<p>@kamuro provided an excellent answer, so I'll just try to add by playing devil's advocate.</p>

<p>Possible things to look out for:</p>

<ul>
<li>Inappropriate enclosure could result in more temperature differences, resulting in higher rates of warping and delamination. For example, if you do not enclose the top of your machine, then the temperature at the beginning of your print will be potentially different than further into the print.</li>
<li>Post-print delamination/warping. The same can be said for a printer without an enclosure. But if you are too eager to remove the print directly after printing, you run the risk of essentially "air quenching" the part. Instead, let the part sit in the warmer ambient temperature and become fully solid again.</li>
<li>Enclosures are not a "fix-all". Enclosures are merely a means of reducing variability in your process. As an operator, you should still fine-tune your process by finding the right extruder/HBP temperatures and quality materials to ensure repeatable, quality prints.</li>
<li>kamuro touched on this a bit, but difficulty performing maintenance. Speaking from experience, removing acrylic panels from a machine not designed to have an enclosure is pretty annoying. However, this could be alleviated with a better design. I chose to bolt my panels to my machine, but a snap design would fair better. Specifically, adjusting my belt tension became very difficult on my Replicator Dual after adding acrylic panels.</li>
<li>Don't make it too hot. I made a rookie mistake after adding an enclosure to my machine by using a space heater in the room next to the printer. The space heater oscillated and occasionally directed the heat at the machine. After a few failed prints, I noticed that the extra ambient heat in the room was causing the ABS arms for my HBP to warp under the heat/weight of the HBP. The enclosure wasn't the root cause, but it helped trap the extra heat inside the machine.</li>
</ul>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-14T16:38:53.193Z
Fantastic addition, I did not consider many of these disadvantages to adding an enclosure.
J. Roibal - BlockchainEng
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-14T17:14:32.430Z
Yeah, fantastic addition. However I wouldn't call most of these disadvantages, but merely disadvantages that come with design flaws ;) This will help makers tremendously when building their own enclosure!
kamuro
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-14T17:21:27.387Z
@kamuro thanks, it was pretty difficult to come up with disadvantages. But I'd agree they're more of things to just look out for when adding an enclosure. Your answer is hard to top lol
tbm0115
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-14T16:29:33.750Z
2016-06-14T17:22:13.360Z
2016-06-14T17:22:13.360Z
tbm0115
<p>People add a "passive heated chamber" when they are printing in ABS. However I personally think the best reason to have a custom chamber is so you can add an air filter. Adding an air filter will reduce your exposure to fine air particulates. It is generally considered a bad idea to breath in particles from plastic.</p>

<p>For PLA you will not want an air chamber. If you want to do an air scrubber they you will need air input to avoid the heat chamber from getting hot.</p>

<p>On that note as we see in the z18, PLA can benefit from an Active heat chamber, but you will have to figure out what the optimal temp is.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-16T13:30:21.107Z
2016-06-16T13:30:21.107Z
MakerModder
<p>Consider the environmental conditions where your printer is.</p>
<p>I have my printer in a garage, where the door is sometimes open, closed, or slightly ajar.  This leads to gusts of wind, causing lifting and ruining multiple prints.</p>
<p>I surrounded the printer on three sides with walls made from the original packing foam, and my lifting problems have utterly vanished.</p>
<p>The top and front side are open, so I have a &quot;four sided&quot; box.  Heat does not build up, but the variable wind gusts are minimised.  Access is slightly reduced, but not a lot.</p>
<p>Ender 3 V2, printing the &quot;Ender&quot; brand of PLA from Creality.  Bed is at 55 °C and print head is 200 °C.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-14T05:01:33.427Z
@agarza That is a trivial edit.  Please don't.
Criggie
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-14T00:02:17.923Z
2021-11-14T04:28:54.973Z
2021-11-14T04:28:54.973Z
Criggie
<p>If you will be printing PLA, <strong>no</strong>, or at least not without active cooling of the chamber. PLA's glass transition temperature is sufficiently low that the ambient temperature matters a lot to whether layer N can cool enough before layer N+1 is laid, in order to have a firm surface to extrude against and bond to. This especially matters with overhangs and complex geometry. If you use a heated bed for adhesion, the chamber temperature will tend to reach nearly the bed temperature, keeping your print soft the entire time. In a worst case, it might even cause heat creep and jam the heatbreak. Even if you're not using a heated bed, waste heat from the hotend will warm the chamber somewhat; expect temperatures of at least 35-40 ˚C rather than a (preferred) ambient 19-22 ˚C.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-11T16:07:55.123Z
I question the figure of an unheated bed, and hotend alone raising the ambient temperature to 35-40C, when printing PLA. I have thermometers in 2 enclosed printers and see that with the heated bed running 60C for a couple hours- 40C with a styrofoam insulated enclosure, 35 with an acrylic enclosure. 

