Air Scrubber for a 3D Printer Enclosure - Assembly Instructions
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- Опубліковано 3 жов 2024
- The 3D models and description of this air scrubber: www.thingivers.... The design uses HEPA filters and multiple chambers of activated carbon to capture ultra fine particles and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
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And it looks like a cute lighthouse
This is the kind of thing that every 3d printer needs!
This indeed a nice system to have. There are few additional air filtering options available out there, such as odourcube( odourcube.com ). I came across this lately and it is a must system to have, at least in terms of keeping yourself healthy...
@@3dpp959 Can't find a single review of this thing... It's also not readily available. I'll build my own for now, who knows they'll be bigger in the future. Would be great if they can strike a deal with printer manufacturers.
Perfect! was just thinking of making an enclosure for my printer but was not sure what to do about filtering the air and this is just what I needed.
Great explanation of your design! I am really impressed.
What a design! Very nice! Would love to see how you've built your enclosure and sealed it. Would also like to know how well this whole set up is working out.
Edit: I've just looked at your thingiverse profile and saw your enclosure and read previous comments. Very impressed!
Thanks for the compliment! I am very happy with the filter and enclosure performance. I am considering making a version of this for an enclosure containing cat litter boxes. I wonder how well carbon pellets perform for neutralizing THAT type of organic compound?
Hey! :) I would want to discuss a flaw, that your design and the others on Thingiverse potentially have (at least in my mind). And that is, the fan being mounted after the filtration, so in a pull configuration. For this to work, the whole filter section before that must be absolutely air tight. Your design has especially many screwing parts of which none seem to be sealed. The HEPAfilter boxes too have a very loose fit without sealing and I believe will draw a lot of air through the gaps. So I would believe a lot of air will pass relatively unfiltrated. Maybe I am wrong - I hope I am. And to be absolutely clear: I love the design - creating the hinge pins from PLA filament is absolutely ingenious for example. And I have yet to master making screw mounts like yours. But I think a push configuration of the fan in this case would be a better option. If you have any air leaks in your filtration system, the air will just get blown back into your case and only air that goes through all filtering stages will pass to the outside. So you have to just make sure that the airpath inside is tight with potential leaks leaking air to the outside rather than the other end of the filtration stage. I would be very curious to hear your thoughts on this! :)
Not to take away from your comment but,,, You would still have a leak with push if it leaks, so it doesnt matters. You always want to pull air not push
If so worried about leaks use teflon tape on threads and caulk anything else.
Thanks! I am glad that you like the design. Push v. pull was definitely something that I, and others, have given upfront consideration. Ultimately, I sketched an implementation for both approaches and there were a couple of drawbacks that were unique to Push: 1) Placing the fan at the front would require extra maintenance to clean dust that would build up on the fan blades. 2) I wanted a vertical free standing solution (vertical saves space and vertical leverages gravity), and putting the fan up top would make the unit top-heavy. I agree that potential leaks around the HEPA chamber should be evaluated. The air pressure inside the HEPA chamber is low relative to outside and the concern is that dirty air will bypass the HEPA filters and enter the chamber. My primary mitigation solution for this is what led to multiple HEPA cartridges. Multiple cartridges decreases the differential inside-to-outside air pressure and thus reduces the proportion of air that might bypass the HEPA filters. Now consider the three leakage points: a) the gap around each filter cartridge; b) the gap around the threaded exit hole; and c) the gap at the top "lid". Gap "b" is mitigated by the nylon mesh that is squeezed between the threads. Gap "a" is mitigated by the flexible gasket that is found on each HEPA cartridge. Gap "c", I agree, should be looked at for how particulates might bypass the HEPA filters. The lid is a press-fit arrangement. If the top-bottom parts do not warp, the press-fit solution is mitigated by the low pressure inside the chamber which will tend to pull the surfaces evenly together. Another mitigation to "c", required if there is warpage, is to put gasket material on the points where the lid meets the bottom of the chamber. In my build, I can visually verify that the seam is tight all the way around, so I don't think that I need the gasket. My parts list for the enclosure (on Thingiverse) includes self-adhesive gasket material.
