Wednesday 11 November 2015

Enclosure planning

While waiting some parts to arrive I have been thinking what kind of enclosure this printer will get. There are several reasons to have one and most of them are related to safety. I am planning to have HEPA and carbon filter for the exhaust in order keep the fumes and particles in minimum. The enclosure also serves as a sound proofing and depending on material and design some fire protection might be achieved. Naturally the temperature can be controlled better inside enclosure and this should improve print quality on ABS and some other materials.

I happen to have a spare Arduino Uno which will became the controller of the printer main relay. The actual printer hardware like RAMPS, Steppers and heated bed are powered by 12V line through that relay. Arduino Uno will monitor temperature readings and keep the relay closed only if values are within safe limits. It will also control enclosure exhaust fan speed in order to maintain desired enclosure temperature.

The design and materials of the enclosure are still undecided. Most likely something like a 50 x 50 x 50 cm cube with door on one side.

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