True the enclosure with PLA can lead to heat creep in the hotend, as you are cooling the heat break with hot air. One simple way to get it to work is a heatbreak fan that moves more air. Another is the silicone sock on the heater block, less ambient heat wafting up to the heatbreak.
ChinchillaWafers
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-13T09:44:26.657Z
My TronXY X1 has a 150x150 mm unheated bed and an e3D light6. It can't raise the ambient temperature in its area more than about 1-2 Kelvin. My Ender3 can raise the ambient by 5 Kelvin using the heatbed and the e3D v6. ambient is a whole room here. The actual heating of the room would depend on the machine and the room size.
Trish
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-13T15:46:28.490Z
I'm talking about the temperature inside the chamber, not a whole room. As a reference, on my Ender 3 without a chamber and using an unheated bed, moderate size prints tend to raise the bed temperature from 21˚C to 26˚C or higher even with heavy part cooling. I would expect a much greater effect with a chamber, and you should be able to predict it just from the heat capacity of the PLA and the volume extruded.
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-11-10T16:22:10.797Z
2021-11-10T16:22:10.797Z
R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE
<p>It is hard to tell whether you personally should enclose your printer. However, you asked for the advantages and I will name some of them on which one can base a decision.</p>

<p>A 3D printer enclosure</p>

<ul>
<li>helps to keep the temperature of the whole print at controlled levels, if you use a heating element, thermocouple and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller" rel="noreferrer">pid regulator</a>. This is one of the most direct uses of the enclosure, which can be achieved by almost no other means. One could sloppily say it does for the whole print what the heatbed does for the initial layers. Controlling the temperature can be beneficial for layer adhesion and can help against delamination problems. This can go as far as fixing cracks and complete delamination (Thanks to @J. Roibal for bringing these cracks to my attention in the comments)</li>
<li>keeps <a href="http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/3d-printing-fumes-new-science/" rel="noreferrer">dangerous fumes</a> controlled. Here you can find a scientific study about it, published in <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086" rel="noreferrer">Atmospheric Environment 79, titled 'ultrafine particle emission from desktop 3D printers</a>, on exactly that topic. You can embed a <a href="http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:339128" rel="noreferrer">filter with a fan</a> in your housing to filter the air from all dangerous fumes that are created when melting certain plastic types. It could just circulate the air inside the chamber or get the filtered air out of the housing. This is another use which cannot be achieved otherwise (afaik).</li>
<li>can keep humidity away from your printer. This is helpful for filaments that attract water (and don't print well under that circumstance). This should be realized separately for stored filament, too, adding some silica gel to regulate humidity. (Thanks to @Obmerk Kronen in the comments)</li>
<li>minimizes losses of your heatbed. This happens in at least two ways, - the heated bed will also heat the surroundings, that is the inside of the enclosure. By raising its temperature, the temperature difference and hence heat loss is minimized. Also wind, introducing high fluctuations in the transfered (i.e. lost) heat is minimized. In that sense, it also</li>
<li>shuts out any wind for print temperature stability. Also dust and particles that could be blown on the print will be shut out (thanks to the addition of dust/particles: @Obmerk Kronen). This is a benefit that comes without having a heated chamber or filter.</li>
<li>helps to keep the printer clean in between use. Your axes will thank you being free from dust.</li>
<li>reduces smell and noise. If you use the printer in you living area, that alone can be a great benefit.</li>
<li>makes sure that your printer is safe during storage, nothing will fall on it.</li>
<li>can look pretty nice and add to the style of your printer, <a href="http://www.instructables.com/id/3d-Printer-Enclosure-from-Upcycled-Furniture/" rel="noreferrer">even if selfmade</a> ;-) </li>
</ul>

