In the past I used a Dremel 3D20, and when printing PLA the whole room started to smell... which can't be good. These days I am the proud owner of a Bambu Lab X1C, and I plan to print ABS and PETG, and the one little test print I made smells, even though the X1C has a filter inside the enclosure.
Is that dangerous?
Probably...
After reading up on TVOCs, PMs and air quality I decided to a. improve generic filtration in this room, and b. see if I can measure it using (cheap Chinese) air quality meters.
This is step 1: adding an Ikea Fornuftig. (I still have to work on that Carbonmax box.)
Fornuftig
The Ikea Fornuftig is a (cheaper) air cleaner unit with optional carbon filter. You can use it free standing, or mount it against the wall.
In my specific use case I wanted the front of the Fornuftig to be as close to the source of the particles and gasses as possible.
The room
The room where my 3D printer resides is more of a large cupboard, 2m x 3m x 2.5m high. Inside are my tools, a fridge, some storage, a sink, and my printer.
There's a single extraction valve in the ceiling, which is connected to the house ventilation system to a heat exchange unit in the attick. Fresh air passes underneath the doors into this room, then is sucked out through that one extraction valve. Needless to say: the ventilation isn't that good.
The image above suggests a larger size than it actually is... the miracle of fish-eye lenses 😁
The cupboard
The printer is sitting on a dedicated shelf in a (modified) Ikea IVAR cabinet. IVAR is made of loosely fitting wood elements, so I made some modifications to keep resonance and vibration to a minimum, by adding a few strategic screws, and gluing and screwing an additional MDF panel to the regular shelf (adding mass and stiffness).
Attaching the Ikea Fornuftig
I had a bunch of left-over pieces of underlayment, which were sturdy enough to carry the aircleaner. Spending an afternoon in the garden resulted in this:
I've rounded all the corners, as it is sticking out a bit, and I don't like to hurt myself when passing though a door and hitting an elbow high object behind...
I couldn't use the original mounting holes, as I wanted the cleaner to have its front as close to the source of any pollution as possible. I also wanted to be able to take out the cleaner and have some additional space to access the X1C and the AMS.
After mounting it looks like this:
As you can see, the intake of the Fornuftig is as close to the printer as possible.
Obligatory 3D printed objects
The power rail is another Ikea product, the Koppla. It has a weird shape on its back, and is probably designed to slide into another Ikea product. I created these brackets to mount it:
I still have to clean up the cabling a bit 😁
Meters
And then, finally, the meters. The first one is an older Ali Express product, but as far as I can tell this one isn't fake. (It does measure CO2 properly, but it is an older one, and older units may not detect particles and gasses as well as when they were new.)
The other two boxes are (you guessed it) Ikea meters.
Testing
Now I just have to figure out if this actually works 😎
Update
Well, several early conclusions...
1. Those air quality monitors are not good enough.
2. TWO Fornuftig units take out about 60..80% of the smell.
3. Without the Fornuftigs (set at position 2) you can smell the ABS in the hallway.
4. With the two units on, I can smell the ABS after about 4 hours of print.
The above was done without a Bento box or Carbonmax, so there is some space for improvement.
I might, in the long run, add a fan to the room to expel all air directly to the outside world, but that will require quite some changes in the area. Food for thought...
First action: get a Bento box or Carbonmax in there.
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