Replicator 2 / 2X Chassis corner plugs / passive contaminant reduction

prusaprinters

These are trivial little plugs for the gaps in the Replicator 2 / 2X chassis top corners. These have been created to literally "plug a leak" for the "Air scrubbber that really works" (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:125264). Without them there is a consistent convection leak of fumes that over hours creates a detectable odour near your printer even with the scrubber. These and a simple tweak (see instructions) can also significantly reduce your external air contamination even without an active filter Instructions These plugs block the leakage from the top corners of the chassis. You might also like them for cosmetic reasons (trivial) - but combined with some simple coverings at the back of the hood I suspect even without the scrubber you will significantly reduce external pollution. Note thatone of the plugs is different - it goes in the back right hand corner where there is a different internal clearance. I used clear acetate film cut to fit the rear hood - along with double sided tape - to restrict the rear airflows. (See the third photo) Used with the active air scrubber (Thing 125262), it now allows lower scrubber fan rates, improving the efficiency and life of the filters. Even without the scrubber I think it likely that it significantly improves "pollution" - and with the scrubber, I detect no external contamination even when the printer runs all day. (But my nose may not be all that good! ;-) ) My hypothesis is that the active printer generates a "hot cap" of air in the top of the hood that convects through the chassis as it cools. There is active mixing going on from the extruder fans which complicates this of course. The hot - and most contaminated - air being at the top of the chassis, the external convection loss from the corners is significant. With this blocked some of the cooling air will drop out the back of the hood - hence the addition of the covering sheets there. Without the scrubber there is room for some air to leak out that route but I suspect a lot of the vapour nasties sublimate as they move through that cooler region. With the scrubber, there is likely to be no loss from this route as there will be a mild internal negative pressure; most of the air will now leave via the scrubber after filtration. Which means pretty clean air relative to not using this kit! Category: 3D Printer Accessories