3D Printer box
Posted: Sun Aug 14, 2022 1:06 pm
Well-its been a long slow summer for the shop...but I did manage a couple of projects. One of which is near completion.
The younger child likes the maker space and purchased a 3D printer to learn more and make some things.
Having a plastic melting machine in the kids bedroom, I started to think more about it from a materials viewpoint. The plastic that is commonly used is called Polylactic Acid or PLA - with a melt point of 150-160C. Doing a little digging, it turns out that all of the thermoplastics used in the 3D printing space devolve some gas or VOCs during the hot melt process...which for complicated structures can go on for 8-10 hrs. Though PLA seems to be the lowest on the toxicity scale, it is still toxic.
So lets address that problem - by boxing the printer and venting to the outdoors !
We built it from 2x4 scraps and leftover plywood. An AC PC fan was used on the 2.5" flex tubing exhaust which ports to a board which sits on the windowsill and vents outside. We bought some plexiglass sheets and slotted them into the sides.
Nice to manage to get the kids in the shop for a little while...though its few and far between.
Its a little bigger than his desk- but maybe theres a lesson in that somewhere !
b
The younger child likes the maker space and purchased a 3D printer to learn more and make some things.
Having a plastic melting machine in the kids bedroom, I started to think more about it from a materials viewpoint. The plastic that is commonly used is called Polylactic Acid or PLA - with a melt point of 150-160C. Doing a little digging, it turns out that all of the thermoplastics used in the 3D printing space devolve some gas or VOCs during the hot melt process...which for complicated structures can go on for 8-10 hrs. Though PLA seems to be the lowest on the toxicity scale, it is still toxic.
So lets address that problem - by boxing the printer and venting to the outdoors !
We built it from 2x4 scraps and leftover plywood. An AC PC fan was used on the 2.5" flex tubing exhaust which ports to a board which sits on the windowsill and vents outside. We bought some plexiglass sheets and slotted them into the sides.
Nice to manage to get the kids in the shop for a little while...though its few and far between.
Its a little bigger than his desk- but maybe theres a lesson in that somewhere !
b