Ender 3 Zinus Table Enclosure

Last crawled date: 4 years, 3 months ago

A common enclosure that has been made for the Ender 3 and similarly sized printers uses the Ikea Lack table, but I decided to use the Zinus Dane table with some light modifications because it has a slightly smaller footprint, is more robust, and looks a little nicer:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01BEGS15E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
To get started, all you need is:a power drill with some drill bitsthe Zinus Dane table (20 inch square side)some magnets from Lowes or somewhere similar, these magnets latches were sized to fit 2x [0.9"x0.22"x0.22"] ceramic magnets per latch.some 3/32" thick plexiglass sheets (2x [18.8" by 18.5"] for the sides and 2x [18.8" by 19.2"] for the front/back)
*and an Ender 3 or similarly sized printer of course.
To allow the printer to fit on the bottom shelf of this table, I drilled holes in the legs approximately in line with the crossbar connecting the 2 side legs so that it was essentially ~0.25" off the ground when assembled (see pictures to get a better idea).
I removed the filament mount from the top of the printer and remounted it to the top of the table, then drilled a 1/4" hole approximately in line with where the filament would be coming down from in it's normal configuration. Though, I plan to replace the stock filament mount with this customizable one that has bearings integrated and a stand option made by HugoHuge:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3020026
You can configure the mounts and magnetic latches however you want, but I evenly spaced my pieces. I put 2 magnetic latches on the sides of the doors (one on the front and back of the table), then another at the top of each door. Then I also added a magnetic latch at the top of each side panel.
To attach the "hinge.stl" and magnetLatch.stl" to the plexiglass, you can use the piece itself to position the holes that have to be drilled out, then press the "hingeLock.stl" through the piece and the plexi to hold them together. It's a tight fit considering how the dimensions of the pieces change slightly during printing, but it should work if everything is lined up well.
** Be very careful drilling thru the plexiglass as it will shatter if you apply too much pressure or drill too slow. You can also use the drill to clean up the inside of the printed parts' holes to ensure they match the diameter of the hole cut in the plexiglass as closely as possible.
If you don't want to mess with drilling so many holes, you could probably get by with just gluing all of the pieces to the plexiglass.
Lastly, you can add some 1/4" window insulation around the edges to fully seal the inside space of the printer. On mine, I added some black sticky backed insulation around all sides that matches very nicely with the aesthetic of the table too.
***Note: I have the magnetically latched doors in the direction of the Y-axis because the bed cable guide currently causes the cables to protrude too far out the back and possibly bump against the back door. Or if I shift the printer forward slightly, then the fully extended Y-axis bumps open the front door. This allows the doors to open and close pretty easily without interfering with prints until I make an enhanced bed cable guide to reduce cable protrusion.