<p>There are obviously also downsides, as: connected work/money to make it, increased space used for the printer, and, if not well made for that purpose (which it should be), increased difficulty in repairs and maintenance of the printer itself (i.e. to get the printer out of the enclosure).</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-12T01:43:45.400Z
From what I understand, certain types of filament must be enclosed to prevent cracking and deformation while printing due to cooling too rapidly.
J. Roibal - BlockchainEng
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-12T07:59:02.243Z
Do you have a reference for that? I'd love to add the information to the answer!
kamuro
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-12T15:06:34.203Z
kamuro - I have been able to find a couple of references including a reddit post which discusses the issue of cracking being solved by an enclosure: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/2jn3en/does_abs_always_have_this_cracking/ 

Additional post by "tommyph1208" goes into depth about this topic: https://ultimaker.com/en/community/9930-help-with-abs-setting-i-have-mad-cracks-between-layers
J. Roibal - BlockchainEng
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-13T04:09:07.583Z
+1 Very good answer .You might add keeping out humidity . ( That is a plus also for filament chamber ) . and keeping draft ( wind ) from filament and print is a very important point - not just temperature but also dust particles ..
Obmerk Kronen
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-13T07:38:50.697Z
edited the info in, let me know if this is what you thought of.
kamuro
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-13T22:54:04.150Z
@kamuro fantastic answer to the question, i'll definitely bookmark this comment for future use.
J. Roibal - BlockchainEng
CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-06-10T06:58:02.073Z
2016-06-17T08:36:39.480Z
2016-06-17T08:36:39.480Z
kamuro
<p>I have a home built RepRap with all sides open..</p>

<p>Would there be any advantage to enclosing the print area in acrylic?</p>

<reprap><cooling><knowledgebase><enclosure>
Should I enclose my 3D Printer?
Matt Clark
# Should I enclose my 3D Printer?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2016-06-10)

I have a home built RepRap with all sides open..

Would there be any advantage to enclosing the print area in acrylic?

**Tags:** reprap, cooling, knowledgebase, enclosure

---

## 5 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2016-06-10. Score: 19 | Accepted answer

It is hard to tell whether you personally should enclose your printer. However, you asked for the advantages and I will name some of them on which one can base a decision.

