3D Printer ramblings
I have a Prusa i3 mk2.5 in storage. I used to use it in my shed I used not to worry about it's harmful emissions: I just didn't share the space with it. I had, however, added an enclosure, and was planning to add a HEPA filter too it.
Once it's in an enclosure, it's massive. Even if I had added the filter, there's no where to put it.
I'd like a small printer that has an enclosure or is easy to enclose. I figure I could get by with 150x150x150 build area: I was rarely patient enough to wait for my i3 to print bigger models. 200x200x200 would probably actually replace my current printer, so that would be a bonus.
Not many printers have HEPA filters, which is really a shame. It seems just to be the result of a misconception about HEPA filters, and about filtration in general. Read this. E.g. I was looking at a used Lulzbot mini, and there are ready made enclosures for it, however. In this particular case, it's no big deal: opportunities to buy a Lulzbot mini at an affordable price are rare.
There are a few enclosed printers I could buy, but only one has a built in filter. That's the Up Mini 2 ES, but it's completely proprietary: it doesn't support GCode, and needs Windows based software to use it. It also doesn't really satisfy my build volume requirement.
In general, and enclosed printer without a filter is probably not easy to add a filter to but there a couple of options: the Monoprice Voxel, and Maker Ultimate 2 (what a cheeky name!). Both of these are listed
as supporting Slic3r, so they should be convenient for me.
The Monoprice Voxel has a build area of 150 x 150 x 150 mm, and dimensions of 400 x 380 x 405 mm. This printer turns up in some best of 2020 lists.
The Monoprice Ultimate Maker 2, which I've concluded has auto bed levelling (Monoprice are inconsistent on this point), a removable glass bed, and a build area of 200 x 150 x 150mm. Dimensions are 380 x 340 x 420mm. It's not coreXY, but the build plate moves up and down for the Z-axis, and the head moves for X and Y. This strikes me as a bit dodgy, but makes it small... There are some reviews which are generally favourable, although it doesn't turn up in any best of 2020 lists. I think I could sit a filter and extraction unit on the top of this without much trouble using the opening for the top access door. Of course I don't know what other ventilation it has.
It's beginning to seem like choosing a printer that's easy to enclose might give more, better options.
The Prusa Mini is a least small. Is it easy to enclose? I found a commercial product, which says it's internal dimensions are 400x500x400mm (WxDxH). That's really not small. Also the Mini is highly integrated: I don't know, for example, how you would mount the power supply outside the enclosure.
A lot of printers are going to have this massive depth requirement because they have moving build plates which mean they have to be more than twice as deep as the build area depth.
What about Delta or CoreXY printers, which don't have this issue? Delta's are at least twice as tall as the build volume, but I'm less sensitive to height: that's just the nature of the storage spaces I have. CoreXY is the ultimate.
CoreXY kits seem to be extremely scarce at the moment.
There's a commercial printer though: the Sapphire Pro, which has a build area of 220 x 220 x 200mm and external dimensions of 405x380x466. That's not bad at all. You can buy it with acrylic enclosing panels and doors: although the door knobs are weird and I thing the double door arrangement probably doesn't provide a good seal. In any case, any enclosure can attach the the frame, so it's easy to diy something, and the result would be compact. I can buy this one from Banggood, which I've never had any problems with, but I've never done a return.
Reviews suggest replacing the hot end and extruder might be necessary, among other faults. The bad reviews are giving me pause for thought.
There's another very similar printer the TronXY D01.
I also looked at the FLSun Q5 Delta. This has the problem of being highly integrated: it's hard to see how the power supply and electronics could be moved out of an enclosure, and I can't find anything that tells me how tall it is. It's ridiculously good value though, and reviews suggest it works well out of the box. Some are glowing. I makes a few best of 2020 lists. It has a really nice build surface, and auto levelling. It's available on Amazon, which gives me much more confidence. I'm from the box dimensions it's a little bit more than 600mm tall and perhaps 320mm from front to back (altitude), so the sides would be 370mm. A box with those dimensions could definitely be found a home for. Not sure I'd bother trying to make a triangular box.
Note that the largest square that fits in a 200mm circle is 141mm, but it depends how round the things you want to print are...
I think I've narrowed this down to:
- Monoprice Maker Ultimate 2, which costs £416
- FLSun Q5 Delta, which costs £180 (for some reason there are multiple Amazon listings for the Q5 both sold by FLSun and dispatched by Amazon, with different prices!)
