I took a break the last 3 weeks from my main project to do something different.
I don’t yet have a printer but I like to plan ahead. So I designed a cabinet to support the A350 and provide ample storage for stuff. It is a concept, not shop drawings.
I am not yet building one (yet) due to restrictions on NOT making a mess in the basement as ruled by the wife.
I have 9 diagrams from my 3D CAD (SketchUp 3D Ver 2015) and if anyone wants the .SKP file, just ask.
It is all made from 1/2 inch plywood and about 20 different PLA printed parts. Plus some purchased parts, all from Amazon.
Salient features are: Snapmaker enclosure mounts on top of cabinet.
Drawer for 12 spools of PLA in Desiccant bags
4+ drawers for other stuff.
Built-in dust and HEPA/Carbon filter with variable speed fan
Front panel for switches
Pull-out work surface
And more. The diagrams show pretty much everything.
Please review and comment on what may be problems and suggestions to improve.
@jgb very impressive design. Based on your design and my own experience/where I landed with my Snapmaker 2.0 A350 setup, here is some feedback I have (See photos and bullets below). Just one person’s feedback so take it with a grain of salt. If you have any questions, just let me know.
Rather than building a rolling cabinet, I purchased once from. I recognize this is the more expensive option, however the amount of accessories that come with the Snapmaker 2.0 A350 require more storage than I think you’re expecting
In my case, I needed all four sides of the machine to be readily accessible. Normally, the enclosure only comes with sliding doors on the front and side. I purchased a third sliding door and reconfigured the enclosure frame (magnet inlays) so that I could access the machine from three sides. I also put the entire machine on heavy duty ball bearing slides. I recognize that compared to your cement slab this may sacrifice print quality due to vibration, however I have not notices a significant effect and find the slide an easy way to access all parts of the machine.
The HEPA and Carbon filtration is a nice touch, but I think you’ll need either an extremely powerful vacuum (loud) or you should consider doing the intake closer to the tool head for CNC – See Gil’s self-impelled CNC post here. In my case, I wired in a secondary fan and routed the outlet to a Tupperware container filled with carbon and paint booth filters. It works generally for small dust, but when your cutting materials like wood or metal, it’s not strong enough to clear the work area
On the spool-holder pull-out, you may want to consider more spool storage. Initially, I suspected I would not have more than 5-10 spools at any given time, but as you will see in my photos, I needed to dedicate two drawers based on the combination of colors and material types. I’d also suggest printing a desiccant container with a significant amount of breathability. I ended up reusing a Tupperware container and drilling holes, but there are much more elegant solutions. I also think if you can space it out in a flat panel, rather than a tall/thick container, you’ll end up with better absorption
See attached photos of my tool and tool head drawers. I ended up needing to dedicate two full drawers to just the tools and tool heads. Granted I reused the original packaging materials in each drawer to make it look a little more custom. I have not finished the second drawer since I now have the new laser hear, but I plan to recut/distribute the layout to be more organized.
You might save materials and some effort by hanging the filament spools on pegs, but that would depend on how you plan to package them while they’re being stored.
My original design hung 18 rolls in a similar drawer design. But since my poll on spool storage showed a preference to bags with desiccant in them, pegs don’t cut it. It had to be shelf cubicles. That reduced quantity.
Besides, I have a “soon to be” empty large filing cabinet to use if I go over 12.
Originally I thought of just adapting an IKEA cabinet, but nothing they had seems suitable.
This was my 2nd design attempt at an A350 base cabinet. I had some details for printed tool holders to fit the drawers, but I left that open for this design till I had the bits in my hand.
All side accessibility is a concern I have as well. Never thought about getting a 3rd side set of doors.
Where I plan to place the printer has easy access to the front and right sides, not so much the left or back.
My filter system is more for the Laser than CNC so suction power is not a major concern. The base is flat so I can just sweep or blow CNC swarf into the inlet tube. I have a small old air compressor I was thinking of cannibalizing and installing in a lost space area in this cabinet.
The chosen triple fan has a lot of power, not ShopVac power but I think enough. The 1st version had a small ShopVac in it, but for Laser fume extraction, it was loud and overkill and not really needed for printing. But a CNC tool mounted vacuum is also in the plan, and the triple fan at full power should do OK. We’ll see.
I’m curious as to what other tools I will need beyond what’s supplied with the printer.
I also struggled with the make or buy cabinet decision. Eventually landed on this Husky 46” 9 drawer from Home Depot. Not as nice as your drawings but it does very well and gave me more time to play with the SnapMaker.
Why not swap the front doors with the back, turn the printer around and put the air filter on the left between the wall and the cabinet.
That way you will have unfettered access to the front and left side of the printer without having to move the whole shebang to get front access.
Also, get a piece of plywood the size of the top drawer opened to give you a work surface of about 20 X 48. Pull out the drawer, place plywood on top, and Bob’s your uncle.
Wow! … very nice! may I suggest : what I did on mine: I placed the Power Supply inside the enclosure (less noise) so, I leave a fresh air intake for the power supply and I rotated the back panel so hotter air would be easier extracted. … Regarding the space for spools, might not be enough, you might start accumulating different colors/materials, I would just leave drawers for tools.
One problem I have not addressed (haven’t found a good solution) is a spool holder than can feed into the enclosure (without having to change spools). For example, when you use the file cabinet or what I have, you have to swap out the single spool. It’d be helpful to have an secure place to store spools (dry environment) while also feeding them into the enclosure/machine – would only have to feed/change filament, without moving spools
I made no provision to attach a vacuum cleaner. The fans have enough power at max setting to draw in swarf when it is shoved into the pickup tube. The cyclone should separate the bigger chunks and the screen will stop the finer stuff after the cyclone.
But a vac attach point is a good idea for an update.
But it remains to be seen if in fact it will work properly. That cabinet is, as I said, a concept at this time.
A multiple spool holder would present several problems.
My $0.02 on this…
That is a lot of weight to support.
How do you access a spool in the middle?
If you have an enclosure, that means multiple holes to feed through.
You need some means to hold the ends of individual filaments that are not being used.
I don’t think you would save any time changing filaments, verses just removing and replacing a spool.
If the environment is not desert dry, spools will absorb moisture, so any hermetic enclosure would be a bear to design.
Not yet. No printer yet. I truly have a space allocation problem in my workshop so the purchase is delayed.
The only reasonable spot in my shop has a few problems.
Overloaded with storage (clutter) and nowhere else to put it. You amass a lot of stuff 40 years in the same house.
My table saw is where the printer will go, but no place else to put it. It now serves as a place where my wife dumped a pile of her stuff because she had nowhere else to put it.
There is a storage rack behind it, currently inaccessible because the saw is in the way,
And, the ceiling is a bit too low to put the enclosure on the cabinet unless I lower it by about 9 inches. Hadn’t thought of that before I started the cabinet design. The enclosure will fit, but no headroom to place it over the setup printer. I would have to assemble the enclosure around the printer and I don’t have much room to do that.
Once I declutter that area I can then build the cabinet, maybe build the air filter, (I need the saw to do that), assemble the printer, assemble the enclosure and start printing, cutting and zapping.
But in the meantime.I have redesigned that cabinet and designed 2 other versions (not much else to do while waiting). I decided the built-in air filter would not work as well as I planned, so I designed an external filter. Problem there is I need a working printer and table saw to make most of the parts.