A 3D printer enclosure

* helps to keep the temperature of the whole print at controlled levels, if you use a heating element, thermocouple and [pid regulator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PID_controller). This is one of the most direct uses of the enclosure, which can be achieved by almost no other means. One could sloppily say it does for the whole print what the heatbed does for the initial layers. Controlling the temperature can be beneficial for layer adhesion and can help against delamination problems. This can go as far as fixing cracks and complete delamination (Thanks to @J. Roibal for bringing these cracks to my attention in the comments)
* keeps [dangerous fumes](http://hackaday.com/2016/02/01/3d-printing-fumes-new-science/) controlled. Here you can find a scientific study about it, published in [Atmospheric Environment 79, titled 'ultrafine particle emission from desktop 3D printers](http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231013005086), on exactly that topic. You can embed a [filter with a fan](http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:339128) in your housing to filter the air from all dangerous fumes that are created when melting certain plastic types. It could just circulate the air inside the chamber or get the filtered air out of the housing. This is another use which cannot be achieved otherwise (afaik).
* can keep humidity away from your printer. This is helpful for filaments that attract water (and don't print well under that circumstance). This should be realized separately for stored filament, too, adding some silica gel to regulate humidity. (Thanks to @Obmerk Kronen in the comments)
* minimizes losses of your heatbed. This happens in at least two ways, - the heated bed will also heat the surroundings, that is the inside of the enclosure. By raising its temperature, the temperature difference and hence heat loss is minimized. Also wind, introducing high fluctuations in the transfered (i.e. lost) heat is minimized. In that sense, it also
* shuts out any wind for print temperature stability. Also dust and particles that could be blown on the print will be shut out (thanks to the addition of dust/particles: @Obmerk Kronen). This is a benefit that comes without having a heated chamber or filter.
* helps to keep the printer clean in between use. Your axes will thank you being free from dust.
* reduces smell and noise. If you use the printer in you living area, that alone can be a great benefit.
* makes sure that your printer is safe during storage, nothing will fall on it.
* can look pretty nice and add to the style of your printer, [even if selfmade](http://www.instructables.com/id/3d-Printer-Enclosure-from-Upcycled-Furniture/) ;-)

There are obviously also downsides, as: connected work/money to make it, increased space used for the printer, and, if not well made for that purpose (which it should be), increased difficulty in repairs and maintenance of the printer itself (i.e. to get the printer out of the enclosure).

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: From what I understand, certain types of filament must be enclosed to prevent cracking and deformation while printing due to cooling too rapidly.  
> **username_3**: Do you have a reference for that? I'd love to add the information to the answer!  
> **username_2**: kamuro - I have been able to find a couple of references including a reddit post which discusses the issue of cracking being solved by an enclosure: https://www.reddit.com/r/3Dprinting/comments/2jn3en/does_abs_always_have_this_cracking/   Additional post by "tommyph1208" goes into depth about this topic: https://ultimaker.com/en/community/9930-help-with-abs-setting-i-have-mad-cracks-between-layers  
> **username_9**: +1 Very good answer .You might add keeping out humidity . ( That is a plus also for filament chamber ) . and keeping draft ( wind ) from filament and print is a very important point - not just temperature but also dust particles ..  
> **username_3**: edited the info in, let me know if this is what you thought of.  
> **username_2**: @kamuro fantastic answer to the question, i'll definitely bookmark this comment for future use.  

---

### Answer by username_1 on 2016-06-14. Score: 11

@kamuro provided an excellent answer, so I'll just try to add by playing devil's advocate.

Possible things to look out for:

* Inappropriate enclosure could result in more temperature differences, resulting in higher rates of warping and delamination. For example, if you do not enclose the top of your machine, then the temperature at the beginning of your print will be potentially different than further into the print.
* Post-print delamination/warping. The same can be said for a printer without an enclosure. But if you are too eager to remove the print directly after printing, you run the risk of essentially "air quenching" the part. Instead, let the part sit in the warmer ambient temperature and become fully solid again.
* Enclosures are not a "fix-all". Enclosures are merely a means of reducing variability in your process. As an operator, you should still fine-tune your process by finding the right extruder/HBP temperatures and quality materials to ensure repeatable, quality prints.
* kamuro touched on this a bit, but difficulty performing maintenance. Speaking from experience, removing acrylic panels from a machine not designed to have an enclosure is pretty annoying. However, this could be alleviated with a better design. I chose to bolt my panels to my machine, but a snap design would fair better. Specifically, adjusting my belt tension became very difficult on my Replicator Dual after adding acrylic panels.
* Don't make it too hot. I made a rookie mistake after adding an enclosure to my machine by using a space heater in the room next to the printer. The space heater oscillated and occasionally directed the heat at the machine. After a few failed prints, I noticed that the extra ambient heat in the room was causing the ABS arms for my HBP to warp under the heat/weight of the HBP. The enclosure wasn't the root cause, but it helped trap the extra heat inside the machine.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Fantastic addition, I did not consider many of these disadvantages to adding an enclosure.  
> **username_3**: Yeah, fantastic addition. However I wouldn't call most of these disadvantages, but merely disadvantages that come with design flaws ;) This will help makers tremendously when building their own enclosure!  
> **username_1**: @kamuro thanks, it was pretty difficult to come up with disadvantages. But I'd agree they're more of things to just look out for when adding an enclosure. Your answer is hard to top lol  

