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Another enclosure thread  

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brent.p
(@brent-p)
Eminent Member
Another enclosure thread

I am fortunate to have quite a few sheets of wood and drywall scraps laying around that I can use to build an enclosure for the printer.
Drywall is probably overkill, but it will help with some of the sound absorption. With some light sleepers in the house every little bit I can do to reduce printer noise will be huge. Unfortunately where the printer will be is drafty and I don't want it disturbed from vents or the windows. Which is why I will have it in an enclosure.
My question for those that have done so is if fans are needed inside to help regulate the heat inside. What kind of heat are the parts rated for? I plan on only printing petg and pla for the most part. My main concern is keeping temps consistent and not having parts overheat or burn out.

My thought was for 1 fan blowing air out into a hepa/active charcoal filter. Then maybe another fan or two inside to help regulate heat or at the very least help cool the inside down once the print is done. I would have flappers or doors I could put over the fans when not in use as well.

Posted : 15/03/2017 5:00 am
Saulius
(@saulius)
Active Member
Re: Another enclosure thread

I think the parts on the MK2 are ABS ( there are replacement printed parts in the shop, description saying it's ABS ).
So given the glass transition temp. of 105 C for ABS, I would be guessing that even high ambient temperatures of, lets say, around 70 would be alright for the parts on their own. But even if the plastic parts are good, you have to take into account other materials you might be printing - PLA has a Tg of 60 C so I'm not sure you could print it in the hot enclosure any more.

Now the electronics - don't quote me on this but I'm quite sure the electronics can survive the higher temps but that wouldn't be prudent to keep them exposed constantly. You could move them out of the box though. But keep in mind, the PSU is what helps keep the frame rigid!

Now the steppers - according to the RepRap wiki here http://reprap.org/wiki/NEMA_Motor the steppers can have quite high max operating temperature, but again, according to my anecdotal knowledge from others, going above 50 C will be reducing the life of the motors.

So my TLDR answer would be yes, you need active enclosure ventilation keeping the temps around 40 C, and hepa filters seem like a great idea!

I'm not so sure I would bother with materials such as drywall though - plexi should work nicely.
But the greatest reduction in noise that I've found so far is using a concrete paver on rubber feet as a base.
Check this recent post: http://shop.prusa3d.com/forum/improvements-f14/best-usd7-buck-improvement-you-can-make-t3051.html
It's not the first one I've seen, and all of them seem to be helping greatly to reduce the noise.

Cheerios!

Posted : 20/03/2017 11:04 am
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