Well as my first post I thought I would start with my setup. I am passionate about safety (coming from chemical background) and therefore I was concerned when I looked at the fact that I was essentially burning plastic. Yes, ABS and TPU, TPE are well documented as health hazards when burnt. I also have questions over PLA printing safety as you burning sugars and generating nano-microparticles.
The best solution is to exhaust the fan outside. Living in a cold climate where it can get to -40C venting outside would cost me a fortune in extra heating bills. It would also be a challenge when working with plastics that warp. Yes there are commercial solutions, but the challenge that you have is that the power supply and circuit do not like all that heat. The solution was to custom build an enclosure. I am planning on getting another printer in the coming months (if the Taz did 1.75mm filament it would have been bought in a heart beat) so yes there is a lot of extra space.
The setup is designed with a subfloor. Cold air is directly piped into the underside of the Wanhao (where its air intake is) and this is the only air intake on the unit. The unit is designed to push air vertically to minimize any chance of warping. Air is sucked through a high grade furnace filter and then pushed through a carbon filter on the right hand side. The carbon filter is a large cylinder filter designed for hydroponics of the non-legal variety. The chamber on the right is sealed from the outside. The air is then drawn by fans into the chamber below the printer. The air is pushed across a reptile lamp to heat the air. The temperature of the main chamber is controlled by thermostat and I can set temperature based on plastic type. Three fans push air vertically into the main chamber. Air temperature is kept very stable by the setup.
The key advantage is that you are essentially scrubbing the air. It does not matter if the filtration is 80-90% effective because it is constantly removing the contaminants.
Hopefully this is of interest to people.
The best solution is to exhaust the fan outside. Living in a cold climate where it can get to -40C venting outside would cost me a fortune in extra heating bills. It would also be a challenge when working with plastics that warp. Yes there are commercial solutions, but the challenge that you have is that the power supply and circuit do not like all that heat. The solution was to custom build an enclosure. I am planning on getting another printer in the coming months (if the Taz did 1.75mm filament it would have been bought in a heart beat) so yes there is a lot of extra space.
The setup is designed with a subfloor. Cold air is directly piped into the underside of the Wanhao (where its air intake is) and this is the only air intake on the unit. The unit is designed to push air vertically to minimize any chance of warping. Air is sucked through a high grade furnace filter and then pushed through a carbon filter on the right hand side. The carbon filter is a large cylinder filter designed for hydroponics of the non-legal variety. The chamber on the right is sealed from the outside. The air is then drawn by fans into the chamber below the printer. The air is pushed across a reptile lamp to heat the air. The temperature of the main chamber is controlled by thermostat and I can set temperature based on plastic type. Three fans push air vertically into the main chamber. Air temperature is kept very stable by the setup.
The key advantage is that you are essentially scrubbing the air. It does not matter if the filtration is 80-90% effective because it is constantly removing the contaminants.
Hopefully this is of interest to people.
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