Hi, I have an Ender-3 pro with the Sprite extruder, I want to buy an enclosure.
Is there an enclosure recommended?
Hi, I have an Ender-3 pro with the Sprite extruder, I want to buy an enclosure.
Is there an enclosure recommended?
I just have the official Creality one and it works well for me. I have an external electronics enclosure to keep the electronics cool and the cables run through the side panel. The cord enters through a hole on the left. And I have a piece of heat resistant plastic on top as a sort of shelf. Here's a pic, though it's messy right now because I'm working on a different project and a lot of stuff got put on top.
Anyway it works well enough. It's not as fancy as the one you linked to. I generally prefer to buy minimalist and add on higher quality components that I either buy separately or build myself, so it doesn't have an exhaust hose or temperature sensor or anything. I have a sensor I made myself connected to the raspberry pi inside my electronics enclosure and I made a light with an LED strip and some printed parts. And I only print PLA and PETG, and not a huge amount, so for now I didn't need the exhaust. Though I plan to eventually move it to my worktable in my basement and add exhaust.
Only thing to look out for is that the transparent panels on these things aren't nearly as fire resistant as the rest, so less is more, and the panels seal with Velcro, so you need to make sure they close smoothly. They tend to fold and bunch up leaving openings. But overall it has been good for my needs.
I have the same printer and after a year of on & off fiddling finally getting consistently good prints. I didn't know these things existed. What would be the advantage of or need for using one? I have been printing predominantly PLA and PETG. Sorry to derail the conversation...
Cheers
Helps with keeping the temperature stable, reducing exposure to fumes, which isn't a huge deal with PLA or PETG unless it burns, but still a good thing, and fire protection. They won't stop a really hot burning fire, but if properly closed up, they will reduce the likelihood of the fire getting out of control by reducing access to oxygen and keeping the flames localized. Like it probably would help reduce the likelihood of a fire started by the hot end and material from spreading, but not a fire started by a short in the AC side of the power supply or cord or something like that.
It's not a necessity for PLA or even really PETG, especially if you monitor it well, but it's nice to have.
I built my own enclosure using the IKEA lack tables using this set of files https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4568507 , but I made mine to house 2 printers and used double doors to shorten the swing into the walkway. I also moved the power supplies to underneath the enclosures and added switches to control the power as well as the lights and fans.