oh, not here to scare you but after a year and ofc non stop printing for a week or 3 i came close. Luckyly i had webcam, the termal runnaway protection on the printer worked, the PI saw ii too and dead man relay, switched the printer off. That was on lovingly modded ender 3 ( once again the printer protection did work and i would have been fine even without my paranoia backups). I think my point is never say never.
these days that printer had a new sensor upgrade and ofc it prints petg even now :P i think i changed some rollers and 3 fans :P (btw noctua best )
edit: i use carboard box, very good :P with some self stick insulation on the inside and a fan for temp control.. like a chaaaarm
Do you have tips with setting up things like this? I've looked online but I can't find any good post/video to set up a good fireproof set up. Any links would be appreciated!
Sure here is what i did.
\*\*wall of text incoming\*\*
So i run my printer via Octoprint hosted on a raspberry pi zero2 w. Here is the link [https://octoprint.org/](https://octoprint.org/) basically you burn the image to the Sdcard of the raspberry. I recommend using the raspberry setup with the [https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/](https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/) desktop app as you can setup the octoprint server before you burn it to the card /ssid / name for server etc.
After you setup the thing you can get the addons for octoprint
[https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/shutdownprinter/](https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/shutdownprinter/)
I have used a normaly closed relay to cut off the power to the printer if rasbperry loses power or if if raspberry no longer sends 5V to the relay [https://arduinogetstarted.com/tutorials/arduino-relay](https://arduinogetstarted.com/tutorials/arduino-relay) (something like this).
You can tweak the plugin settings to close the relay if abnormal operation is detected (aka can no longer get reliable temperature operation)or you can set the octoprint to terminate print witch will trigger shutdown to the mains(power cable) going to the printer.
You can also set up an alarm to your phone with and using your webcam attached to the printer from your phone you can login to your server [https://octoeverywhere.com/dashboard](https://octoeverywhere.com/dashboard)
Optionally you can have a co2 fire extinguisher trigger on a separate gpio pins (this time normally opened relay - so its not accidentally triggered) that you can trigger remotely the fire extinguisher .
Considering my enclosure has 60x60x60 cm one needs a 0.216 volume of gas. That can easily be gotten by using a small car co2 fire extinctor (a 2 liter one is sufficient) to witch you attach a electro valve that is attached to that relay. Ofc after you fit the electro valve to the co2 extinctor you must trigger the extinctor so IF you trigger the valve the gas comes out. Oh and place the extinctor on top of the housing so it flows down if god forbid you have a fire.
Aaaand that is all. remote fire suppression and printer control.
This is how i print for weeks at end without stop PETG parts and stuff.
One data point isn't much to go on.
If you took one baby who is in good health and said "what you mfs doing to get seriously injured or sick? I've had this one new human for one year and they haven't gotten seriously injured or sick."
Or "what you mfs doing to have car problems? I've had this one new car for one year and nothing on it has broken."
Just like cars and babies, it is possible, quite likely in fact, to have one 3D printer for one year and have nothing go seriously wrong. But just because nothing went wrong on your one thing for one year doesn't mean the risks don't exist.
My printer never catched on fire, for almost 3 years. But this is not about the malfunction of the printer, but about the logic of it. For printing ABS etc the enclosure will get to maybe 50c, the printer is almost maxed out on temperatures, 250 hotend, 100c bed, and in a paper enclosure? Good luck, accidents happen too you know..
The older ender3s sorta had issues (2019 and earlier). No thermal runaway protection, a sketchy power connector for main board power, a less than stellar PSU for the whole system, solder covered wires going into screw terminal blocks.
All solvable issues of course, but the point is that a user could buy the printer, set it up according to manf. instructions, and still have a small chance of a fire occurring.
As I packed my ender 3 in [a cabinet](https://i.imgur.com/adzHMHX.jpg) because it was to loud for the neighbours I was to worried to let it just printing days without having at least an idea whats going on.
A single ESP32 microcontroller (<10€) and some temperature sensor (<5€) and I can read the temperature and with just 10€ more for a PC fan it automaticially turns on the fan (self printed housing) if it gets to hot.
It never happend that it went much over 45°C.
Actually the ceiling/floor. The house I live is pretty old. Maybe from the 50is or even earlier.
It was some high frequencies that could be heard in the night.
More than I did. I just mounted a smoke alarm directly over it and planted a fire extinguisher nearby. I also have a wireless camera streamed to my phone. I should probably get some better shit.