I'm sure you know this but... damn that is an amazing engineered design. I am absolutely impressed by it. While I wont be using it for a n enclosed 3d printer, I will for sure be using it for me room. Its dusty, and i don't think my 3d printer will appreciate it. So, thank you for such awesome inspiration.
You are most welcome, and thank-you for the nice comment!
Thank you
Most welcome
I want to see this attached to the printer.
Gonna modify this for a litterbox.
What a fantastic build! Roughly how long would you say you get out of the filters, charcoal, and desiccant before they need to be changed? Just a rough guess would be fine e.g. 24 hours of continuous print, 48 hours of continuous print, 96 hours of continuous print, and so on. Thanks in advance!
My rough guess is 50-100 hours of printing ABS (which seems, by my senses, to be one of the worse materials, emissions-wise).
@@duaneanderson8641 Great! Thank you for the prompt reply!
Very nice desing, you're talking about abs smell in your comments on others but will it work also well with resin printer? I don't have a window in the room I will print and was thinking it would be a nice option
I have not done any testing with a resin printer. From what little that I have heard about the resin fumes, I am optimistic that my design should work with resin printers. Please read my response (3 weeks ago) to user @KyleKatarn145.
seems like a bit much. Why go through all of that trouble? No need for a back flow preventer. Just filter the air inside of the enclosure.
Check out SeaChem's spherical carbon. By weight it provides better surface area and more uniform absorption potential, but not cheap.
Love your design, building something sorta similar, but much larger, to accommodate multiple printers & a small airbrush spray booth.
And what it is good for?
My PM doesn't show any rise in particle count when next to printing nozzle (pla, abs, tpu) (1micron - 20micron)...
Not sure how true this is but I heard that the particles are in nanometer range so it wont be detected. Idk how much this helps (for UFP) either, the hepa might not be effective at this size.
Nice design..... Might I ask why you have air gap between the charcoal chambers as opposed to one larger chamber with the same quantity of coal? ...... JD
Steve - Thank-you! The multiple smaller chambers gives three advantages: a single tall chamber might cause the charcoal to compress at the bottom, the air space between layers might provide an eddy effect which extends the time that the air is moving over the surface of the charcoal, and multiple chambers allows for extending the chamber volume. -Duane
When I look at the 3M guidelines for some of their filters it says to replace them with 40 hrs of use or 30 days after open storage, whichever comes first.
What is ideal to change out the filters in this system?
I read those guidelines also. For the HEPA filter portion, I go by these guidelines, which in a commercial lab was found to be 7 years: www.labrepco.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/How_Long_Do_HEPA_Filters_Last_1447854983.pdf. For the activated charcoal, I did not find any applicable research, but it is certainly much more likely to need changing than the HEPA filter. I go by the smell test: if I detect any amount of ABS odor in the room with my enclosure, I swap out the charcoal. In my case I have done that twice, or about once per year.
@@duaneanderson8641 - As someone with anosmia (no sense of smell) the literal "smell test" will never work for me. 😞
You mention that you're swapping out the charcoal about once a year. Do you have a rough estimate of how many hours of ABS printing that is for you?
Great project, thanks! I'll likely need something like this, to be allowed a desktop 3D printer in my corporate office space. It will be for my first machine (Prusa MK3), so I'm still new to this... With all the air pumping out through this scrubber and the chamber likely sealed, is there a special method for inlet air to feed the enclosure? Or simple vents are acceptable since it will always be under negative pressure when running? Thanks!
