Printer enclosure or desktop?

[user_2927931653]

So, I built a cabinet a long time ago to enclose a Prusa M3S+. Made an already quiet printer almost inaudible. So now I’ve purchased a BBL P1S. Had it sitting on a small end table while I got it going. Looking to move it to a more permanent location and am debating some options. Looking for a little feedback to hopefully tell me all the stuff I don’t know I don’t know yet.
So luck being what it is, the “enclosed” top isn’t tall enough to house the P1S AND the AMS… which isn’t a show stopper… I can add a small shelf on the side on the outside to set the AMS on and route the PTFE tube and AMS cable thru a hole in the side. Have realized already that there is going to be a fair number of times I need to get to the back of the machine and which will almost require lifting the thing in and out which will require dealing with disconnecting the AMS by reaching around and doing it by feel. I intended to add a duct out of the cabinet to vent fumes when printing ABS/ASA and such (is in my office). The more I look at it, I almost think this will be a huge headache for working with the P1S. Thinking more along the lines of cutting everything from the middle shelf down off and effectively turning this into a cabinet. Could just sit the P1S on the top, would leave room for the AMS to sit beside the printer right on the top. This just leaves the issue of fumes. I believe I have seen people print a duct to attach to the chamber fan exit and just use a dryer duct or some such to vent smelly/dangerous fumes out that way?

What am I missing?

[Olias]

You raise some interesting questions when it comes to fumes. When I got my P1P, one of the first things I tried out was ABS. I had already printed an enclosure for the machine and incorporated magnets into the plastic precisely so that I could magnetically clamp insulation to the outside and maintain chamber temps. This worked great.

BTW: Those bubble wrap envelopes used by Bambu to ship plates are perfect insulators for this application. Just slip Magnets over them and adhere them to embeded magnets on the other side of the enclosure if you don’t already have the Steel P1S enclosure.

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However, printing only a small ABS model, the stench of styrene permeated the house for the better part of two days after I did my initial print. Obviously, the wife was not happy.

On the subject of possibly harmful fumes. There is no direct medical evidence yet that styrene vapors directly cause cancer. However, that doesn’t change the fact that there are plenty of chicken-little-doomsayers who would have us believe that anything that wasn’t Non-GMO, Gluten-free and organic was the spawn of the devil.

I myself have worked around a lot of chemicals since I was 16 that are now banned known carcinogens. Carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄), a ubiquitous solvent used in the dry cleaning industry in my youth, was eventually banned. But damn, could it clean almost anything when you could get it. My point is that I was never sensitive to fumes and I never developed any cancers working around later known carcinogens. Despite the fact that my family history is replete with cancer survivors.

Having said that though, despite the lack of direct medical evidence that Styrene hasn’t yet been proven to cause cancer, one should probably follow common sense, if your experiencing a headache, it’s making you sick, if it’s making you sick, then don’t do that.

So for me, and I’m not saying you should do this, but I plan on eventually creating a vent system so that I can go back to printing ABS in my office.

I don’t know if that answers your question.

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I found this video from a 3D printing company/YouTuber about his own experience with ASA poisoning interesting. It was the inspiration for me to be more cautious about what I spread into the air inside my house. Normally I dismiss videos like this as sky-is-falling click-bait but the company behind this channel has been pretty reputable and this one presenter from their company was telling his own experience, he wasn’t making any grandiose claims.

Skip to time index, 18:28 for the section on his case of ASA poisoning.

I had ASA Poisoning! 25 IMPORTANT Filament Answers!

[SimEyeSee]

You don’t even need it venting directly from the printer. And it is probably better not to because you might affect the chamber temperature. If you have a fan blowing outside in the room, the air flow created in the room will cause the fumes to go in the direction of the fan. And the air flow at the doors will be in towards the room, so fumes won’t escape.

I have a fan blowing outside in the window of my workshop in my basement. I have printed ASA and don’t smell it in any other room. When in the workshop I don’t even smell it constantly unless my head is right over the printer. I just get little drafts of smell passing by every few minutes.

[SimEyeSee]

Here is my window fan setup.

I printed parts to secure the fan on the window frame on the right side and also hooking on to the window on the left. I also printed a box and filled it with insulation to put in the open space above the fan.

I glued rubber to the part on the right side of the fan and insulation box that fits into the frame and glued foam weather strips on the other sides to seal it.

