I am looking to install an exhaust duct to my X1c and may also run it to my ender 5’s which are in fabric enclosures. I work out of an airplane hangar and am considering just using a carbon filter over running a hose outside. Reason being is that often when I exhaust fumes outside from my laser cutter the wind blows the smell of cut plastic or wood back into the hangar. I am curious if I run an inline fan into a Carbon filter if it will scrub the fumes I am smelling. I mostly print Polycarbonate on my X1C but plan to get into other toxic fume materials. So will a carbon filter do it? Do i need heppa? Or maybe still run a hose out the front of the hangar with the carbon filter on the end?
Here are the items I am considering: I have had goad luck with AC infinity so far but open to other options base don what people have done? Perhaps put a generic round carbon filter on the back of the machine or inline not near the exit tube.
At my office I have a 3D printer with the big 4" inlet carbon filter like you posted and a 4" inline hepa filter with a 8" fan and fan speed controller and I get no smells with pc filament but when I can I will vent to the outside to save the live of the carbon filter.
I have also used one on the Bambu lab x1 with a custom rear fan mount on the rear chamber fan to the same big carbon filter with no other fans and it seems to be working fine and chamber fan is @
M106 P3 S127 but I also removed the Bambu carbon filter do to it restricts air flow and not needed anymore with the big carbon filter.
The inline filter is:
Solberg HE10™ HEPA Filter Cartridge 4"
The thing I’d worry about with a high flow fan pulling air out of the enclosure is keeping heat in. Some filaments want a higher temp in the enclosure and if you are pulling in a ton of cooler room air, you may have failed prints. You might want to look into the nevermore filter or print a BentoBox.
But yes depending on the filament being used and the climate you are in you have to check chamber temps but on my big printers I have internal heater and the ex fan is on a speed controller the only reason I run the 8" fan is for low noise level I can also route the air back into the printer cabinet if needed.
With the PC filament I don’t have any problems and the chamber heater stays off but in my work zone it is 70F all the time also I have done PC on the Bambu X1 with just the chamber fan and a big carbon filter and no problems at this point and no smell
Can I get info on your big carbon filter and how you set it up. if I can avoid ducting 40’ to the front of the hangar that would be ideal. I may buy a 2nd X1 and could run both into the filter element but as mentioned above I don’t want to pull all the warm air out of the cabinet. I am in Los Angeles and at times it can get vet hot in the hangar since its a metal building with no AC. Only time could would be an issue is in the winter at night.
Marc. This is almost all I know about the Nevermore. I saw 3D printing nerd and Mandicrealy use one on their recent Voron build. I did buy the charcoal for my BentoBox from Fabreeko since I was more sure of getting what I wanted than if I’d got it from Amazon.
The BentoBox is here. I used the remixed lower part with the switch but otherwise just went with the original. I did print mine in PLA so that I would have something to use and then was going to reprint it in PC or ASA for better heat resistance but have not yet done so and so far have not seen any deformation even after printing ASA, PC and PA. Admittedly, they were sub 3 hour prints but still no slumping or warping.
I do not have an air quality monitor but am open to suggestions. I don’t print too much of the nasty stuff and I can run the dust collector for the laser if it’s bad but it would be a nice addition to my pile of treasures in this room. At 1500 CFM, the dust collector puts the house under negative pressure and can pull the fumes right back in if I don’t aim the hose in the right direction when I tuck it under the garage door.
Hi Mark, I am new to 3d printing. My set up is in the basement “geek room” and you realize fast that ventilation is necessary! We must think alike because I just bought a similar booster fan and doing my install today. I decided to vent outside through a dryer vent and using 4" aluminum piping and installing the booster fan in the horizontal section. One very important thing to remember is condensation flow back , especially in colder climates (Canada Edmonton) so it is necessary to have a section that a bit slanted and through a drain hole with tube drains into a container and prohibit getting into the printer.
The concern of pulling to much air out of the chamber? I print 90% PLA so that’s not a concern. Remember that all the enclosure air has to go through the carbon filter, which will cap the airflow at some point due to being an obstacle? Also with having TWO variable fans (bambu has it) available we may be able to “tune” hotter temps if needed? Once my install is done and running I will report back…
What an awesome machine, in the two weeks I had mine it ran 95% of the time…LOL
You can fit an exhaust on the back right, and you can find prints for that. I use a BOFA Print Pro 3, which is one of the few made for 3D printing. It works well, but it is pricey. If you are going to use a fume extractor or extract outside, I’d remove the carbon filter, as it doesn’t do much.
You bring up a good point about removing fumes, as it’s a double edged sword. Extracting fumes will remove heat as well. The BOFA 3 does have a return to, in theory, add the heat back, but that is just a dream. It does drop the temps, but ABS still prints fine.
By the way, an easy way to control the BOFA is use one of those devices used to control shop vacuums when a circular saw is used. Plus the X1C into it, and it automatically turns on the BOFA when the printer draws more than 30 watts.
