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Comment by sho_hn | Hacker News Reader

So I would really like to get into 3D printing, but I struggle with discomfort over the health implications. I live in a small rented apartment and can't easily work out space or, much more importantly, external venilation. Yes, I've looked into PLA vs. ABS, I've looked into enclosures with carbon/HEPA filters, etc., but I still don't want to have it in my living space without a vent to the outdoors.

Here's the best I can come up with: A well-insulated enclosure with a filter ... on the balcony, with internal heating and PID temp control. Maybe some thing for humidity control as well. Thoughts? Any good off-the-shelf enclosure products that would fit an Ender S1 Pro or a Prusa MK3/4?

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Box around the printer with a vent/fan blowing outside. It'll be negative pressure in the box, so everything should just vent out. Even if you can just crack a window and get the airflow going out the window... you can push a flexible tube far out onto your balcony...

This is the best way. Inline duct fan and a flex hose running out of your window (you can print an adapter/connector to fit perfectly). It works very well even if your enclosure is not airtight (and it shouldn't be when printing PLA since you want a constant stream of air getting inside for cooling) - just let negative pressure do its thing.

It may seem super silly or I'm just somehow dumb, but the "run a hose to your balcony" is the difficult part for me. That means having a door open for 10+ hours at a time, which is a climate control challenge for the room.

That's why I figured: Why not put the entire enclosure on the balcony, and then heat-humidity control the inside of it? Sure, more complex system and higher power draw, ... but maybe there's whole kits for this? Like, for keeping a 3D printer in a windy shed?

6" wide piece of cardboard that is floor to ceiling of the balcony door. Put it on the side where the door locks. Cut a hole near the bottom of it and stick the flexible tubing through it. Now you can shut the door and hold the cardboard in, while still maintaining the climate control.

You can use something thicker than cardboard like the plastic version of cardboard... google: 'Corrugated Plastic Polycarbonate Acrylic Sheets'.

I was also thinking that you can even extend a pole out your balcony and attach the tube to that. This way, the air makes it far enough out that it won't even blow back.

I appreciate this, the challenge is that the wife won't let me get away with that level of jank (the balcony door opens into the living room) ... :-)

In the next life I'll get a house and build it around the 3D printer.

You can do it non-jank. I just realized there are products for this (mostly around portable AC exhaust vents). Google 'sliding door vent kit'.

https://www.amazon.com/sliding-door-vent-kit/s?k=sliding+doo...

> In the next life I'll get a house and build it around the 3D printer.

Or just 3d print a new wife? (joking)

That does look not-so-bad, but ... unfortunately we also don't have a sliding door. Nor sliding windows. Germany goes for those mechanically complicated multi-direction tilt/swing hinges instead. They're super mental (and metal), and break my aspirations.

I know, I'm not an easy customer.

> Or just 3d print a new wife? (joking)

I've seen too many terrible Benchys in reviews to fall for this one!

Some balcony doors aren't sliding but instead swing open, so that makes it more difficult as well.

> Why not put the entire enclosure on the balcony, and then heat-humidity control the inside of it?

How flammable is the insulation on your balcony? If you DIY it, then the danger of burning down your house might be bigger than the health risks of occasionally printing PLA in the living room.

Another option could be a used incubator, but an incubator big enough for a printer will probably cost more than the printer...

Kind of depends on ventilation setup in your house, some houses/condos are built to draw air through windows and out through fans with high static pressures, in which case trying to vent out don't work that well.

I tried it with SLA printer and it just filled the room with resin stinks for days. It really depends...

My FDM printer is not stinky enough to cause a big problem (might be still unhealthy though).

But i recently got a resin printer and that thing lives in the bathroom now beside the washing machine. It has build in ventilation through a coal filter but the stench is just awful.

In a pinch Bathrooms are not the worst place for printers because they have ventilation and are not in use most of the day.

Just don't store your filament in the same room since it might get wet from the showers steam.

