What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?  

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

• Easy-to-reach space on the bench or in a drawer for small hand tools (cutter, tweezers, knife, ethanol & wipes, ...) and accessories (nozzles, build plates),
• Bench space and power outlet for a filament dryer,
• Ample shelf space for filament spools in sealed (dry) boxes or bags. 

RE:

My setup: 

• Core One
• 45kg work table with 40mm thick maple top
• PID controlled annealing oven (formally a toaster oven)
• Tool boxes
• Mini vacuum
• Air Filter (the round gray and white thing)
• Hair Dryer for "active" chamber heating
• OctoPrint Raspberry PI
• Filament storage with PolyMaker dry boxes
• Not in photo - Creality Space Pi X4 Filament Dryer (too noisy for my office room)
• Window off to the left with a fan for exhaust

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Thanks for this; I learned about somethings I hadn't yet encountered in reading about 3D printing so far like  controlling temperature outside the enclosure of the printer itself.  Also, an air purifier is a logical addition to a 3D printing set-up that I hadn't thought of. 

That maple top is something I could do; we 'inherited' a significant amount of dried lumber when we bought our house.  if I understand your set-up, the weight of the table itself is enough to dampen a lot of the vibrations?

I'm presently waffling between the Core One and the MK4S.  My understanding is that the Core One has a smaller footprint, though, and that may sway me.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Thanks for your input.  You've added a few things I hadn't thought of, as well.

RE:

Posted by: @zachiedoo

Thanks for this; I learned about somethings I hadn't yet encountered in reading about 3D printing so far like  controlling temperature outside the enclosure of the printer itself.  Also, an air purifier is a logical addition to a 3D printing set-up that I hadn't thought of. 

That maple top is something I could do; we 'inherited' a significant amount of dried lumber when we bought our house.  if I understand your set-up, the weight of the table itself is enough to dampen a lot of the vibrations?

I'm presently waffling between the Core One and the MK4S.  My understanding is that the Core One has a smaller footprint, though, and that may sway me.

With a very sturdy table and Hula feet there is a noticeable improvement in print quality as well as noise reduction. A filament dryer is a must, especially if you live in a humid climate. People tend to skip out on that when first starting out. No matter what printer you get, start with PLA filament since it's very forgiving. Also, extra nozzles and heat blocks. You will ruin one or two when first learning how to print. At least that's what happened to me... 

As for a resin printer (as you mentioned in the first post), I own one. They are unmatched for precision and detail but a MAJOR pain to work with. Just be prepared to work with toxic messy chemicals.  

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Surely dedicated air ventilation pipes which produce negative pressure inside of the printers.

Air conditioning (temperature/humidity) helps a lot.

One or two cameras in the corners to see the overview of the room.

Smoke detectors.

At least two power sockets per printer, can be later fixed with the extension cord.

Tables with wheels to make it move around more easily.

Lights in natural colors, otherwise you will be surprised the color filament you chose 😉

Sealed doors so that fumes do not go to the other rooms.

May be interested with a pipe for central vacuum, to clean up more easily when doing postprocessing.

A lot of shelves or pegboards, better have them in the covers to protect against the dust.

At least two ethernet ports, switch, access point on the ceiling.

Place for a dust bin.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Thanks again.  Humidity is an issue, so I will make space (literally, and in my budget) for that.  I have bookmarked the Hula feet files as well.  After looking more at resin printers, their main utility seems to be fine-detail work, probably not something I would need, and your add'l info weighs into that as well.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

My space will be in a big, open area we have at the top of the house (basically finished attic space).  No living spaces there, just my spouse's hobby area and storage and our home gym.  We can't enclose a space for the 3D printing because of local bylaw requirements, but we can get good cross-ventilation through that whole space and add A/C if needs be.

Smoke detectors are already in place, but I see where adding one specifically there makes sense.  Cameras are definitely do-able, we are already equipped for that.  There's already an AP up there, and ethernet ports and switching are not a problem.  We'll probably incorporate a system for venting to the outside, since that won't be  difficult to do at this point.  I had planned on two duplex outlets, so I think I'm good there.  Thanks for the lighting tip!  I can imagine how that colour perception skewing could lead to major disappointment 😫

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Additional items.
Remote control Power plugs. Reaching behind the printers to turn them on is not ergonomic. I can turn them on/off from anywhere in the house with the remotes.
Drawers or tool box for all the tools. Over time there are enough that you need to consider how to store them.
A good clear work area to post process and assemble your projects.