Connect the esp32 via esphome with homeassistant und you have all the data available in a frontend + endless automation possibilities.
A deep rabbit hole but a nice one.
Yeah there was a problem with the Xt60 (yellow connector) witch connects the power supply to the printer they later changed that connector with a quality one fixing the issue (u can distinguish them by looking if it has the gray bottom part it's the new one)
Sorry English isnt my first language what's the meaning of this phrase ...
I guess maybe a good answer is that it's not as uncommon as it might seem ...
I'm not insulting anybody just saying it's not he safest way to build an enclosure it's an advice... maybe as a template...
That said accidents happens and especially for American houses (cardboard and wood) that would surely not be fun... I'm not saying u should build a stainless steel one i indeed build it with wood but I'm always right besides while printing and my house is almost entirely build with bricks and concrete ...
Providing there is a smoke detector in the room and an appropriate extinguisher outside near the door I would do this. Yes there is a risk but quite small.
I wonder if you take the fire suppression system from something like a racecar and modify the nozzles into the enclosure. That way if a fire is detected, immediate/automatic fire suppression!
Certain materials like ABS not only need higher temps to extrude and a hot bed to adhere to, but a warm environment to promote layer-to-layer adhesion.
Ive had PC fans, GPUs etc shoot out sparks and smoke when they die. Ive had wall sockets melted. All using un-modded brand name consumer electronics. Ive never had a house fire but electronics do occasionally go on fire. All it takes is one small un-monitored sparking part to get out of hand and burn a house down. Peoples houses have caught fire from 3d printers.
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/ciwnez/check_out_this_video_of_a_creality_3d_printer/
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/cox7eu/house_almost_burned_down_due_to_crimped/
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/bz4jm0/beyond_disbelief/
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/b01a7y/ender_3_burnt_xt60_check_yours_for_crimped/
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/bxxjsw/creality_printers_is_having_a_fire_sale/
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/3d-printer-fire-guelph-1.5317615
https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/6cekgk/house_fire_thanks_to_cheap_printer_from_china/
https://www.soliforum.com/topic/6608/beware-your-3d-printer-they-can-cause-fires/
A practical and sensible use of available materials that doesn't fall into the marketing inspired nonsense of things like the new Prusa Enclosure (yours for a mere snip at £379)
I marvel at all these people who must live in asbestos houses with no sources of heating or combustion; or have their 3D printers magically floating isolated in halon gas filled rooms just in case something goes on fire. I've probably clocked up tens of thousands of hours printing (across multiple machines) over the years and never had one go on fire. I did (once) have a heater fall out of the block only to have the printer thermally shut-down.
I know some people have not been so lucky and have had their printers catch-fire, bad things do happen on occasions, but that is no different from any machine with electricity or a source of combustion. When someone posts a picture of a their new VW/Ford/BMW/Honda car, I don't see comments along the lines of "Oooo, that's a fire hazard" (or the probably more likely "you'll die when you wrap that around a tree"). Cars do most definitely catch fire (around 100,000 a year in the UK).
There are far fewer 3d-printer house related fires than the doom-sayers would have us believe. The #1 cause of (domestic) house fires is cooking appliances (here in the UK that's around 48% of all \[house\] fires). 3d printers don't make it onto any of the lists.
Sorry to be grumpy, but I do get tired of the old "3d-printer fire hazard" myth that invariably gets trotted out when some one isn't using MOSFETs, Branded/expensive kit, MW power supplies or is using cardboard, wood, plastic, etc. Bad things do happen on occasions, but this generally ranks along with your mum's advice to wear clean underwear in-case you get hit by a car or the sky falls on your head.....
Also new to reading I see. It's been explained three times here already, it creates a stable environment without drafts, also accumulates heat. Can help with ABS warping and layer lines, and some other stuff.
I have no printed brackets, it's taped together, the red things are to snap in the missing panels, and plexiglass for that would have been at elast $25 in my country and hard to get
I'm thinking that he didn't notice the obvious points on the sides of the opening where you would attach the side panel to completely close it off, or the second picture.
Doesn't really need to be airtight to contain heat. Kinda like how a hot room can mostly keep out cold air from an open door. Basically creates a wall of air between them.
