Outdoor Printing Enclosure / Setup

Recently the room I keep my P1S in started to smell pretty badly after printing even just PLA, its a pretty small room with only a door and a window so ventilating it is hard since I cant keep both open all the time.

Im thinking of moving my printer + ams out onto my balcony, but would need to build an enclosure for it so its not exposed to the elements, likely primarily out of wood, along with some 3d printer parts to join them together easily.

I am curious if any of you have had a similar outdoor setup that you made in the past or are planning to make, and what your considerations for such a project would be?
Maybe youve seen a video of someone already doing something like this.

Any ideas and pointers of what to consider would be much appreciated!

You can kickstart that with a cheapo “Grow tent” enclosure. Its enough to keep wind out, UV light and it’s uneven heat mostly out, and squirrels probably wont try to live in it. I would caution about using this in the cold. Grease and oil do not like working in the cold, even if you think the machine will warm itself up in the space.

What about moisture and rain? Are they able to keep that out decently enough?

Good to know about the cold, im not in an environment where it ever really goes below 10°C, maybe thats not too problematic?

My printer is in my home office. I have a 6” high piece of oak board with 4x 4” computer fans mounted to it, stuck in the window exhausting out. Keeps the entire room at negative pressure relative to the rest of the house. Odors don’t escape, and are vacuumed out soon after they’re generated.

I screwed a blocker to the window track, so it can’t be opened any more than the 6” required for the fans, so no one can break in through the opening and I can leave the fans installed all the time. I just run them at a low speed when I’m not printing.

I also hacked a panel out of the door for the room, and installed a louvered panel, so when the door is shut, air can still be drawn in to the room.

Thats pretty cool, kinda wish I could do that. Unfortunately my window situation is so small / cramped that I wouldnt really be able to do this. Plus it needs to meet the feminin approval factor.
So as cool as I find it, I doubt it would be approved, especially putting a hole in the door, even if such a panel or a mesh were covering it.

Passed my spouse’s threshold for acceptability. :slight_smile:

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I wouldn’t.

Unless you plan on making a sealed unit large enough to access that can withstand rain, temperature, moisture and everything else humans use coats and umbrellas for, it will only damage the print and make your prints fail.

Adding venting to this external housing would make all the things you need to protect it from, much harder to achieve.

Don’t get me wrong, money can solve this, but I doubt you (or many others) would enjoy spending the amount of money required.

A friend showed me his new shelving in his shed had grown mould in a couple of weeks. Unless you seal it, problems will be greater than you anticipate.

PLA doesn’t typically smell when being printed. Do you have a different problem?

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I have had an X1C in the shed. But it was rather inconvenient, moisture, dust and winter temps were definitely not to its liking. And it didn’t help with print quality. Nowadays, I try to keep the chamber temp in the 30-35° range for PLA.

But as @MalcTheOracle wrote, a PLA print should not really smell strongly.
I occasionally get a whiff when opening the AMS after quite a while or when opening a fresh roll (6 week sea journey minimum), but nothing strong during/after printing.

:four_leaf_clover: & :crossed_fingers:

I would see someone doing that for the same reason i still lurk the honda grom forum. to enjoy pics of of those who have blown connecting rods / seized their engines / smashed their engine blocks because “they know” you don’t need a quality rod or a 4 stage oil cooler on top of a 4 valve head. (also those who think the peak of motorcycling is doing wheelies - engine running dry with unpumped oil, piston seizure)

3D printers are indoor devices like a television. Ask yourself If you would place your TV on your terrace ?!? I think not ?

leave the printer in the room, but enclose it and pipe the enclosure out the window

an outdoor enclosure and weatherproof electrics is going even more expensive (and might be notifiable/licensed in your country e.g. if you have to install outdoor power sockets)

I think the smell factor depends on the person. I print with a P1S and I always smell the PLA. Doesn’t matter what brand, color or formulation (regular, silk, wood, etc) of it. Not exactly a pleasant smell but I can ignore it usually. Or leave the room.

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These days it’s not uncommon to have an outdoor TV, or a screen in the bath, or shower. However they are typically installed by professionals for various legal reasons.

However I agree that there is not a good reason to have a domestic 3d printer located there.

ok legit. But every time I head something like that I start to guess If who’s saying it lives in a place where there are no insects at all, especially those who like to burrow nests made of earth inside comfy cavities. (wasps, spiders for sure)

if you’re printing pla and the room is dedicated to anything but having people constantly inside it, just don’t be bothered by the PERFUME :joy: seriously I purposely go up to smell the wood pla.
keep the room clean