---

### Answer by username_4 on 2016-06-16. Score: 2

People add a "passive heated chamber" when they are printing in ABS. However I personally think the best reason to have a custom chamber is so you can add an air filter. Adding an air filter will reduce your exposure to fine air particulates. It is generally considered a bad idea to breath in particles from plastic.

For PLA you will not want an air chamber. If you want to do an air scrubber they you will need air input to avoid the heat chamber from getting hot.

On that note as we see in the z18, PLA can benefit from an Active heat chamber, but you will have to figure out what the optimal temp is.


---

### Answer by username_5 on 2021-11-14. Score: 1

Consider the environmental conditions where your printer is.

I have my printer in a garage, where the door is sometimes open, closed, or slightly ajar. This leads to gusts of wind, causing lifting and ruining multiple prints.

I surrounded the printer on three sides with walls made from the original packing foam, and my lifting problems have utterly vanished.

The top and front side are open, so I have a "four sided" box. Heat does not build up, but the variable wind gusts are minimised. Access is slightly reduced, but not a lot.

Ender 3 V2, printing the "Ender" brand of PLA from Creality. Bed is at 55 °C and print head is 200 °C.

> **Comments:**
> **username_5**: @agarza That is a trivial edit.  Please don't.  

---

### Answer by username_6 on 2021-11-10. Score: 0

If you will be printing PLA, **no**, or at least not without active cooling of the chamber. PLA's glass transition temperature is sufficiently low that the ambient temperature matters a lot to whether layer N can cool enough before layer N+1 is laid, in order to have a firm surface to extrude against and bond to. This especially matters with overhangs and complex geometry. If you use a heated bed for adhesion, the chamber temperature will tend to reach nearly the bed temperature, keeping your print soft the entire time. In a worst case, it might even cause heat creep and jam the heatbreak. Even if you're not using a heated bed, waste heat from the hotend will warm the chamber somewhat; expect temperatures of at least 35-40 ˚C rather than a (preferred) ambient 19-22 ˚C.

> **Comments:**
> **username_7**: I question the figure of an unheated bed, and hotend alone raising the ambient temperature to 35-40C, when printing PLA. I have thermometers in 2 enclosed printers and see that with the heated bed running 60C for a couple hours- 40C with a styrofoam insulated enclosure, 35 with an acrylic enclosure.   True the enclosure with PLA can lead to heat creep in the hotend, as you are cooling the heat break with hot air. One simple way to get it to work is a heatbreak fan that moves more air. Another is the silicone sock on the heater block, less ambient heat wafting up to the heatbreak.  
> **username_8**: My TronXY X1 has a 150x150 mm unheated bed and an e3D light6. It can't raise the ambient temperature in its area more than about 1-2 Kelvin. My Ender3 can raise the ambient by 5 Kelvin using the heatbed and the e3D v6. ambient is a whole room here. The actual heating of the room would depend on the machine and the room size.  
> **username_6**: I'm talking about the temperature inside the chamber, not a whole room. As a reference, on my Ender 3 without a chamber and using an unheated bed, moderate size prints tend to raise the bed temperature from 21˚C to 26˚C or higher even with heavy part cooling. I would expect a much greater effect with a chamber, and you should be able to predict it just from the heat capacity of the PLA and the volume extruded.  

---