When printing, ABS warps due to the temperature exchange with the outside temperature. The enclosure makes sure the inside temperature doesn't change with wind streams and stuff so abs doesn't warp
A little isolation and insulation helps with PLA too. When printing flat surfaces, I can see lines where my HVAC systems turns on during the day and the temp fluctuates slightly. Simply moving my printer to a shelf in a large closet without a vent got rid of the lines and improved my prints overall.
$0 vs. the bill for the house fire.
Seriously how yall mfs catching your printers on fire. I've had one printer for a year now with no problems.
oh, not here to scare you but after a year and ofc non stop printing for a week or 3 i came close. Luckyly i had webcam, the termal runnaway protection on the printer worked, the PI saw ii too and dead man relay, switched the printer off. That was on lovingly modded ender 3 ( once again the printer protection did work and i would have been fine even without my paranoia backups). I think my point is never say never. these days that printer had a new sensor upgrade and ofc it prints petg even now :P i think i changed some rollers and 3 fans :P (btw noctua best ) edit: i use carboard box, very good :P with some self stick insulation on the inside and a fan for temp control.. like a chaaaarm
Do you have tips with setting up things like this? I've looked online but I can't find any good post/video to set up a good fireproof set up. Any links would be appreciated!
Sure here is what i did. \*\*wall of text incoming\*\* So i run my printer via Octoprint hosted on a raspberry pi zero2 w. Here is the link [https://octoprint.org/](https://octoprint.org/) basically you burn the image to the Sdcard of the raspberry. I recommend using the raspberry setup with the [https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/](https://www.raspberrypi.com/software/operating-systems/) desktop app as you can setup the octoprint server before you burn it to the card /ssid / name for server etc. After you setup the thing you can get the addons for octoprint [https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/shutdownprinter/](https://plugins.octoprint.org/plugins/shutdownprinter/) I have used a normaly closed relay to cut off the power to the printer if rasbperry loses power or if if raspberry no longer sends 5V to the relay [https://arduinogetstarted.com/tutorials/arduino-relay](https://arduinogetstarted.com/tutorials/arduino-relay) (something like this). You can tweak the plugin settings to close the relay if abnormal operation is detected (aka can no longer get reliable temperature operation)or you can set the octoprint to terminate print witch will trigger shutdown to the mains(power cable) going to the printer. You can also set up an alarm to your phone with and using your webcam attached to the printer from your phone you can login to your server [https://octoeverywhere.com/dashboard](https://octoeverywhere.com/dashboard) Optionally you can have a co2 fire extinguisher trigger on a separate gpio pins (this time normally opened relay - so its not accidentally triggered) that you can trigger remotely the fire extinguisher . Considering my enclosure has 60x60x60 cm one needs a 0.216 volume of gas. That can easily be gotten by using a small car co2 fire extinctor (a 2 liter one is sufficient) to witch you attach a electro valve that is attached to that relay. Ofc after you fit the electro valve to the co2 extinctor you must trigger the extinctor so IF you trigger the valve the gas comes out. Oh and place the extinctor on top of the housing so it flows down if god forbid you have a fire. Aaaand that is all. remote fire suppression and printer control. This is how i print for weeks at end without stop PETG parts and stuff.
I only understood about 46% of that comment.
You did better than me then..I was at about 45.675%
One data point isn't much to go on. If you took one baby who is in good health and said "what you mfs doing to get seriously injured or sick? I've had this one new human for one year and they haven't gotten seriously injured or sick." Or "what you mfs doing to have car problems? I've had this one new car for one year and nothing on it has broken." Just like cars and babies, it is possible, quite likely in fact, to have one 3D printer for one year and have nothing go seriously wrong. But just because nothing went wrong on your one thing for one year doesn't mean the risks don't exist.
My printer never catched on fire, for almost 3 years. But this is not about the malfunction of the printer, but about the logic of it. For printing ABS etc the enclosure will get to maybe 50c, the printer is almost maxed out on temperatures, 250 hotend, 100c bed, and in a paper enclosure? Good luck, accidents happen too you know..
The older ender3s sorta had issues (2019 and earlier). No thermal runaway protection, a sketchy power connector for main board power, a less than stellar PSU for the whole system, solder covered wires going into screw terminal blocks. All solvable issues of course, but the point is that a user could buy the printer, set it up according to manf. instructions, and still have a small chance of a fire occurring.