Adam - I am glad that you like this. My filter unit has been in operation for about six months and it has performed flawlessly. The short answer to your question is that you don't need an inlet. Even if your enclosure was super air-tight, the air filter and printer will be just fine if the same air just keeps getting recirculated. In my case, though I have leakage around the enclosure door edges, I am still able to keep odors contained inside the enclosure. Also, if you will have filament on a spool inside of your enclosure, it would be better to NOT have an air inlet. Considering that your printer will be left unattended and shut down in your office for long periods, an air inlet will be a source of humidity that could degrade your filament. The back-flow-prevention valve on my design is intended to keep room air from entering the enclosure when your printer is dormant.
So far, I have not had any issues with over-heating inside of my enclosure. If I do start to have heat problems (e.g. the bed temp goes too high), then I would consider adding a passive heat exchanger; such as placing back-to-back aluminum heat sinks on one wall of the enclosure. Point being that avoiding an air inlet is preferable.
no view of the unit in the enclosure?
There are several photos of the unit in my enclosure, shown on the Thingiverse post. The link is in the description.
I'm thinking of doing something like this for my printer so I can print polycarb and ABS. I don't want to be exposed to the fumes because they stink, and particularly with PC, they are carcinogenic. So in theory, the printer has to be completely sealed.
With the exception of the steppers, My electronics are separated from the heat of the print bed. I believe that the plastic joints on my Kossel are ABS; would the ambient temperature of the enclosure get anywhere near the glass transition temperature for them to warp at all?
This is something that I monitor, and so far, it has not reached the glass transition point of PLA (60 C). The GTP of ABS is about 100C. However, a big factor is how air-tight is the enclosure. The design approach of this air scrubber forces a fraction of the scrubbed air out of the enclosure through an exhaust port, which results in a small amount of cool room temperature air to continuously enter the enclosure by whatever path is possible. I have very small air gaps around my enclosure door, which is sufficient to allow enough clean/cool air to enter to keep the interior at
@@duaneanderson8641 Ah, I see. If there are gaps for air to leak in, I would want to have the scrubber turned on, so that any fumes from ABS/PC wouldn't leak into the environment. Are these fumes lighter or heavier than air? I'm assuming they would collect at the bottom of the enclosure?
@@macsogandares8383 Some VOCs are lighter than air, some heavier. The air turbulence of the filter's re-circulation nozzle, combined with the turbulence of fans on the hot end, serve to stir up the compounds in the enclosure. So, the filter intake (high vs. low) position does not matter so much. If I let the filter run, with the enclosure door closed, for 15 minutes after an ABS print, I cannot smell any trace of fumes when I stick my head into the enclosure. If I open my enclosure during an ABS print, the fumes are very intense. My reply to @Travis7919 (about a year ago) provides some details that might help you to quantify your expected results based on my observations.
Hello, do you have the measurements of the completed unit?
I'm in the planning stage for my enclosure now, but am worried it won't fit if I were to use the IKEA Lack tables
There are images showing measurements of the complete unit at the Thingiverse post (link in the description). Eg. The unit (with 4 charcoal chambers) is 43.5 cm tall. Good luck! My unit is going strong; four years and counting!
@@duaneanderson8641 I see it now, thank you!
Why didn’t you make the fan control remote, wouldn’t it be better to control the fan from outside the enclosure?
Phoenix540 Agreed! I’m considering an upgrade to have an octoprint control the fan.
Duane Anderson
As an AstroPrint user myself, I wasn’t referring to a software remote control, just mounting the fan controller and knob on the outside of your enclosure.
It seems counterproductive to have to open your enclosure and lose all your heat every time you want to adjust your airflow.
@@Phoenix540 I pretty much set-and-forget the speed setting. After I determined my preferences, I don't fiddle with it.
Why add dessicant? All you're doing is drying out the air you're expelling from the enclosure. I can't see how this will make the air inside the enclosure itself any dryer.
The value in adding desiccant is twofold: 1) Most of the filtered air is recirculated into the enclosure interior. 2) The activated carbon will also absorb moisture, but that moisture diminishes the ability of the charcoal adsorption of VOCs, therefore the desiccant (which can be reused) extends the life of the charcoal.
