Keep enclosure or sell?  

RE:

Entirely up to you. I don't usually print PETG. Most of my printing so far is PLA. But I did print a spare set of parts for my MINI on my MINI, and then I printed all the parts for my MK4 on my MINI. None were printed with an enclosure, and printed fine. I've read it can help in some cases for PETG to have an enclosure, but it's certainly not needed for most.

I got my enclosure as I wanted to be able to print ASA occasionally, for outdoor items. ASA really likes to warp during prints, and from what I've read, often has issues if you do not have an enclosure (though there are workarounds, especially for small parts). I also wanted to contain the fumes from ASA printing.

Side benefit is when not in use, I can keep the doors closed which will help keep dust and cat hair off my MK4. Is it worth the cost to use as a dust cover? Probably not. Can just drape some old cloth over it or something if needed. Even that's not needed, but helps reduce how much you need to clean junk off the greased rods.

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

Thanks for the reply! I have been sticking with PLA and PETG due to the fact that they emit less fumes/particles. I’m printing in a basement and ventilation is somewhat restricted.

Posted by: @jseyfert3

Entirely up to you. I don't usually print PETG. Most of my printing so far is PLA. But I did print a spare set of parts for my MINI on my MINI, and then I printed all the parts for my MK4 on my MINI. None were printed with an enclosure, and printed fine. I've read it can help in some cases for PETG to have an enclosure, but it's certainly not needed for most.

I got my enclosure as I wanted to be able to print ASA occasionally, for outdoor items. ASA really likes to warp during prints, and from what I've read, often has issues if you do not have an enclosure (though there are workarounds, especially for small parts). I also wanted to contain the fumes from ASA printing.

Side benefit is when not in use, I can keep the doors closed which will help keep dust and cat hair off my MK4. Is it worth the cost to use as a dust cover? Probably not. Can just drape some old cloth over it or something if needed. Even that's not needed, but helps reduce how much you need to clean junk off the greased rods.

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

One of my reason is prevent from getting dust on my printers. So far, I have been printing PETG and sometimes PLA, but planned to print ASA and flex in near future which enclosure is the purpose. 

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

Have you noticed any difference in your prints with PLA and PETG when printed with the enclosure vs when you didn’t have one?

Posted by: @jmh714-2

One of my reason is prevent from getting dust on my printers. So far, I have been printing PETG and sometimes PLA, but planned to print ASA and flex in near future which enclosure is the purpose. 

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

Not much difference. Without enclosure, I did experienced some warps on both PLA and PETG but not often. The print quality is no difference between with and without enclosure. 

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

For flex you don't want enclosure, for ASA it a must but from my experience, mk4 can barley handle it. Glue is a must and overall experience is worst then with mini... so probably your mk3 will be doing this job much better.

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

Actually I did see a difference in print quality with PETG. Without an enclosure one could see afterwards really the layers where there was an air draft (by walking by or moving in the same room as the printer), with the enclosure those artifacts were gone. Drafts also degrade functional robustness, but PETG should still have okish layer adhesion even with drafts. 

So you can definitely print PETG without enclosure but it prints better with. Also, while ABS/ASA fumes are nastier than PLA or PETG fumes, don't be mistaken. Also PLA isn't great. It emits a fair share of formaldehyds. Also a lot of very fine particles are created during print. A particle filter helps in combination with an enclosure helps a lot against the latter. Against VOCs you need a proper active charcoal filter setup (something similar to the "Nevermore" MOD for Vorons). 

With PLA you have the issue however that it really needs a pretty cool environment to prevent clogging. So there needs to be an open enclosure, no enclosure or very strong ventilation, which makes air purification challenging. 

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

If I keep bothering the MK3S+ and theMK4 I could put the enclosure on either. Not sure which would be best. On your comment on VOCs - are you saying that PETG emits less than PLA? Regarding putting a filter on the enclosure - haven’t looked into that. Another thing to add to the list!

Posted by: @thejiral

Actually I did see a difference in print quality with PETG. Without an enclosure one could see afterwards really the layers where there was an air draft (by walking by or moving in the same room as the printer), with the enclosure those artifacts were gone. Drafts also degrade functional robustness, but PETG should still have okish layer adhesion even with drafts. 

So you can definitely print PETG without enclosure but it prints better with. Also, while ABS/ASA fumes are nastier than PLA or PETG fumes, don't be mistaken. Also PLA isn't great. It emits a fair share of formaldehyds. Also a lot of very fine particles are created during print. A particle filter helps in combination with an enclosure helps a lot against the latter. Against VOCs you need a proper active charcoal filter setup (something similar to the "Nevermore" MOD for Vorons). 

With PLA you have the issue however that it really needs a pretty cool environment to prevent clogging. So there needs to be an open enclosure, no enclosure or very strong ventilation, which makes air purification challenging. 

RE: Keep enclosure or sell?

No, I am merely saying that all polymers emit VOCs. Also PLA is not harmless but not as bad as lets say ABS. PETG I am not sure where to put, maybe somewhere in between. I found that PETG fumes are somewhat headache inducing though, something I have not experienced with PLA fumes. 

The Nevermore system is rather putting a (circulation) filter into your enclosure. That is the most effective way to address the issue because then the air is being purified over and over again and efficiency of 90% and less can still lead to good results as it is repeated many times. With exhaust filtering (which I think can be done on top of a circulation filter) you only have one cycle of purification. If you have a well ventilated, separate printing room that would be enough for most purposes though but you said you have not so it might be worth looking into it. 

Regarding choosing the enclosure for one of the printers. Good question. I would choose the printer where you would like to print primarily non-PLA filaments and technical / performance prints. If you want to have good layer adhesion the speed race can be problematic anyway so maybe the Mk3 which can't do Input Shaper would be the better choice for the enclosure and functional non-PLA prints. Mind you, you can still print PLA with an enclosure but you probably have to open the door for that print which renders most effects of the enclosure moot.