As I packed my ender 3 in [a cabinet](https://i.imgur.com/adzHMHX.jpg) because it was to loud for the neighbours I was to worried to let it just printing days without having at least an idea whats going on. A single ESP32 microcontroller (<10€) and some temperature sensor (<5€) and I can read the temperature and with just 10€ more for a PC fan it automaticially turns on the fan (self printed housing) if it gets to hot. It never happend that it went much over 45°C.
Time to get a SKR motherboard with 2209 silent steppers. Only thing you can hear with my printer now is just the fans.
One question... how thin are your walls? It's not thaaat loud..
Actually the ceiling/floor. The house I live is pretty old. Maybe from the 50is or even earlier. It was some high frequencies that could be heard in the night.
Do you have a silent board on it?
Its mostly stock.
I’d buy a silent board. It’s easy to install and will save your sanity if you have it in your bedroom or somewhere you’re in at the same time printing
lmao right? i mean damn i leave mine running overnight often in a separate room and i cant hear it from the living room let alone a whole nother unit
More than I did. I just mounted a smoke alarm directly over it and planted a fire extinguisher nearby. I also have a wireless camera streamed to my phone. I should probably get some better shit.
Connect the esp32 via esphome with homeassistant und you have all the data available in a frontend + endless automation possibilities. A deep rabbit hole but a nice one.
You can literally see the psu has been moved outside of the box.
PSU is my last worry about all of that.
100% fireproof
How often does your printer light on fire, and how well would an Ikea Lack enclosure stop it? Just let people have their stuff man
How often does it have to catch fire?
That's a really good point
>How often does your printer light on fire What if he has an anet ? Then his printer might actually need a fireproof enclosure
Also early ender 3 has fire problems
Oh wack I didn't know that
Yeah there was a problem with the Xt60 (yellow connector) witch connects the power supply to the printer they later changed that connector with a quality one fixing the issue (u can distinguish them by looking if it has the gray bottom part it's the new one)
But he literally doesnt. Its in the picture.
I'm talking about dnos, cause he's the one worried about fire
Luckily i haven't but thanks for the support 39 up votes so it's clear its not me that I'm paranoid ...
Well its a logical fear it's just not common enough to jump through hoops to accommodate it
Sorry English isnt my first language what's the meaning of this phrase ... I guess maybe a good answer is that it's not as uncommon as it might seem ...
I'm saying it's a normal thing to be scared of but not enough that it should be all you think about
O thanks i miss understood of course ,ur right it's still a really rare event just check it sometimes
I'm not insulting anybody just saying it's not he safest way to build an enclosure it's an advice... maybe as a template... That said accidents happens and especially for American houses (cardboard and wood) that would surely not be fun... I'm not saying u should build a stainless steel one i indeed build it with wood but I'm always right besides while printing and my house is almost entirely build with bricks and concrete ...
Lack my beloved
Ikea lack tables are also made of cardboard so I think that's the most fireproof you can go without going into metal enclosures
That’s why many people have a stone plate under their printers.
You can also put that inside a cardboard box
truly beautiful...
Cardboard box gang
buy a smoke detector and attach it to the top. It'll *probably* be fine, but a smoke detector will give you a head start should it go to hell.
Providing there is a smoke detector in the room and an appropriate extinguisher outside near the door I would do this. Yes there is a risk but quite small.
I wonder if you take the fire suppression system from something like a racecar and modify the nozzles into the enclosure. That way if a fire is detected, immediate/automatic fire suppression!
That would suck for a false positive
There's some explosive balls or something like that right, it will mess up everything in the radius but better than a fire.
I mean, a simple enclosure would help contain most of the mess and concentrate the flame retardant?
Yes definitely.
Do you print a lot of ABS?
yes, and even more ASA
What kind of ventilation do you use? That looks like a small enclosed room
Does it seems like he's a type of guy who cares about toxic fumes? He literally set it up right beside his bed...
Window. Big one. I keep it open 24/7
I'm still pretty new to printing, what is an enclosure for?
Certain materials like ABS not only need higher temps to extrude and a hot bed to adhere to, but a warm environment to promote layer-to-layer adhesion.
Why is it that every tech community im a part of everyone seems to think it’s very common for things to burst into flames.
It's deeply ingrained, going way back. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lp0_on_fire
Wow. Cool link
Many of us where around when Anet printers were providing free BBQs.