Hello I'm currently printing your Air scrubber and I'd like your opinion on what fan works best with it. Thanks.
Hi Jeremy- For a list of fan alternatives, check out this Thingiverse listing from user @jmillerfo: www.thingiverse.com/thing:2394452
I use the Sunon unit, and am happy with it for managing the printer emissions. I use the San Ace in another project (cooling an electronics enclosure) and that works well. I use a temperature sensor to keep the loudness of the San Ace to a minimum, but it does get noisy when the ambient temperatures are elevated. Good luck!
where do you get the HEPA filters?
Links to the purchased items are in the Description on the Thingiverse posting.
Could I purchase a completed version of this from you?
Sorry, I am not setup to print/kit/assemble. You could try a print service, such as Craftcloud. The Thingiverse listing has links to the non-printed parts that you will also need to purchase.
Hmm.... I have doubts that this design really works. Can you prove the flow through the HEPA filters? That flap doesn't prove that.
Thanks for asking! Proper air filtration is a pretty important thing to do, so I welcome your skepticism. My design is the third iteration of a design approach started by Thingiverse user @RJ_Make, and followed by a second iteration by user @jmillerfo. @RJ_Make used an anemometer to test various HEPA filter types vs. various fans. The next iteration by jmillerfo provided a split-stream exhaust nozzle design, and he performed more extensive air flow analysis of various fans. Both iterations test results and test video are published with the respective models on Thingiverse.
My iteration triples the HEPA filter surface area (which undoubtedly improves airflow), and breaks up the charcoal chamber into a series of staged eddy chambers which *should* theoretically improve airflow. Though I did not use an anemometer to perform the same types of testing of my predecessors, I was careful to strive for qualitatively improved performance compared with the well tested models that I re-mixed.
Here are some other data points that have helped me to validate my design:
1) With my enclosure closed, air scrubber fan @ 50%, and closing the door and vents to the room containing my printer; I can't detect the smell of melting ABS in the printer room while printing. Whereas, without using the scrubber, the closed room would start to get that strong ABS smell within 15 minutes after the print starts.
2) If I wait to open my enclosure for several minutes after the print finishes, I can then stick my head into the enclosure and I can barely detect the ABS smell. The air scrubber seems to be working as intended. My enclosure is about 7 cubic feet. Assuming that 50% of the filtered air is exhausted, this means that my fan is pushing 14 cu feet of air in 3 minutes. This is about 5 CFM. Given the fan opening is about 0.02 square feet, that tells us that the velocity through the fan is 240 FPM. This flow-rate is consistent with a screenshot from @RJ_Make that shows he observed a velocity of 197 FPM, so I am in the ballpark.
All links to the can be found on my Thingiverse description.
@@duaneanderson5172 Check out Xiaomi Mi Air Purifier filters, they are cheap, have much larger hepa surface and come with removable carbon filter. That would be the best choice to design this type of system around. It would be much simpler overall, easy replacement of filters and way larger filter surface. Its around 30$ for the set of hepa & carbon.
So honest question. Is it necessary to have a filter if I build and enclosure for a 3D printer? I planned on just putting a vent and/or fan in the top.
Good question. The concern is that there are potentially hazardous airborne particles emitted by melting filament, especially ABS. Here is a report: pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.5b04983
High usage (ie printing for many hours at a time), confined spaces, in a place where you live, with perhaps children, elderly, or pets... These are all aggravating factors.
Will solutions such as this design help? I don’t know. It is known for sure that activated charcoal is a life saver for protecting lungs from cancer causing volatile organic compounds. Melting ABS emits VOCs.
Hello Duane thank you for your videos and your thingee, does your scrubber remove 100% of the smell?
