I've just got the new 3D printer and decided to upgrade it. Enclosing it is coming at the top of my list. I found that most of the available designs on the internet are showing how to enclose the Cartesian 3D printer, not the Delta so it's time to do it myself. Now, let's get started.
1. Design
There are 3 things I want to achieve in this project: light weight, good appearance and cheap. After doing some quick drafts, here is my final design
We will have 3 doors and it can open. But in normal use, the left and right doors will be fixed into the frame, only the front door can be opened. When we need to maintain, we just need to unscrew them. I realize part of the extruder can sometimes pass to the outside of the printer while printing large object. Therefore, I give it some spaces between frame and door.
2. Materials and printed parts
I decided to use 2mm acrylic sheets for the coverage because it’s transparent, cheap and easy to cut to the desired size. Please find in the list below all materials needed for this project:
Materials:
3x Acrylic sheet 2mm x 302mm x 600mm (let’s call big acrylic sheet)
6x Acrylic sheet 2mm x 50mm x 600mm (let’s call small acrylic sheet)
8x M3x30mm bolts
50x M3x10mm bolts
M3 T-nuts
M3 nuts and washers
Printed parts:
You can find all printed parts here: www.thingiverse.com/thing:2943798
3x Part_1
3x Part_2
5x Part_2_Mirror
2x Part_3
12x Part_4
2x Part_5
3. Print settings
You can print multiple parts at the same times without the need for support. Here are the print settings of mine for your reference
Material: PLA
Support: No
Resolution: 0.2mm/layer
Infill: 20%
Temperature: 190 (C)
4. Assemble
Step 1: Assemble 3 back hinges using 3x Part_1, 3x Part_2 and 3x Part_2_Mirror
Step 2: Connect 1 big acrylic sheet with 2 small acrylic sheets using Part_4, M3x10mm bolts, and nuts. We will have 3 doors after this step (1 left, 1 right, 1 front)
Step 3: Attach acrylic sheets to the hinges to create the left and right doors.
Step 4: Attach left and right doors to your Kossel.
Step 5: Left and right doors do not need to open always so directly attach them to the front aluminum extrusion. The hinge at step 1 will help hold the doors in case you want to maintain your 3d printer later.
Step 6: Using 2x Part_2_Mirror and 2x Part_3 to create 2 front hinges.
Step 7: Attach the front door along with the front hinges to your 3D printer using M3x10mm bolts, washer, and T-nuts.
Step 8: Put 1 round magnet into Part_5 and attach to the aluminum extrusion. It will help lock the front door.
Step 9: Using super glue and attach a steel washer to the front door.
5. Result
And here is what we got after all these steps:
Let's take a look with this video below
I do have a tutorial here: How to add light to Kossel 3D printer if you guys want to put some LEDs into your machine.
Have fun!