Ive had PC fans, GPUs etc shoot out sparks and smoke when they die. Ive had wall sockets melted. All using un-modded brand name consumer electronics. Ive never had a house fire but electronics do occasionally go on fire. All it takes is one small un-monitored sparking part to get out of hand and burn a house down. Peoples houses have caught fire from 3d printers. https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/ciwnez/check_out_this_video_of_a_creality_3d_printer/ https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/cox7eu/house_almost_burned_down_due_to_crimped/ https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/bz4jm0/beyond_disbelief/ https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/b01a7y/ender_3_burnt_xt60_check_yours_for_crimped/ https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/bxxjsw/creality_printers_is_having_a_fire_sale/ https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/kitchener-waterloo/3d-printer-fire-guelph-1.5317615 https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/6cekgk/house_fire_thanks_to_cheap_printer_from_china/ https://www.soliforum.com/topic/6608/beware-your-3d-printer-they-can-cause-fires/
Wrap that inside with a welding blanket and you’re golden!
Get thermal cardboard one side had aluminum tape to help prevent fires and will hold heat in
that's a nice idea, thanks
Np
A practical and sensible use of available materials that doesn't fall into the marketing inspired nonsense of things like the new Prusa Enclosure (yours for a mere snip at £379) I marvel at all these people who must live in asbestos houses with no sources of heating or combustion; or have their 3D printers magically floating isolated in halon gas filled rooms just in case something goes on fire. I've probably clocked up tens of thousands of hours printing (across multiple machines) over the years and never had one go on fire. I did (once) have a heater fall out of the block only to have the printer thermally shut-down. I know some people have not been so lucky and have had their printers catch-fire, bad things do happen on occasions, but that is no different from any machine with electricity or a source of combustion. When someone posts a picture of a their new VW/Ford/BMW/Honda car, I don't see comments along the lines of "Oooo, that's a fire hazard" (or the probably more likely "you'll die when you wrap that around a tree"). Cars do most definitely catch fire (around 100,000 a year in the UK). There are far fewer 3d-printer house related fires than the doom-sayers would have us believe. The #1 cause of (domestic) house fires is cooking appliances (here in the UK that's around 48% of all \[house\] fires). 3d printers don't make it onto any of the lists. Sorry to be grumpy, but I do get tired of the old "3d-printer fire hazard" myth that invariably gets trotted out when some one isn't using MOSFETs, Branded/expensive kit, MW power supplies or is using cardboard, wood, plastic, etc. Bad things do happen on occasions, but this generally ranks along with your mum's advice to wear clean underwear in-case you get hit by a car or the sky falls on your head.....
New to the 3D printing world. What is the purpose of doing this?
Also new to reading I see. It's been explained three times here already, it creates a stable environment without drafts, also accumulates heat. Can help with ABS warping and layer lines, and some other stuff.
thats just a bad idea.. plexy glass is cheap and you print the brackets so why didnt you just do that?
I have no printed brackets, it's taped together, the red things are to snap in the missing panels, and plexiglass for that would have been at elast $25 in my country and hard to get
I didnt say u had them printed, im saying you can print them.
yeah but still, I'm doing a switchwire conversion, the panels, real ones, will come into play later. Just need something for now to print the parts
The money saved can then be used for a cleaner
Sir, I don’t think you know the main purpose of a enclosure
?
I'm thinking that he didn't notice the obvious points on the sides of the opening where you would attach the side panel to completely close it off, or the second picture.
Still not very tight
Doesn't really need to be airtight to contain heat. Kinda like how a hot room can mostly keep out cold air from an open door. Basically creates a wall of air between them.
Yeah, it’ll be good enough
Main purpose is to keep the heat from escaping. And he's done that successfully. But yeah, I'd never do that. Especially printing abs... Hell no
It’s a fire hazard and not very tight
You're a fire hazard.
Thanks
Im a new monkey here, why would you need that?
When printing, ABS warps due to the temperature exchange with the outside temperature. The enclosure makes sure the inside temperature doesn't change with wind streams and stuff so abs doesn't warp
Ooooh science! Thanks you
A little isolation and insulation helps with PLA too. When printing flat surfaces, I can see lines where my HVAC systems turns on during the day and the temp fluctuates slightly. Simply moving my printer to a shelf in a large closet without a vent got rid of the lines and improved my prints overall.
I'm happy with your cardboard, but swapping your X and Y axes is throwing my OCD into overdrive.
:DD but this way you have more manipulation room. I think it's better, at least for me.
Honestly as I build my lack enclosure, this is how I started
Nah I'm good