Please read my reply to @Travis7919. I cannot smell melting ABS when I enter the closed room that contains my enclosure with the operating printer and scrubber. So the answer to your question is Yes, but with the caveat that the scrubber be inside a tight enclosure. My enclosure (also on Thingiverse) is well sealed on all edges, with the only air gaps being less than 1mm at the door seals. The scrubber must be allowed to run for several minutes after the print finishes, before the enclosure is opened.
Is the fact that 3d printed layers allow some air through them an issue when using 3d printed parts on something like this?
Depends on the infill percentage, also its recommended to finish it with primer and paint for durability. I’ve 3d printed a water sprinkler with 100% infill and had no leaks.
Good point. Adjust your slicer settings to minimize air gaps between layers in the Z axis, and between your walls. You can up the extrusion percentage a bit, and/or increase extrusion temperature, to force layers to bond better. Also, use 3 (not the just the usual 2) walls. Use "random" start points for each wall run so that gaps will be unlikely to overlap. You can test your slicer settings by printing a cup, and then see if it will hold water. Also, some filaments bond way better than others, so if the cup leaks, try another filament. User @justtestingonce has good suggestions too. I have successfully used spray-on sealer for a design that needs to hold water (my ant-proof pet food bowl holder).
How did you define the layers of charcoal needed? Isn't 1 or 2 enough?
I took a wild guess that, for each charcoal chamber, two "layers" are sufficient, where a "layer" is defined as enough pellets to prevent a direct line-of-sight path through the layer. The goal is to maximize the air-to-charcoal collisions without introducing excessive airflow impedance. Additionally, the air cavity at the top of each chamber induces eddy currents which further multiply the collisions with charcoal pellets. Also, multiple chambers instead of one deep chamber prevents the possibility of the pellets crushing down and degrading airflow.
My multi-chamber design approach is supported by observations of water flowing through a series of pipes and chambers. In each chamber, there is a window to watch the flow. Particles in the water flow in a continuous forward direction in the pipes. Then, when entering the chamber, the flow spins about before exiting the chamber and entering the next pipe. That is the idea behind each charcoal chamber: to allow the dirty air to have more opportunities for the charcoal to adsorb the particulates suspended in the air.
@@duaneanderson8641 wow, very interesting. I can't wait to start on my own filter system.. I'm getting an E3N small 18.5x19.5x18.5mm 3d printer. Meaning I'd like the filtering system to also be as small as possible. It's PLA so I'll be monitoring the difference in Ultra Fine Particles pre and post filterering. Thank you for your insights!
Would you be willing to release your fusion360 or solidworks files for this?
I am not interested in posting my source files. The STL models, available on Thingiverse, are all that I am publishing at this time.
Is this a viable solution for use with Resin printers?
HEPA filters and activated charcoal are widely utilized for air purification in many types of situations. I use this solution because it is the best available, and it is at least better than NOT using an air scrubber. I have not yet seen a scientific study that quantifies how to sufficiently scrub the air around a 3D printer. I have read the studies that describe the types of particles that have been detected emitting from 3D (FDM) printers; and HEPA + activated charcoal are known to be effective filters for those types of particles. I have not read any studies on the types of particles emitted by resin filters. You could do a qualitative test with a commercial gas mask (3M 6200 - Half Facepiece). These masks are HEPA+activated charcoal, so they will approximate the results of the air scrubber. If, when using the mask while printing, you notice no fumes, then we could predict that the scrubber will help clean the air around a resin printer. Just as with an FDM printer, you will need an airtight enclosure to house the scrubber + resin printer. The scrubber cleans the air at a gradual rate, which means it will take some time to clean the air in an enclosure after the emitting is concluded.
@@duaneanderson8641 do they stop the smell?
Hiw much is this or where cna i buy?
Sorry mate but this is not in production. I take your question as compliment though, so thanks! I put this design on Thingiverse with the primary intent that owners of 3D printers may be interested in printing this for their own use. There are service providers that will print a part from an STL file (see my Thingiverse listing). You will still need to do the assembly however.