Filtration using stock fans
Hello everyone. I have put a big HEPA filter on the back of my printer to be able to use the chamber fans and not have to buy any other fans. They generate enough negative pressure to suck air in. I have tested it with some smoke before the ventilation grille.
Now the problem is, the filtration settings do not seem to affect the chamber fans. I set it to keep running after finishing a print, but it just stops. Is there any way to make this work?
Best Answer by Niek09:
Update. Apparently under filaments there is an option whether filtration should be enabled for each specific material. PLA and PETG do not have filtration enabled on default and therefore the chamber fans won't act as filtration fans. So if you want active filtering with these materials, the solution I came up with is to make a custom material and enable filtration.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
Did you set the chamber filtration to "DIY"?
Everything works as expected on my system including the post print filtration.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
It's on DIY. What I think is happening is that it only controls a third fan which I have not attached?
I will do some more troubleshooting tonight.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
Strange. The DIY option should work with only the chamber fans and not require a separate filtration fan. As I said in my previous post, the DIY option is working for me. The chamber fans run at the minimum speed I set when printing a filaments that requires filtration and then ramp up to high speed when the print is finished to evacuate the chamber.
RE:
I am running 6.3.4, To test I put the filtration settings on a minimum of 100% but the chamber fans are running very quietly and not on 100%.
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Filtration setting are for the third fan you do not have installed. I read in one thread here that when filtration is enable the standard chamber fans are disabled but I cant seem to find it at the moment. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to set a minimum chamber fan speed other than using manual mode, there is only a setting for maximum.
Edit, I found the thread.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
Filtration setting are for the third fan you do not have installed. I read in one thread here that when filtration is enable the standard chamber fans are disabled but I cant seem to find it at the moment. Unfortunately I haven't found a way to set a minimum chamber fan speed other than using manual mode, there is only a setting for maximum.
Edit, I found the thread.
No, the DIY option does not require a third fan. From the release notes from 6.3.1:
"We’ve also added support for DIY setups without a dedicated filtration fan. In this mode, the existing cooling fans handle both cooling and filtration. This option can be enabled under Settings → Chamber Filtration → Chamber Filtration → DIY."
This is what I am using and it works as described. See attached picture of my settings.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
[...] the chamber fans [...] generate enough negative pressure to suck air in.
Why would you want to suck air in via the HEPA filter? If you want to trap the microplastics particles from the print, shouldn't you filter the air on its way out?
If it's about printing in a dusty environment, I would just keep the printer closed for use with higher-temperature filaments, and keep all fans switched off. For the lower-temperature PETG and PLA, you will probably be out of luck with the stock fans and a HEPA filter anyway, since the fans cannot produce enough airflow through the filter to keep the chamber cool.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
Okay, then it just doesn't work on my printer for some reason. Guess that would be a bug?
RE: Filtration using stock fans
The whole chamber is being put on a lower pressure by the fans, that's what I mean. So all particles produced by the printing are essentially going through the filter. When it was 24 degrees Celsius in my room I could reach about 33 degrees Celsius with PLA and the fans were probably set to a limit. It's just about putting on a big enough filter to reduce the flow resistance. Bonus is that is lasts long.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
No, the DIY option does not require a third fan. From the release notes from 6.3.1:
"We’ve also added support for DIY setups without a dedicated filtration fan. In this mode, the existing cooling fans handle both cooling and filtration. This option can be enabled under Settings → Chamber Filtration → Chamber Filtration → DIY."
This is what I am using and it works as described. See attached picture of my settings.
I was not aware of that option in this release of firmware. I'm also running DYI filtration. I will have to play with these settings.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
Update. Apparently under filaments there is an option whether filtration should be enabled for each specific material. PLA and PETG do not have filtration enabled on default and therefore the chamber fans won't act as filtration fans. So if you want active filtering with these materials, the solution I came up with is to make a custom material and enable filtration.
RE: Filtration using stock fans
This does seem to work but its not a great solution. You can't delete or change the default PLA profile in the firmware so the custom filament has to be named something different like PLA2. Even if you hide the default profile you still cant name the custom filament PLA. I can't find an option for custom filament names in Prusa slicer so I have to use PLA from the dropdown. Now the printer sees it as a filament mismatch each time and requires intervention to proceed with the print. A simple solution would be the ability to edit the default filament profiles on the printer or the ability to create a new filament from scratch in Prusa slicer. You can create a new filament in Cura and name it what ever you want.
An interesting note under tuning as long as the filtration fan is set to auto this works. If I manually set the filtration fan to a value it throws an error that the fan is not rotating because its still looking for the extra filtration fan and the standard chamber fans stop running.