3D Printers (again)

[vigilante398]

The Bambu is pretty freaking great. My oldest kid wants to be a marine biologist, she requested that my first print be a fish for her food chain model.

 

[Aentons]

I'm curious how/if you deal with ventilation when printing indoors.

 

[vigilante398]

I'm curious how/if you deal with ventilation when printing indoors.

The Bambu X1 enclosure has an activated carbon filter on the exhaust fan so that obviously helps. I mostly print PLA so it isn't an issue since PLA is a low-VOC material, but when I do print ABS I don't notice any smell (not a real scientific test, but I don't have air quality testing equipment), but I also keep my printer in the basement where nobody really goes besides me, so even before this printer I let my enclosureless printer run ABS prints and just stayed out of the basement while it was printing.

 

[darwin999]

I built a sealed enclosure out of sealed plywood with plexiglass windows, put my 3D printer inside it together with a smoke alarm + power relay (turns off printer power if smoke detected), plus a fan/filter. The sealed nature also helps keep my filament dry longer for better/stronger prints. in addition, I also keep a large beaker of desiccant inside the enclosure. For the fan I used an old pc fan, and for the filter I used a small HEPA + activated carbon filter (one that has actually been validated/tested). I don't print anything that creates toxic fumes (e.g., ABS, polycarbonate, etc.), but do print strong engineering-grade materials that can generate unsafe particulates (hence the filter) - e.g., PETG & Nylon, mostly w/ embedded carbon-filaments. Anything generating toxic fumes absolutely should be vented outdoors, seriously - just because you don't smell it doesn't mean it's not dangerous. There are now many tests that have been published showing very harmful gases and particles. By the way, my favorite filament maker is Atomic Filament - very reliable material at a good price.

And to other comments here, I use FreeCAD as my design tool. Early on, it had some bugs, but the latest versions have been very solid (for me). And it's truly free. I tried the free year of Fusion 360, but it's expensive once that initial period runs out. I mostly print things for use in my wood shop - numerous jigs & clamps, safety items, mounts for digital gauges, small jaws for my lathe chuck, etc. And of course, a clamp for holding/soldering PCBs...

 

[Locrian99]

ok no experience with 3d printers. But im assuming these can be used ti make faceplates ? Simple black with white/gray letters sort of thing

 

[Nostradoomus]

ok no experience with 3d printers. But im assuming these can be used ti make faceplates ? Simple black with white/gray letters sort of thing

it's probably easier to just get them made thru JLC. By the time you print one at home you could have 5 of them at your door

 

[fontoponto]

It is possible but too time consuming. I'm not that good with Blender as I am with Inkscape (2d prints) so that might be an issue but the quality is also not worth it. Depending on the font I had a lot of trouble fixin the extruded objects etc.
They are perfect for prototyping or as a drill template.

The letters only look good when they are extruded. The picture with the red chickenhead are printed words glued on the enclosure.

 

[ITG6]

ok no experience with 3d printers. But im assuming these can be used ti make faceplates ? Simple black with white/gray letters sort of thing

They can but there will things to learn. Designing layout/fonts/etc in software and then learning the 3d printing side. Lots of trial and error from my experience getting things to line up and look the way you want.
Some of the newer multicolor capable printers like those from Bambu can make the printing part easier but there is still a learning curve.

Skeptical Buffer Build

Took forever to complete this but after multiple parts orders, mis-drilled holes, and LED struggles I finally got this one wrapped up. First mistake was drilling the holes for the switches too high. Instead of using a different enclosure I made a 3D printed plate with transparent letters to...

forum.pedalpcb.com

That's a very simple plate I printed to cover the mis aligned holes I drilled in the enclosure.

 

[Locrian99]

it's probably easier to just get them made thru JLC. By the time you print one at home you could have 5 of them at your door

Ill look into this from another thread it sounds like the sheepylove library has some templates. Is it just make a gerber of it and order it like a board? Other thread said 1mm thick better.

 

[Nostradoomus]

Yep and yep. 1mm is good for plates.