My 3D printer is a Prusa MK3S and it's been a lot of fun to make things with. Here's what it looked like when I got it:
It lives in my garage so I wanted to protect it from dust and dirt, for instance when I'm cutting wood or something. Also, the garage gets cold in the winter and the low ambient temperature sometimes causes problems even for PLA. So I decided to build an enclosure for the printer.
One popular option is the so-called "Lack" enclosure, named after the inexpensive Ikea table of the same name that it's made from.
That's kind of what I wanted, but I had some other requirements/wants:
- I wanted a thinner frame and transparent top, so I have better visibility on the printer.
- I want to keep my filament in a drybox underneath, instead of putting the spools in open air on top.
- I want to be able to easily remove the side walls without tools, to get more access to the printer.
Also, I wanted to try using aluminum extrusion to make something, and this was the perfect opportunity. So I made this:
Its features include:
- Shiny aluminum extrusion and clear acrylic construction
- Removable top and sides
- Double front doors
- Bright white LED illumination
- Push-button controls
- Reverse-bowden tubes for 5 filaments in a drybox (that I originally made for my old Qidi X1).
- Octoprint controller
- Audible feedback
Want to make one like this yourself? Today I'm going to describe how to construct the enclosure itself, and save the electronics (LEDs, buttons, sound) for a subsequent post. If I have written that second post yet and you'd like me to do so, please let me know (email address at the bottom of the page).
Parts list
For materials, let's start with aluminum extrusion. I wanted mine to be 59 cm deep, 49 cm wide, and 49 cm tall. I selected 2 cm ("2020") aluminum extrusion, and picked Tnutz to source it from because they seemed pretty cheap but still vagely reliable-looking. Their custom-cut "EXM-2020 – 20mm x 20mm Smooth T-Slotted Aluminum Extrusion" is priced by length. They make you specify lengths in imperial units (even though the cross-section is measured in millimeters, go figure) but rounding off to the nearest 1/16" of an inch worked out fine in practice.
| Quant. | SKU | Description | Length (mm) | Price (USD) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | EXM-2020 | 2020 Extrusion | 590 | 7.68 |
| 4 | EXM-2020 | 2020 Extrusion | 450 | 11.88 |
| 2 | EXM-2020 | 2020 Extrusion | 550 | 7.10 |
| 4 | EXM-2020 | 2020 Extrusion | 470 | 12.44 |
| 24 | CBK-020-A | Inside Corner Bracket | 36.00 | |
| 4 | EC-020-A | Black Plastic End Cap | 1.00 | |
| 36 | DB-020A-M3 | Drop-In T-Nut | 18.00 | |
| Total | 94.10 |
I recommend that you order a few extra (especially the DB-020A-M3 t-nuts) just in case.
Next, you'll need laser-cut 3mm clear extruded acrylic sheets. I don't have my own laser-cutter so I had to order these, and I had Pololu do it because although I don't think they're the cheapest option in general, a lot of companies can't handle pieces this big. And I've had good experiences with Pololu when ordering robotics parts. I put the pieces into 3 orders:
| File |
|---|
| back-and-side.pdf |
| top-and-side.dxf |
| front-4.dxf |
Sorry for the mixture of formats. Pololu will take both PDFs and DXFs, but when I made my first order I hadn't yet realized that DXF is the best one to use (when working from Fusion 360). This custom-cut acrylic is definitely the most expensive part of this project; I paid $218. Hopefully you can find a way to save some money here.
Mostly you can use the acrylic designs as-is, but you might consider removing the cutout for the fan in the back if you're not planning to use that (or at least add a panel that you can use to cover the hole).
You'll need other assorted hardware, too. I hope I didn't miscount anything here, but again you should have some extras on hand anyway. Order from McMaster-Carr if you want them fast, or Aliexpress if you want them cheap.
| Description | Quantity |
|---|---|
| M3 socket-head screw, 6mm | 21 |
| M3 socket-head screw, 8mm | 52 |
| M3 washer | 8 |
| M3 hex nut | 32 |
| M2.5 screw, 6mm | 4 |
To hold the side walls and front doors, you'll need 12 6x3 mm rare earth magnets. I got mine by ordering an assortment from Amazon.
For the hinges you'll need some 1/8" brass rod that can be found at a hardware or hobby store.
3D-printed Parts
I 3D-printed what I could (of course!) and that includes handles, magnet brackets, cable guides, a bracket to hold the power supply, door hinges, and a reverse-bowden tube guide. For most of the parts I used Silk Turquoise Blue PLA, but for a few parts where I wanted more strength I used white PETG.
| Quantity | Material | STL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PLA | Tube holder |  |
| 8 | PLA | Handle |  |
| 6 | PLA | Magnet bracket |  |
| 6 | PLA | Cable guide (from Printables, Paul Arden) |  |
| 1 | PLA | Power cord bracket |  |
| 1 | PETG | Power supply bracket |  |
| 4 | PETG | Door hinge bottom |  |
| 4 | PETG | Door hinge top |  |
| 1 | PETG | OctoPi bracket |  |
| 1 | PLA | Power supply cover |  |
| 1 | PLA | Magnet glue shim |  |
Most of these are straightforward to print with no supports. I think I used supports for the tube holder and power supply cover.
