Enclosure Query - Filament inside or out  

RE: Enclosure Query - Filament inside or out

Posted by: @andrewld

Hi All

I am just finishing off an enclosure for my MK3s. I do not have the height above the enclosure to mount a spool above the printer so I deliberately chose to make the enclosure a bit bigger width/depth for ease of access. As a result I now have the option to mount the spool inside or on the outside feeding in. The poor wee thing lives in the garage and the less places for dust to get in the better.  There is space to the right of the bed which (with a guide) would feed quite nicely at all 4 corners of travel.

My question is, are there any pro's or cons in putting the spool inside the enclosure? My last enclosure/printer maintained a steady 35C max in side with the bed and extruder going full tilt.

Andrew

I use a 44 quart Iris tub. It sits on a shelf unit sitting next to the printer which safely housed in its enclosure. I printed a couple of plastic fixtures that allow me to pass the filament through a piece of Capricorn tube from the box to the enclosure. Inside the box is a printed spool holder and 3 cloth bags of desiccant. That box has about a kilo and half of desiccant which keeps the humidity down to the 10-15% range. I keep 4 rolls of my most often used filament in there as well as the filament that is currently feeding the printer. I’ve got another larger box just for storage that holds a dozen spools and 3 kilos desiccant that keeps the humidity in the same range.

Do I need to go to all that trouble? I have no clue but considering the humidity in my office is normally well above 50% I don’t want to take any chances. I haven’t had to dry filament at all since I started using these boxes.

RE: Enclosure Query - Filament inside or out

@mgruenloh

Thanks for the info but I am really looking to see if there is any issue with having the spool inside. I can do outside, that's not a problem. As I noted the location is prone to dust (even when you think it's clear it generally isn't as even opening the garage door pulls dust in) so the enclosure will have filtered trickle vents (fancy term for stolen from old windows with gauze in the hole) and a thermostatically controlled fan so ambient temperature should be fine. 

Andrew

RE: Enclosure Query - Filament inside or out

Thanks.