Although this might have a very low WAF, so check with your better half if applicable :)

>But i recently got a resin printer and that thing lives in the bathroom now beside the washing machine. It has build in ventilation through a coal filter but the stench is just awful.

It's also worth noting that the smell varies considerably between different kinds of resin. having a dedicated space is optimal, but with the right materials it's farily manageable, especially if you're not planning to run it 24/7.

I use water washable resin because it is super convenient. It is supposedly not that bad smell wise. But I find it still unbearable.

The printer is used to print the occasional tabletop model and stuff if it where in use all day I would try to get a better solution

If you can shell out a little more, you might be able to print a Nevermore filter[1] and use activated carbon to filter VOCs, provided your printer is enclosed.

You could also buy a Bambu Labs P1P, which is fully enclosed, or build a Voron. There's also the Creality Sermoon V1, but with chinese printers you always have to replace / upgrade the parts, so they're really not that cheap in the long run.

1: https://github.com/nevermore3d/Nevermore_Micro

Just a note that the P1P does not come fully enclosed. You need to either print your own sides or buy them from someone. I don't think Bambu Lab even sells them, and even then they are just side panels and don't include the front. The Bambu Lab X1 Carbon comes fully enclosed, however. It is one of the main reasons that I am considering just going for the X1 Carbon. If the P1P had a fully enclosed option, I would go for it.

Thanks for the correction, I wrote that post off the top of my head. I definitely meant the X1, that's the printer I had in mind.

And anyway, if you're printing PLA you shouldn't do it in a completely closed enclosure, the temperature would be too high (or so I've read). Even the Sermoon V1 has cutouts for a small vent at the back. Even the Vorons aren't fully enclosed, although there's the Box-Zero[1] addon that does fully enclose the printer.

1: https://github.com/zruncho3d/BoxZero

I worried about the same thing, and decided to print only PLA and PETG and print without enclosure. The printer is in the living room, and I just close the doors to the bedrooms and open the windows in the morning to let fresh air in.

I think it's questionable how much those tiny filters help anyway. If you print a lot, you would have to constantly swap filters, if you don't print a lot, it doesn't really make that much of a difference.

When I want to print ABS, I go to a Makerspace and use their Ultimaker.

If you are OK with a 180mm build space, grab a Prusa Mini. Very quiet, fits in a cupboard, just works.

For me, ventilation isn't required for PLA. The smell is minimal and not unpleasant, and I often print (in a cupboard) while working two metres away.

I would be as concerned about the health implications of the sound. The constant background noise adds to the baseline stress level of the environment, and it's difficult not to intersect printing and sleep schedules.

So I recently moved mine from the middle my medium sized house to the far end from the bedroom, behind a door. And even with that I'm considering enclosing it in a cabinet, to reduce the noise on that side of the house too. Yet the model I have is not particularly loud.

The Mk3S (so presumably the Mk4) has a silent mode, which cuts down the noise significantly. I have mine on a 5cm×25×25cm paving slab which also helps avoid vibrations.

With a closed door between my bedroom and the printer at night, it's no problem.

You may be able to get by with a regular air filtration system. Not sure where you are, but I have a Rabbit Air[0] that is very good at removing smells has multi-layer filtration.

Also, buying good quality filament is important. You want stuff that isn't made in China.

[0]: https://www.rabbitair.com

Prusa does have an official enclosure but I'm not sure of its MK4 compatibility. https://www.prusa3d.com/product/original-prusa-enclosure-3/

It is compatible:

> MK4 is fully compatible with the Original Prusa Enclosure.

Creality has this $60 enclosure that seems to do the job. I learned that the entire voron project is against separate heaters, they recommend to leave the heated bed on for an hour instead.

I put the printer on a study Ikea wheeled table, and put it in the bathroom when I use it. The ventilating fan in the bathroom is sufficient.

How about using a printing service instead?

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