I still need to print an insulated cover to seal it when the fan is off.

[user_2927931653]

I printed an ASA part awhile back on my Prusa… had to leave the office and open the outside door and put a fan in it. Eyes were watering and throat was burning. There WILL be fume extraction for sure.

Main question I was after in my post though was the pros/cons of a P1S in a cabinet enclosure (and then vent the cabinet to outside) versus just sit the printer on a tabletop and print adapters to attach a vent to the back of the printer. The Prusa was pretty much do everything from the front (so open the cabinet, swap parts or filament then start the print)… the P1S will need fairly routine “get behind it” maintenance it seems (attach/swap PTFE tubes for AMS or external spool, etc.) which I think will be a pain in the cabinet enclosure. Will be a couple of hours of work to cut my tall cabinet down to a tabletop height cabinet… and it can’t be undone. So just kinda looking for input before attacking with a saw.

[user_2927931653]

Printer is in my office… can’t really just leave a fan in a window, will suck AC/heat out with the fumes and definitely make it uncomfortable. So will have to be a duct from the printer to the outside or the enclosure to the outside. Main question then is which is the best option. Either is doable just wonder if the enclosure will make for allot of headaches accessing the printer for maintenance and such.

[RandomKhaos]

If you can manage it, I’d keep the P1S in your enclosed cabinet if you are able to. I realize the P1S is an enclosed printer, but it can still release fumes while printing. Using the cabinet leaves you with the possibility of venting the cabinet without really affecting the temperature in the enclosed printer since you won’t be directly pulling air from the printer. But to your point, you do increase the difficulty of reaching the back of the printer, which would also mean you’d have to figure out how you’d manage the filament poops coming out the back chute.

BUT if you do decide to bring it out in the open, I can provide you with some personal information that may help you with your decision making. I keep my printer(s) out in the open in my office where I tend to spend a decent amount of time, to include working from home once a week. Mitigating the printing fumes is high on my list of what I believe is necessary for my situation.

I have an AirGradient AQ monitor which I use to measure fine particulates and VOC’s in the air. I keep it near my Bambu X1C so I can get an idea of what it’s putting out while printing. I have it connected to my HomeAssistant server so I can track the changes in the air quality measurements and to create Automations for turning on my air purifier in my office when certain air quality metrics reach certain levels. From what I’ve seen, PLA and PETG don’t really put off enough of anything that I’m worried about. ASA does increase VOC’s to a small degree and has spikes of putting out small particles in the air throughout the print. This is while the door is closed, opening increases those numbers quite a bit. The smell alone is improved with the enclosed printer.

So having the enclosed printer helps, but I still want to keep my office air quality as close to “normal” as I can, plus I can still smell ASA while printing with it closed up. To help mitigate this further, I added a Bento Box air scrubber that fits perfectly inside the printer. It has two small fans that move air through a HEPA filter (for small particles) and a activated charcoal filter (for VOCs). This further improved the air quality around the printer and reduced the ASA smells to almost nothing.

The enclosed printer and the air scrubber get the air quality and smells, at least for me, down to where I’m about 90% happy. To get to where I’m completely happy I created a window vent that has an inline 65 CFM duct fan that pulls air from the printer which goes out a louvered dryer vent. It’s a 4 inch fan that I’ve reduced down to a 3 inch hose that goes back to a magnetic mount I designed that is mounted directly to the back of the printer. The magnetic mount makes it easy to remove in order to do maintenance and can be moved over to my resin printer for mitigating its fumes. I have the fan connected to a smart switch that is controlled via Home Assistant. When the chamber fan on the printer turns on, it automatically turns on the vent fan so I can quickly evacuate the air in the printer at the end of a print or just keep things cool while printing PLA. I’ve been playing with just having the vent fan on (minus the chamber fan) to create a small negative pressure in the printer. Works really well and barely drops the temperature in the printer since it’s not really pulling a lot without the chamber fan running.

