3D UPFITTERS 3D Printer External Vent Adapter Instruction Manual

: June 2, 2024
: 3D UPFITTERS

Table of Contents

Carbon Air Filter
DIY/Miscellaneous Vent Adapters
Documents / Resources

3D UPFITTERS 3D Printer External Vent Adapter Instruction Manual

Carbon Air Filter

Locate Mounting Point

If you’ve purchased an enclosure kit from 3DUpfitters the mounting point will be on the back panel when viewed from the back, as shown below.

Mounting Point

If you’re already got an enclosure or are creating one for yourself, you’ll need to cut ahole for air flow, and four holes to mount the filter and fan. The hole should be 78mmin diameter, and the holes are 70mm apart in a square pattern. There is a DXF file you can download from the product page on the website if you want to laser or CNC your

DIY enclosure. Be sure to delete the dotted construction lines when configuring the laser or CNC control file.

Notice Air Flow Direction

The fan is powered by a 5V USB power supply built into the filter. Plug in the fan and notice in which direction the air flows. You’ll want to connect the fan to the filter so that the air is pulled out of the enclosure and through the filter.

Air Flow Direction

Attach the Filter to the Panel

There are two sizes of holes with 3DUPfitters enclosures for 60mm and 80mm fans. With the larger 80mm-sized holes the screws are inserted from inside the enclosure and through the nuts slotted into the filter itself as shown below. The filter is mounted on the outside of the enclosure.

This view is from inside the enclosure looking at the filter attached to the outside. Insert the long 40mm M4 cap head screws from inside the enclosure into the holes in thefilter on the outside of the enclosure. Insert the screws only part way into the filter to make sure the screw ends have caught into the nuts before starting to tighten

Attach the Filter to the Panel

Smaller enclosures such as the Prusa have 60mm holes, and thus need an adapter. To\ prepare the 80mm to 60mm adapter insert an M4 square nut in each corner as shown below:

Prusa have 60mm holes

When inserting the hex nuts be sure to center the nuts in the middle of the holes so that they will align with the screws. You can use a needle nose pliers or even a pen tip to adjust the location.

INSERTING NUTS

The adapter is then connected to the fan/filter combination using 40mm M4 screws. Insert all 4 screws only a small way in before attempting to tighten.

CONNECTED TO FAN

The holes on the 60mm side will now align with the 60mm holes on your Prusa, Ender 3, or other small enclosure, and the filter can be attached with 12mm M4 screws.

ATTACHED THE HOLE

Vent Adapters

Many people find the smell of plastic from a 3D printer to be particularly noxious, but therehasn’t been that much research on the long or short term health effects of exposure to 3D printer fumes. Because the differing nature of the particles and compounds put into the air by different filaments, there’s no standard way of filtering everything, especially since the smallest particles can’t be completely caught by even the best HEPA filter.If you only print occasionally the risk is low, but if you are going to be printing a lot (andespecially for multiple printers), what the CDC recommends is to vent the 3D printer gasses to the outside, such as with one of our vents paired with a standard dryer hose. They can also hook to any DIY enclosure by simply creating the right size hole.

Inline Fan

Our latest venting kit features an inline fan that is both very powerful and adjustable. The general layout is shown below:

Inline Fan

Ideally, you’ll want to place the inline fan as close as possible to where it exits your workspace. The idea is to keep as much as possible of the system pulling with negative pressure rather than pushingthe air. The reason is with negative pressure if there are any air leaks that just means more air is drawn into the hose. With a positive pressure configuration, any air leaks would mean the contaminated air is being pushed out, defeating the purpose.
Note that the included 8 feet long hose will need to be cut in half. Four clamps are included to “splice” the vent into the hose as shown above.

DIY/Miscellaneous Vent Adapters

3DUPfitters has a wide variety of vents designed to meet your custom venting needs. They aredesigned to work with standard 3” or 4” clothes dryer hose available in any hardware store. Adjust the hose clamp to be right next to the ridge for the best fit

The adapters are intended to be flexible so you can design a configuration that’s best for yoursituation. Here’s an example setup with the CR-10/Taz6/Ender 5 Plus vent kit. For this you’dneed to order a hose, clamps, and dryer window vent from your hardware store.
The Prusa/Ender setup is a bit more complicated since window inserts are all 4″, while thehose we recommend is 3″. This setup adds an 3″->4″ hose adapter, and the 3″ hose is small and doesn’t overwhelm the small enclosure. Note that with this setup you need 2 3″ clamps and 1 4″ clamp

FAN VENT SETUP

The latest addition to the vent lineup is the 120mm fan/vent combo. In this setup the fan is positioned at the window side of the hose.

FAN VENT SETUP

To complete venting to the outside with parts that aren’t included in the kits you can find flexible 4″ dryer duct hoses or flexible 3″ hoses online or at most hardware stores. This can be connected to the outside using the same techniques you’d use for a clothes dryer, or you can purchase one of the many compatible window-venting kits. These items are not included and must be purchased separately. We don’t bother to stock them since they’re readily available at local hardware stores.The fan can either be plugged into a USB power supply (not included) or the wires stripped and connected directly into some models of 3D printer.

Mind the Flap

Note that the 60mm and 80mm fans are not powerful enough to blow open most flapsand ducts. The window venting kid mentioned in the previous paragraph either needs to have the flap taped up or removed.

Air Flag Taped Out of the Way

Documents / Resources

| 3D UPFITTERS 3D Printer External Vent Adapter [pdf] Instruction Manual
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