Portable laser/printer exhaust vent - for use under garage door by SteveW25561

Last crawled date: 3 years, 3 months ago

I have my Snapmaker A350 (3d printer/laser cutter/CNC) set up in my garage which serves as a workshop and gym. I wanted to make an exhaust for my Snapmaker A350 laser module and enclosure that didn't require me to cut a 4"+ hole in my wall.
I designed this flattened exhaust that can be attached to standard 4" ventilation ducting and then it can be placed under my garage door. I calculated the area of a 4" circle and made it into a 1 1/2" x 12" rectangle so it would not obstruct airflow appreciably. This made for an exhaust that can be placed under my garage door, with 2x4's laid flat to both fill the full width of the garage door (and to prevent the garage door from crushing the plastic you just printed!). I also made a screen for it so bugs or rodents don't decide to climb up the duct into my printer enclosure!
For the Snapmaker A350 enclosure I made an adapter to fit 4" ventilation ducting to the existing fan output, then I added an inline ventilation fan.
I then cut 2x4's to fill the rest of the width, painted them black to blend better, then closed the garage door onto the setup - I did have to be quick to pull the release cable on the garage door so it wouldn't reverse back up after it sensed the 1 1/2" obstruction on the floor, and it seals up nicely.
Hooking all of this up worked perfectly: no more burnt odor inside the garage, and this is all removable when not doing a laser project!
This large model needed the full size bed of the Snapmaker A350 - and honestly was a pain to print (multiple failed prints which was time consuming and wasted lots of filament due to size -- likely a leveling problem over the big build plate, but it worked after several tries).
It's built into 2 main parts with a lip for easier alignment. I tried doing a full one piece print but it used a ton of support material and it was impossible to remove. I'm totally a noob with Fusion 360 but it seems to have worked out well.
For the bug screen, I didn't know how to make a mesh so I made a frame and a solid rectangle. In Simplify3D I printed the frame as a full 20% infilled solid, and set a different printing profile for the solid rectangle specifying no top or bottom layers and a 25% rectilinear infill. These 2 pieces were aligned overlapping each other and then printed as a single piece.
I used PETG (in case of summer heat blasting the garage door, but it might not be needed). To assemble, I used Gorilla Super Glue.
Although it may not be needed I also taped up the assembly with 2" wide Gorilla tape running along the back edge, folded over the top, to ensure it wouldn't leak much air and not fall apart if dropped (I wasn't sure how well PETG would stay glued).
Fan I used: a nice DC controlled ventilation exhaust fan - it's quiet and moves a lot of air) https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07JB292JC/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Ducting: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B071LHCFZ8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1