[user_2927931653]

Good info there. You have me leaning toward keeping the enclosure. It will somewhat help with noise as well as the metal lining inside the current enclosure is backed with rockwool insulation. Think I will go with a duct out of the enclosure to a wall mounted fan unit… planned to piggyback a 12V computer fan with a 110V inline fan. (12V to pretty much run when it is printing to keep negative pressure inside the enclosure to keep smells out (but super quiet) and 110V fan to fire up to extract fumes out prior to opening the box)

[RandomKhaos]

The only real difficulty I see is managing the filament poop that comes out the back of the printer while maintaining an enclosed space. Granted you could just have a chute that goes out the bottom into a waste bin.

[SimEyeSee]

Venting outside from your enclosure will end up doing the same thing as the window fan in terms of pulling your AC or heat outside, unless you have a separate air intake that pulls air into the enclosure from outside. Otherwise, the only way the air is going to leave your enclosure and go outside is if air from the room goes into the enclosure to replace the air that left through the vent.

[user_2927931653]

You are absolutely correct on that. The “vent from enclosure” vs “vent from the area around the printer” should just vary by the amount of AC’d/Heated air that has to be evacuated from the room to control the fumes/stink. If I didn’t already have the enclosure I might not go to the trouble… but since I do I think the “vent the enclosure” is probably the best bet. I think future maintenance on the printer in that enclosure will definitely be a headache, but after looking at several duct designs on Makerworld to vent from the chamber fan/ top hat I think venting the enclosure I got might just be the easiest. Will not require installing any vent connections that have to be removed in the future. When maintenance day comes, I will probably just have to pull the cord and lift the printer out and set it on a table to work on.

Thanks for your thoughts on this!

[Olias]

I was hoping to have better links but this is my approach when I finally get around to creating a vent solution. These are the pieces you will need to create a duct system that will interface with a casement windows. Note that I have not executed on this so there will be obvious fitment challenges that you will have to solve for your use-case. That being said, this is 95% of the solution, the rest quite honestly could probably be done with “real duct tape” not consumer “Duck Tape” as one will often see it misspelled.

For P1P users

Printable Chamber fan Plate - Although you could print this, I believe the P1S panel is a better solution and I purchased one myself.
https://www.printables.com/model/436867-bambu-lab-p1p-backrear-panelcover-for-chamber-fan-

Better option for P1P, get the steel P1S read panel. If you buy no other upgrades for the P1P, this is definitely the one I feel has the best impact

https://store.bambulab.com/products/rear-metal-panel-p1

The remainder of the vent solution options for both P1s and P1P

This is a magnetic vent solution for the X1 and therefore does not rely on aligning screws. Note: Don’t scrimp on the magnets. I have found that 3mm thickness is the minimum wants for anything to grasp through 2mm of PLA or PETG.
https://www.printables.com/en/model/264571-bambu-lab-x1-exhaust-vent-adapter

And finally, this is the search term for Amazon for window duct systems and adapters. I already have one of these for an unrelated free-standing air conditioner and it works quite well. The search term will show you all the myriad of option for 5" duct. There are enough adapters on the market to resized to almost any opening but where’s the fun in that? Print one!!!The two photos are examples of the kits that I know I can make work.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=window+5inch+hose+duct

And then there is the ubiquitous and erroneously named “Duck Tape” that preys on consumer ignorance.

Do not buy this shⅠt!!! Only a fool buys this. This is vinyl or plastic tape with the bare minimum of threads and it sticks only well, to itself. Also, if you’ve ever used “duck tape” or “Gorilla Tape” then you know that it desiccates after a brief period of time and starts to flake but even though it’s flaking, the cured adhesive is impossible to remove once it desiccates. In short, if it’s under $20 for a 50yd roll, it’s fake consumerish ShⅠt for the unknowing homeowner, not the real stuff.

Buy This!!! This is actual “Duct Tape” used by HVAC professionals. Sometimes it’s simply referred to ask Foil Tape but it is always silver metallic tape.

Nashua 330X, 1 7/8 in x 50 1/4 yd, Foil Tape

Or, from the same company, you can purchase this not metallic version from Amazon which is less effective.

And on Printables, there are so many 120mm to 140mm fan ducts that there are too many to mention. I am going to CAD-up my own. But if folks want to use pre-made, here’s the search term.

[doctorjerry]

I have the same setup of a cabinet enclosing a bedslinger that I want to replace with a P1S. I have the same concerns of the difficulty of accessing the back. I was wondering how you’ve made out in the months since you posted your question. How often do you actually have
to access the rear and is it difficult to just rotate the entire printer to do so?