Core one vs MK4S. I have both. The MK4s is in an enclosure. It ends up being about 30-40% bigger foot print than the core one. If doing high temp materials, the built in enclosure of the CoreOne is helpful. You have to add the enclosure for the MK4s. After a year or two what you planned to print at the beginning usually expands to other materials.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

I recommend to look at some videos from for example https://www.youtube.com/zackfreedman and other to see what they have in the backgroudns (though they usually have a dedicated garage with a insane amount of things) and think about what to use.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

We are getting into rather advanced and luxurious workshop setups here... It's not quite clear to me from the initial post: Will the Prusa you are saving for be your first 3D printer, or do you already have a few years of experience and want to upgrade?

If it's the latter -- go ahead and build the perfect workshop, but don't forget about the printing! 😎

But if it's the former: Are you sure that 3D printing is "for you"? Would it make sense maybe to start small, save your money for the printer and your time for using it, rather than investing both in outfitting a workshop that is optimized for a new hobby which may or may not turn out to be fun?  

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

It would be the former, and your point is valid.  I was setting up this area for my hobbies that are more 'crafty', but I have had a strong interest in 3D printing for quite some time and now that I am settling into retirement, I have more time.  (I am fairly technical/manual) These renos have been planned for a while and I figure while we're at it, why not optimize the space for 3D printing?  We are very handy and will do all the work ourselves, so adding a couple extra plugs, and ethernet ports, and lighting are minimal cost/effort (we'll be doing the exact same things on the other side of the wall already anyway).  The ventilation can wait until I know if I'm sticking with 3D printing and wanting to move into materials that make ventilation more of a necessity.  Given where my space is, adding it later will be a little more of a PITA, but not much.

So really, the only 'leap of faith' will be the expense for the 3D printer, and if I don't try it I'll never know.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

I have been watching videos...some of these folk, the variety of printers they have is mind-boggling.  But my spouse has a workshop (she has many talents), and the number of power tools she has, and uses regularly is also significant, so I understand how it happens.

I will check out that link, thanks.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Smart plugs?  You're giving me a valid reason to acquire *more* of those?  Thank you, friend! 😉

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Yes, hobbies to tend to grow, don't they...  Also, thanks for the Core One vs MK4S comparison.

RE:

Your situation sounds similar to mine. My core 1 is my first printer, I always had my eye on this technology being curios, over the time I found myself seeing more and more of my other hobbies where a printer would solve things if I just get over the bump of 3d modeling and learning how to use one, eventually I just described to jump in feet first, as usual. I have about the same area in a workshop shared with other crafts, in my case also wood working which forced me to have an enclosed printer for dust. My setup is simply a 200x70 cm desk from an oak slab on wall consoles, I have my printer on the right side into a corner which is not optimal for the core 1, I would have planned it to the left if I could. I have it on a smart plug to switch on/off remote. I use a stack of floor tiles from surplus (free) with layers of sound dampening material between and that works well. Wired networking to avoid the WiFi, I anyway need to extend networking to this building and just put the switch by the printer. Maybe what I miss from others here is a working area. Every project needs somewhere to assemble, post process etc, so some desk space you will need. The other thing is consider storage, the number of “stuff’ accumulating around the printer is amazing. 

RE:

Top of the list: Find a space where the exhaust (even with HEPA filter) does not get into living areas. If not feasible, stick to PLA and stay away from ABS (first-hand experience...). And the noise shouldn't annoy anybody at night.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Luckily, attic space is adjacent to the area so easy enough to vent to the outside if/when I eventually move on from PLA.  I've had a similar fume experience when I inadvertently used an outdoor-only caulking indoors our front hall...took a week to finish curing and had to have fans running 24/7 with odour-capturing products being changed often.  Not an experience I recommend or would want to repeat.

Bedrooms are downstairs and 20' away from where the printing will occur, but it is overhead of our open kitchen/DR/LR area.  The space between the ceiling & floor is insulated, so will be focussing on limiting transfer of vibrations through the table/stand to the floor/ceiling structure.

RE: What would your home hobby 3D print area 'must-have' list be?

Posted by: @mnentwig

Top of the list: Find a space where the exhaust (even with HEPA filter) does not get into living areas. If not feasible, stick to PLA and stay away from ABS (first-hand experience...). And the noise shouldn't annoy anybody at night.

I can vouch for that. I had to move my printer next to an open window. Was getting severe headaches from the various materials I was printing.