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Since Christmas, I've seen several threads on Reddit where folks, most who are new to printing, just started up their brand new Bambu printers, only to find out that printing stinks (literally). Melting plastic is a smelly business no matter how cool the machines are that do it, and it's understandable that people would be rightly concerned about the smells. I'm no expert on the subject, but some of the advice I see offered to folks concerned about the smells, is downright bad. It's common to see replies that say that as long as it's only PLA or PETG being run, there is no reason for concern. Of course I strongly disagree with that, and try to put my $0.02 in to suggest some practical ways to duct and filter a printer's exhaust outside if possible. The reason is primarily due to ultrafine particle emissions from our 3D printers, which occur regardless of the material being printed, but can be especially concerning with any carbon fiber filled materials, since the nanotubes can hitch rides on the particles, and end up in places we don't want them. Many carbon filled materials appear to use much larger chopped carbon fiber, though that still has issues. I avoid filled filaments (aside from wood), but may use it with caution if I ever needed the additional strength.
To mitigate some of the problems, I run my X1C in an enclosure (which is intended for a different printer), and duct that enclosure outside though a HEPA filter. I also run my bento box clone in the X1C's stock enclosure, which acts as a first stage. This setup has been working well, with no smells getting into the house. My longer term solution however, is to remove the X1C from the enclosure, and use a booster fan to suck the air from the back of the X1C, then duct it outside. The booster fan project has been on the back burner though for a few months, and although it worked, I felt like it may be possible to improve it a bit. The recent threads on Reddit, where some folks are struggling to to find ways to balance their health concerns with running a 3D printer indoors, got me thinking that I should get back to the project and test it on my printer. So today I spent a few hours redesigning the original single fan design, into a dual stacked fan design, which hopefully will boost the static pressure. Static pressure is what's needed when air needs to be pushed through a hose or a filter, and although one fan was able to do it, I think 2 fans may work better. The pics above show the new design, which uses two 6038 fans (4 wire PWM version) which will be run in parallel in a stacked setup. I'm burning up the last of a roll of PETG to make the body of it now, and should have something to test with soon.
For this idea to work though, I will need to mostly seal the enclosure, which will just require taping over the holes on the base of the printer, and sealing the door (which I have already done). There will be some places for air to get in, but I want to minimize them, so the ducted fan can have the best chance of creating a small negative pressure inside the stock enclosure. If this works and I can run the X1C outside the enclosure without smells getting loose, then I plan to post the design, but that is gonna take time as always.
Update 10/31/2024: Well, it's been a while... I've been happy with my current setup, but I've gotten a boost of inspiration to have another look at this project after a discussion on Reddit. I did print this booster as a prototype, but have not tested it since it's just not a priority for the aforementioned reason (also the parts are not super cheap, just to test it).
In the reddit thread, it was pointed out that there are some cool (and small) Ikea air cleaners, which look like they could be a great fit as an endpoint for this booster fan. The Ikea filter is EPA12 only (not HEPA - edit for such a filter it probably is not a significant difference), but if I pick this project back up, I'd add a pre filter and a carbon box, similar to a prior design I made for my current enclosure. I'm gonna start looking at small HEPA filter as well, but in any case, the idea is forming for a design with a duct > booster > HEPA/EPA12 filter as a possible way to filter my other printer, which does not have an enclosure (and is not allowed in the house). As always though, there are several projects ahead of this which I really want to get posted, and some other things going on in life, so this may still go nowhere, but it's back on the whiteboard at least.
To mitigate some of the problems, I run my X1C in an enclosure (which is intended for a different printer), and duct that enclosure outside though a HEPA filter. I also run my bento box clone in the X1C's stock enclosure, which acts as a first stage. This setup has been working well, with no smells getting into the house. My longer term solution however, is to remove the X1C from the enclosure, and use a booster fan to suck the air from the back of the X1C, then duct it outside. The booster fan project has been on the back burner though for a few months, and although it worked, I felt like it may be possible to improve it a bit. The recent threads on Reddit, where some folks are struggling to to find ways to balance their health concerns with running a 3D printer indoors, got me thinking that I should get back to the project and test it on my printer. So today I spent a few hours redesigning the original single fan design, into a dual stacked fan design, which hopefully will boost the static pressure. Static pressure is what's needed when air needs to be pushed through a hose or a filter, and although one fan was able to do it, I think 2 fans may work better. The pics above show the new design, which uses two 6038 fans (4 wire PWM version) which will be run in parallel in a stacked setup. I'm burning up the last of a roll of PETG to make the body of it now, and should have something to test with soon.
For this idea to work though, I will need to mostly seal the enclosure, which will just require taping over the holes on the base of the printer, and sealing the door (which I have already done). There will be some places for air to get in, but I want to minimize them, so the ducted fan can have the best chance of creating a small negative pressure inside the stock enclosure. If this works and I can run the X1C outside the enclosure without smells getting loose, then I plan to post the design, but that is gonna take time as always.
Update 10/31/2024: Well, it's been a while... I've been happy with my current setup, but I've gotten a boost of inspiration to have another look at this project after a discussion on Reddit. I did print this booster as a prototype, but have not tested it since it's just not a priority for the aforementioned reason (also the parts are not super cheap, just to test it).
In the reddit thread, it was pointed out that there are some cool (and small) Ikea air cleaners, which look like they could be a great fit as an endpoint for this booster fan. The Ikea filter is EPA12 only (not HEPA - edit for such a filter it probably is not a significant difference), but if I pick this project back up, I'd add a pre filter and a carbon box, similar to a prior design I made for my current enclosure. I'm gonna start looking at small HEPA filter as well, but in any case, the idea is forming for a design with a duct > booster > HEPA/EPA12 filter as a possible way to filter my other printer, which does not have an enclosure (and is not allowed in the house). As always though, there are several projects ahead of this which I really want to get posted, and some other things going on in life, so this may still go nowhere, but it's back on the whiteboard at least.
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