When printing the magnet bracket, tell PrusaSlicer to pause the print just before it prints the layer that seals off the cylindrical void where the magnet goes. When the printer pauses, drop the magnet in, and then tell it to resume. Make sure to put all the magnets in with the same orientation (north/south), to save confusion later on. You can't tell a magnet's orientation just by looking at it, so here's the easy way to accomplish this: put the first magnet in in an arbitrary orientation. Then when you're making the remaining five brackets, pick up the the magnet you want to insert using the first bracket. That will automatically orient it correctly, and then place the magnet into the new bracket (the partial one that's sitting on the printer bed) using the old bracket as a tool, and release it by sliding the old bracket sideways.
Assembly
Start by building the frame using the aluminum extrusion. Collect all the pieces and figure out which ones are which.
Collect your hardware for the frame too: corner brackets, M5 T-slot nuts, M5 bolts, and end caps. Don't worry about the M3 T-slot nuts yet.
Use the "Inside Corner Brackets" to hold pieces together at the ends. To make the bottom, arrange the 55 cm pieces on the sides and two of the 45 cm pieces for the front and the back, but don't make either one abut the other. Attach corner brackets to hold them together, but don't tighten the bolts completely. Then in each of the four corners, set a 47 cm piece vertically (sitting directly on your work surface, not on top of a horizontal piece) and add the other two corner brackets. Get all the bolts engaged before you tighten them, then get the extrusions touching each other, and then tighten the bolts. A completed corner will look like this:
Set a 59 cm piece on top of one side and attach its two brackets, then do the same for the 59 cm piece on top of the other side. Finally use the last two 45 cm pieces to complete the top front and top back.
The ceiling, sides, and front each have two handles. Attach them with M3x8 bolts with hex nuts on the back.
The ceiling sits on top, held by gravity, with four M3x6 bolts to keep it from sliding horizontally. Insert a pair of M3 t-slot nuts into each of the two long extrusions on top and put the bolts into them. Slide them until they line up with the holes in the ceiling.
The sides are held up by M3x8 bolts and magnets. Attach the bolts with t-slot nuts to the sides of the top extrusions, like you did for the ceiling.
Two of the holes in each side panel are for magnets, which will be held in place with a bit of epoxy around their circumference. Use the "magnet shim" that you printed (it's just a tool, not part of the final product) to hold each magnet in place without touching the glue by slipping it underneath the acrylic panel, then smearing a small amount of epoxy on the magnet, and then carefully inserting the magnet into the hole. Take care that all of the magnets have the same orientation by testing them with a magnet bracket. (The magnet bracket should attract the wall magnet when it's on the inside of the wall.) Then attach a pair of magnet brackets for each side wall, one on the front extrusion and one on the back, and adjust them so they're at the same height as the magnets you just glued into the walls.
I made my back wall with a couple of removal panels to give me options in the future. I've never taken advantage of that flexibility, but anyway if you're following my design exactly then attach those panels with M3x8 bolts and hex nuts. Install the reverse-bowden tube guide on the top back extrusion with two t-slot nuts and M3x8 bolts.
The front doors use hinges that pivot on sections of the brass rod. Cut a short piece for each one (four in total) using a dremel. Round off the sharp edges so that they slide into their holes easily. The hinges allow the doors to "lift off" if desired, so put the bottom sides on the frame. There are 20mm-wide pieces of acrylic that sit between the hinges and the extrusion so that the doors can rest on the outside of the frame, so put each M3x8 bolt first through the hinge, then the acrylic strip, and then into its t-slot nut in the vertical extrusion.
The doors attach to their sides of each hinge with a M3x8 bolt and a hex nut. Finally insert the brass pins in each of the hinges on the frame, add little washers if you want (not really necessary but it's a nice touch) and slide each door onto them.
Because I put my printer on a wire shelf, it was open on the bottom. I want to control temperature & airflow, so my dad and I cut a piece of 3/8" plywood to size, painted it black, and set everything on top of it. (Thanks Dad! :)
OctoPi
I wanted the Raspberry Pi controller to be integrated with the printer, so I chose to mount it on the printer's vertical frame. Prusa left some threaded holes there (the ones on the left side). Attach the bracket to the frame with M3x6 bolts, and the Raspberry Pi to the bracket with M2.5x6 screws. Use a short USB cable (e.g. Amazon) to connect the Raspberry Pi to the printer. The bracket also has a spot for a relay module that I haven't described here yet. You can slice it off if you don't need it.
For powering the Pi, I didn't want to piggyback other devices on the printer's power supply because when a print wasn't working right I didn't want to wonder whether it was because the printer wasn't getting enough power itself. So I added a separate Meanwell power supply (Amazon). Attach it to its bracket with M3x6 bolts, and then hang the bracket (as pictured below) on the extrusion with t-slot nuts and M3x8 bolts.
Cut the Prusa power cable so you can wire it to the power supply terminals, and attach it to the bottom back extrusion with the "power cord bracket" and a zip tie. From the output of the power supply, run 5v and ground wires (with cable guides and zip ties) over to the Raspberry Pi and attach them to 5v and GND pins of the Pi. Use the PLA "power supply cover" to avoid accidentally touching the mains-voltage terminals with your finger. :-o
To Be Continued...
Like said above, as you can tell from the pictures, there's more that I haven't described yet. The enclosure is lit from above by two strips of addressable white LEDs, has a fan for ventilation, pushbuttons to control functions like heating, lighting, and interrupting a print, and audible feedback to indicate what the printer is doing. I plan to write a follow-up post to describe that stuff, but if you want me to hurry up please let me know.
Questions or comments? Email me at .
2024 Jan 13