Stacking Ikea Lack Printer Enclosure by hackoholic

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

Updated 9/26/2019
Added two more STL's for the Magnet Mounts to cover 2mm and 3mm plexiglass.
Features:
Stackable design for easy setup/teardown and printer access
(8) Clear Acrylic panels create two enclosed areas for temperature control or enclosed storage
Panels are held on with neodymium magnets for easy removal
Efficient design is strong yet hollow to save filament
Designed to allow each section to be lifted off without having to remove acrylic panels
This is my take on the Ikea Lack Printer enclosure. It is not the first design on Thingiverse and it certainly won't be the last. This version boasts a modular design that lets you easily stack your tables and dismantle with ease. The stackable design also means you can quickly and easily remove the top cover for easy access to your printer. The 8 removable acrylic panels are held on with neodymium magnets for easy removal while also providing a closed in area for better temperature control when printing plastics like ABS. My design also allows the acrylic panels to remain in place while lifting off the sections which further simplifies the setup and take down of this enclosure.
When first searching for a printer enclosure for my new Prusa i3 MK2S, I found the brilliant design by LKM (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1843235) which uses super cheap Ikea Lack tables for the main structure. It also used 3D printed parts to extend the legs and provide mounts for clear plastic sides to attach and enclose the printing area. I also found thebeetleuk's clever design (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2212749) which allowed the tables to be easily and securely stacked but also removable for easy access to the printer.
Like I do with some of my designs, I started with these two ideas and simply made some tweaks and modifications to make them my own.
Mainly, I wanted the acrylic sheets to sit nicely inside the table legs to give more of a picture frame appearance while still maximizing the interior space as much as possible. I designed my own magnetic mounts to use standard magnets found at Home Depot. These mounts have small, built in handles to allow you to easily grip and remove a panel if needed. Then I hollowed out the nesting leg pieces and optimized the wall thickness to be both solid and strong without the need for printer generated infill. Since I designed most of the interior as open, the biggest benefit was not wasting unneeded plastic to fill in these areas.
To finish it off, I of course found lots of great accessories here on Thingiverse such as:
The spool holder - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:943563
The filament guide - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2114888
The feet - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2076126
and the cable grommet - https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2225786
I also sourced some cheap RGBW LED strips (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01HD37U6S/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1) to light the build area. I put three 400mm strips of these above the build area and then two 400mm strips down the front legs. To mount these on the legs, I designed some 45 degree mounting strips which snap together in section lengths designed to match the LED pitch of my 60 LED/m strips. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2782466