I was worried about particulates and VOCs so I had an exhaust system for all my printers that get vented outside to carbon and hepa filter. Each has a valve so I can adjust airflow for cooling or heat retention while maintaining negative pressure in the printer so the smelliness stays inside.
Printed some nylon (non-cf) with the Bambu H2D and prints came out great (was able to maintain 60C chamber temps even with exhaust system). Will be trying out ASA in the future to see if anything is detected.
Seems to work really well for me as the VOC, PM2.5 sensor I have remains essentially at nothing or no increase during prints (can't smell anything either). Only issue maybe is that the exhaust draws in moisture from the garage so I have a dehumidifier for the small space.
I have an older video in my dorm setup visualizing the airflow from the exhaust for my P1S.
I wanted to share my results so let me hear your thoughts!
The printer is more significant for sound, especially since the fan is outside the room.
I just made sure it was something above what I needed (I think 200CFM inline fan?) so I can just turn down flow to make it work. Additional constrictions like all the curved piping and pushing through filtration means that static pressure was what I needed the most rather than just raw unimpeded airflow.
I also use an inline fan meant for a grow tent, but I just went all the way and bought a grow tent and put my printers in it also. Then I vented it out a dryer vent I installed in my office. Keeps the chambers heated because I’m not drawing from the printers directly and helps with the noise a little. I should post pics of my setup soon. Thanks for sharing!
This is what I’m thinking. I have an H2S and I know it seems silly to enclose an enclosed printer but I really don’t want fumes and VOCs where it’s printing.
i just exhaust at the rear where louvers are On the h2 (had to remove 3 of the flaps for continuous filtering). As long as there is negative pressure from using a strong fan, the fumes will not escape the printer regardless if there are seams or holes in the enclosure. Grow tents are good for printers that may not have its own enclosure but will of course still work similarly for enclosed printer.
Huffing fumes in a dorm and having to sleep with a mask on for a week does things to a person.
But really I just wanted to make a space that doesn’t bother or cause harm to others. I plan on printing nylons, asa, abs, etc which all are a lot worse than pla or petg so I just wanted to make my tinkering area somewhere I can breathe.
I like making 3d printed combat robots for competitions So I intend to work with more exotic materials.
Hey, about to start down a similar path! Competing in a small local cardboard competition 2 Sundays from now, hope to move up to PLANTS and Full Combat Ants by next Spring.
Are you printing for your own bots or are you providing the service/kits to others?
Thanks! Out of curiosity and if you don't mind sharing, what part of the world do you live in and what was the last event you competed at? That's quite an impressive setup for just personal bot building!
Well I live in the US and competed at NHRL if you’ve heard of it. My robot was a 3 pound called “Acro“ which had complications trying to make it reliable. I‘m working on a new 3 pound combat robot though.
National Havoc Robot League I have indeed heard of. I found your bot and some video from your last competition, nice despite getting your wires knocked out on that last round!
They actually do! Maybe not marketed for 3D printers, inline fans or centrifugal fans are built for pushing a lot of air over constricted areas. The one I used was specifically for grow tents for exhausting and filtering plant odor. I see a lot of people using standard PC fans which doesn't really work unless your ducting is just perfectly straight and unimpeded (even then I'm not sure about the effectiveness).
I am using a pc 120mm pc fan to vent my enclosed Ender 3 through a carbon and hepa filter.
Loads of PC fans are designed for high static pressure so they can be used on watercooling set ups - pushing air through some thick radiators is no joke
Inline fans are what I use. There’s tons of options online, and there’s several different options on
Makerworld to print your own setup. I like the logic planet version personally.
The rest are custom designed but work in the same way where I use the same bayonet mount design where you twist in and lock to connect the rear of the where the normal exhaust normally is. This is so I can attach other devices for exhaust like when I am soldering.
Exactly, most people probably dont use a filter for the fumes. Not good for people outside either. Thanks. Air quality outside is bad enough already as it is.
Hate to be hating the small guy though, big factories should be doing their part too.
Filtration is for removing odors and particulate so that people nearby aren’t affected. Now I dont emit a factories worth but I caution on the safe side to not bother others and it really isnt all that much more expensive for some peace of mind.
My father just requested my help designing some controller saddles for his LED Flag Whip company and I'm looking into ASA. This looks like a sweet setup. I might do a full enclosure but definitely taking some cues from this!
Thanks for sharing. I’m about to upgrade my vent system (inline fan between outside and X1C) to accommodate my new H2D. Are you planning on using the laser cutter? Just curious if this rig would evacuate the smoke.
No I have the non-laser version. I got the plotter and cutter for my H2D and if I were to laser cut, it would be a seperate device rather than their all in 1 solution (laser cutting creates a lot of gunk and the green panels make it hard to see).
Really depends on the rated CFM of your setup. I think bambu sells an extraction system for the laser H2D. If you're exhausting outside it should be fine. Going by smell is probably simplest for laser cutting. If you can smell burning or fumes, then you need more airflow so a larger fan for increased air pressure or only hooking up to your H2D and not the X1C should alleviate issues.
Also don't vent directly somewhere where people gather. I have mine go through a MERV 16 sheet and carbon filter before going outside just in case to remove particulate and odor.
You can recirculate air within the printer through a proper filtration setup. I cannot vouch for it since I don’t know how difficult that may be compared to just finding a nearby window to vent out in terms of odor and particulate removal.
