The SnapMaker enclosure, while being one of the most important addenda to the machine, has some potential for improvement. Let us start with the exhaust fan.
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Most of the fumes generated in 3D printing and laser cutting are warmer than the surrounding air, hence will rise inside the enclosure. Therefore it is not really a good idea to place the exhaust fan at the bottom of the enclosure.
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Attaching a 70mm hose perpendicular to the surface of the enclosure need a lot of space. I experimented with a few elements redirecting the flow sidewards - but always ran into trouble with the opening for the cables.
In the first step I removed the back cover of the enclosure and remounted it upside down.
Of course I had to drill a new hole at the bottom for passing the cables through.
I printed a new outside cover for the fan, with a diameter of 90 mm, as well as a plug for the now unused hole below the fan opening.
The idea was to place a flat air duct system (diameter 110 mm x 54 mm) directly at the wall, with an appropriate opening of 90 mm into which the fan cover fits snugly and airtight. Without any permanent connection, however: By simply pulling the enclosure away from the wall, it would also separate from the duct system.
I had decided to widen the duct to 130 mm x 130 mm, which is what you see in the picture above.
The widened duct is easily expandable, and for the moment I have settled for a filter box and a fan box.
In this Filter box I place grid inserts, separating a first layer of filter cotton from a charcoal filter.
In the picture you see the components of this filter box. While printing I changed the filament from blue to clear at some point - the idea was that this might allow me to check the degree to which the filter is dirty without taking it off.
The red tape you see in the picture is thought to make the whole thing quite airtight. I will have to see whether this works out. I also printed an insert which holds commercial lab filters taking out anything beyond 10 micrometers for now (the coal filter is always last stage, taking out smaller particles and noxious gases).
The fan box hold a standard fan with 22 W of power. Together with the internal exhaust fan of the enclosure, this creates a mighty draft keeping the air in the enclosure really clean.
I have a laser sensor measuring fine dust particles down to 2.5 micrometers, I will perform some serious measurements on the quality of the room air.
