As you can see, I made many other upgrades to my Anet A8 such as a modified Prusa enclosure to help achieve better ABS prints, which require higher extruder and heat bed temperatures to melt the filament and adhere to the heat bed. An enclosure is necessary in order to maintain stable temperature in the printing environment. My research once again took me back to Thingiverse where I found the Original Prusa i3 MK3 ENCLOSURE -IKEA Lack table from Prusa Research. Parts printing and assembly instructions in this link are very easy to obtain and follow. This slick and functional design is what I was looking for since I had initially used a modified cardboard box enclosure shown below.
Not exactly a high-tech working environment but a quick solution that worked good to print the ABS parts I needed for my Anet A8 modification to an AM8 with an aluminum frame.
What a difference! I love this enclosure design. Now, I modified my Anet A8 to an aluminum frame AM8 and forgot to re-measure the height prior to completing this project so it was about 25mm too short on height. Having cut the Plexiglas windows already (with a 1/4″ Carbide Tipped Single Flute Straight router bit), and trying to mitigate waste and cost, I added another set of bottom leg pieces and printed 7mm wide skirts out of Black PLA with a 3mm grove all around to mount the Plexiglas on. I’m using it as a table top enclosure so I didn’t use one bottom set of legs. The enclosure features 12V Bright White LEDs.
Lesson learned (again) to measure twice and cut once. Overall, very happy with the light weight design, functionality and looks. My temporary enclosure (featured) was a made of a cardboard box. It did the trick but challenging in all aspects of operations. I’ve been printing more ABS parts since with great results. Hatchbox ABS 1.75mm – Black is what I’ve been using and it works great for me, together with the Borosilicate Glass Plate, the PEI Sheet and the enclosure. Remember to measure the exact size of your heat bed before ordering! I also recommend cutting the 3mm Plexiglass with a Carbie Router bit for a clean cut finish.
I have my 3D printer staged on a table in my garage. In Winter, because of the cold temperatures, I add Styrofoam panels on each of the 4 Plexiglass sides to help maintain the warm temperature inside the enclosure. It works. You can get Styrofoam panels at your local home improvement store or simply modify existing panels from a discarded shipment box. That’s what I did and it’s working just fine. Good luck on building your enclosure!
Next, I share the addition of OctoPrint in a Raspberry Pi 3b image with a Digital Camera to conduct and monitor print jobs remotely through my WiFi network and Secure Internet connection.
Thank you again for visiting and Happy 3D Printing! Please leave comments sharing your enclosure build and subscribe to my blog.