down to safe levels.
I wonāt argue that point.
But no one seems to checking air quality, VOCās, particulate inside or outside their printer and just making an assumption on zero data. May have been earlier in this very thread but someone mentioned an individual who has a printer in his bedroom, where they stay ALL DAY with the door shut and the printer going 24/7
Itās also reasonable that if 1.75mm filament spool is generating gas (VOC), and particulate, those gases and micron sized particles are blowing into the larger room the printer is in. That part is simple. The filament is gassing off and even if the pressure is low, all it needs to be higher than is barometric pressure. Barometric pressure is 1006.5 and chamber pressure is 1006.7, itās exiting the chamber
A spool of room temperature filament is not generating any gases. If it were, the vacuum bag the filament came in would inflate.
Same with particulate. There has never been any dust in any of those vacuum bags Iāve bought and opened.
Melting plastic generates gas, no doubt about that and on top of that, mistakes happen and rather than just melting the plastic, it gets burned. All the nightmare nozzle pictures encased in a massive blob of plastic are testament to the burn.
I was somewhat surprised at the particulate numbers and how that particulate is generated/created. I happened to have some particulate sensors for a weather station project and just decided to stick them in the enclosure and see what would happen. Particulate happened.
My theory, and anyone pitch in here with other theories, is a variation on how some of the more moisture sensitive filaments have moisture flashing (the popping people talk about) and some of that spatters out into the enclosure.
Another thought is maybe your nole wears some, and the nozzle/filament/air interface is rough and scrapes on the nozzle and particles fly off.
Microplastics MAY be the bigger issue. According to TSās measurements, the enclosure - without a negative pressure exhaust - does little to contain anything.
Generating VOC gas as part of etrusion process takes place inside the chamber which means the chamber is going to seep thos VOCās out of every opening.
Enclosure was not designed for containment.
There are several replies regarding the exhaust fan. The points made thus far, that Iām taking note of:
In order to mitigate fumes, the enclosure needs to have slightly negative pressure. Got it.
the exahust fan needs to be at or near the point the contaminated air exits, so that the negative pressure in the duct causes any leaks to leak in, rather than leak out. OK, I get that too.
The question is what type of exhaust fan is right for this job? Kitchen hood fan? Bathroom fan? Something else? Can I put a basic exhaust fan on a dimmer switch, run it on low during the print, and then turn it up when the print is finished?
The one thing you may want to be careful of is going too deep down the rabbit hole when it comes to fans. This hobby lends itself to going down rabbit holesā¦ which lets be honestā¦ is part of the fun. But I just caution that it can get out of hand.
One of my other hobbyās is system building and if you think people go nuts in this hobby about getting that extra mmĀ³ of filament flow and dial-in layer lines, they donāt hold a candle to the crazy cooling solutions that systems builders come up with.
However, to answer your questions.
Any fan that moves air is a fan doing its job. However, itās how it does its job that you care about. Just note that there are dozens of fan styles, Iāll just cover a few.
Blower fans sometimes referred to Squirlcage fans or Hamster wheel fans: Not a good option. These are similar to whatās used in a hair dryer and they are noisy for the volume of air they move. They are best suited for moving air perpendicular to the air flow.
Bathroom fans. They simply donāt move enough air, are bulky and noisy.
Computer fans. These are likely your best option. They blow straight, are intended to be placed inside a conduit and there are plenty of Printables.com adapters made for them. These are specifically designed for makers.
You can get them real cheap but note that the more premium fans like Noctua, Arctic, Coolermaster etc are very quiet and move a lot of air. Iāve spent a lot of money on cheap fans which will do the job but when I want quiet, I go for Noctua or Arctic. Thatās a preference not a fact.
Sizes:
The most popular size is 120mm but 200mm are also available. Remember, the larger the fan, the more air it can move at lower RPM and therefore they are much quieter.
Speed:
PWM fans can have four wires which allow them to be hooked up to a fan controller giving really precise speed and feedback information. You may not need that or want it. Simply go with a two wire fan for now with a potentiometer for speed control. For your purposes, it should be good enough.
Bearings:
Donāt get caught up in brushless, vs ball bearing or sleeve bearing argument. Your printer is louder than most fans and the value in the more expensive bearings is in their longevity. However, for this application, what do you care if it doesnāt last 10 years? So buy on the lower priced version. Noctua, Arctic and Coolermaster all offer different grades, go for the cheaper.
Hereās a table comparing the different type of bearing technology. If itās going in a window, then avoid Sleeve Bearings only because the lubricant will not reach the entire bearing when mounted vertically.
Bearing Type
Description
Benefits
Sleeve Bearings
Simple design with a lubricated sleeve.
Quiet operation, low cost, suitable for horizontal mounting.
Ball Bearings
Uses metal balls to reduce friction.
Longer lifespan, handles higher temperatures, works in any orientation.
Hydraulic Bearings
Advanced sleeve bearing with fluid dynamics.
Quiet, durable, often self-lubricating for extended lifespan.
Magnetic Levitation
Uses magnetic fields to reduce mechanical friction.
Similar to hydraulic bearings but with advanced oil circulation and pressure balancing mechanisms.
Ultra-quiet, high efficiency, long lifespan, optimal for performance fans.
What Iād recommend:
If you have the room and the budget, go for a 200mm Noctua fan. They cost more but they are premium. Otherwise if youāre unsure and donāt want to throw away money before you fully understand what you will need, then simply go with an 120mm fan until you can figure out what works best for you.
Some fan controllers have thermostats but require more integration. But now you just added another $30-$40 to a a fan solution that started out at $15-$30. So you can see how this can quickly snowball.
Normal PC fan is about 0.2A or 0.4A @12V for around 1500RPM. Mine was 1.85A, go figure. I felt really dangerous while testing this fan. I didnāt dare to put this one inside my PC.