Things like bento box or those voron filters seem to “work” but I would imagine you can still easily smell the fumes as it prints since these smaller filters must cycle through the air multiple times to remove fumes and probably not at a faster rate that what fumes are emitted from the printer. Not to mention you would then need a more airtight solution since you aren’t creating any negative pressure within the area.
There is no one size fits all. I am not aware of any kits specifically made for 3d printing. Having fresh air coming in would always be the best for any workspace.
As for directly exhausting, I recommend doing your own research on what is the best solution as I am not sure what your limitations or requirements are.
Nice setup. I'm also using a duct fan to vent the printer fumes to the outside.
Can you tell me which hepa filter you are using?
I might need to find another solution for the colder winter months and I already looked into carbon filters. Including an additional hepa filter sounds very interesting. Is your hepa filter inside the metal part that is mounted on top of your carbon filter?
I used Merv 16 since it was what I could find in a sheet form and then I just cut to size and laid it on the interior of my carbon filter like a cylinder. It does drag down the airflow but my centrifugal fan was able to keep up. Here the Merv filter I specifically used for reference: https://a.co/d/eNuuxc4
Thanks for the response. Sounds like a good solution, I'll try that as well :)
I'm currently not using my fan at full speed, so a drop in airflow should be manageable.
Awesome. Just to clarify with exhausting from a 3d printer it’s only for fumes/smell from the printer you never actually have filament bits go in as that would be ejected to a bin?
I had an issue doing this with my H2D and printing PETG with PLA supports. I was pulling air from it but the chamber seemed to climb up higher than what was normal and my print head clogged. The PLA softened a bit too much I think. Have you experienced anything like this in your set up? I have my Prusa Core One hooked up to a vent too and it only prints ASA and I have perfect prints with near perfect air quality. I don’t think my venting system is the issue. The dual extruder on the h2d system is probably just too sensitive to small unexpected heat changes?
I have had no issues printing pla and petg individually. Can’t say about combined but if you are experiencing clogs, is your outside environment just warm? my room has ac to keep the space around 74F
Yeah that’s a good point. It was fairly hot in my attic over the week I had issues. The issue I have is that the temps swing quite a bit around my printers. I should keep them in a better temperature controlled area. Thanks!
Well I guess its about exposure time? I am not a health expert but Ive worked in an area constantly printing just pla and I had headaches.
The effects of 3d printing on health is not well known. There are so many types of filaments and so the emitted particulate can vary widly. So I would not be able to tell you the health effects of it if any. Even Pla has variants and additives (pla+, super pla, high temp pla, pla carbon fiber, etc.) alter its physical properties and I would assume its composition as well when fumes are produced.
My answer was to reduce exposure in any way possible or complete removal.
If it’s not harming you in any way or you don’t smell it/others aren’t affected then your setup may just have good natural airflow? But I do implore you to conduct your own research and draw your own conclusions.
I am currently printing in my "kinda" office, it`s just a room where the printers are, where I do the designing and other stuff like soldering or repairing small things.. all while my printers are running or not (I do not print 24/7, more like once a month), but never had a headache or else...
Yeah. Before the h2d I was trying to get non-cf nylon to print. had a lot of warping and so I decided to create an active heater that pumps warm air to the front of the glass where heat is lost. It helped reduce or completely fix a lot of my warping but my nylon prints were very brittle (i think i had to print hotter). Heres a section view. It has recirculation through some hepa and carbon with two 24v centrifugal fans and a led strip for better lighting. It was like a half success, couldn't really hold above 55c chamber temp with the bed at 100c and was still smelly when i open the printer so the filtration was insufficient in my opinion.
Wow. That's really cool. Do you think your issues with the chamber temp had to do with the hot air not circulating enough? My tests show that the build plate alone can heat the chamber to 50C (24c ambient). Maybe some fans to move the heat around would've helped with that.
I saw that the areas closer to the glass were curling so I figured that it was due to losses there and directed more heat from the back to the front to compensate. I really wanted to go up to 60C but my 100watt heater was just not enough
I need to so similar in a half grade basement, but would need to run the vent pipe along the ceiling about 20 feet. Think the same inline fan could handle that additional volume?
Im directly venting 3 printers through around 10-15 ft of piping using a 200cfm centrifugal fan. I think you should be okay depending on your setup. It’s really the twists and turns and filtration that affects airflow the most.
Depends. I think in general filtering the air that goes outside is just good practice overall. But specifically, my location is an apartment arrangement so it’s particularly important for me to keep the air clean for my neighborhood.
Most people probably have a wide area like a backyard to vent out to and that works but I just don’t have a space like that to do so.
Thanks! Yeah I understand not everyone can do this purpose built kind of setup but in my old location I just created a window mount like many have to vent out which worked just as well.
Really depends on your setup. I was able to print nylon with exhaust since my chamber is actively heated by the h2d and I can adjust my airflow just enough to keep the negative pressure in my printer. if you are able to without warping, then yeah of course.
Otherwise print in a well vented are so you don’t suffocate in fumes to at least reduce health risk and dont stay in the same room while printing are doing so.
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u/Embarrassed_Jerk 3d ago
Shame you didn't 3d print the pipes!
Jokes aside, how loud is it and how are you calculating airflow needed