Build a Filtration Cabinet to Make Your Resin 3D Printer Safe

There is still a lot we don’t know about the health effects from breathing 3D printing fumes. But what we do know suggests there is good reason to be cautious, and resin printers seem to be particularly problematic. To stay safe with their new resin 3D printer, Allie Katz built this filtration cabinet and uploaded the files for you to do the same.

The resin itself is dangerous (to varying degrees, depending on the formula) and so you don’t want it touching you, which is why you should be wearing gloves any time you handle raw resin or printed parts. But the fumes may also be a concern—though the literature on that is less comprehensive. Still, it is better to be safe than sorry and this is a relatively affordable way to breathe less nasty stuff.

Katz designed this filtration system to fit inside of an IKEA cabinet. That is affordable and easy for a lot of people to access. It also has room for a printer, a washing machine, and a curing machine.

That cabinet does need modification to accommodate all of the filtering bits and also to aid in airflow (or to prevent airflow, where you don’t want it). Most of that was a matter of cutting holes, which Katz did using an oscillating saw.

The filtration system is smart, distributed across four nodes. Three auxiliary nodes each have an Adafruit QT-PY ESP32-S3 development brain monitoring sensors for that part of the system. One central node handles the user interface on a Feather ESP32-S2, displayed on an Adafruit TFT touchscreen. The auxiliary nodes communicate with the central node via ESP-NOW. The auxiliary nodes primarily monitor BME680 sensors for a general picture of conditions (particularly VOC levels), while a more robust particulate matter sensor sees the big stuff.

In addition to monitoring, the system also handles airflow control. In essence, the cabinet has a big fan that pulls interior air through a charcoal filter to catch the bulk of the fumes. Because the sensors are distributed between the interior of the cabinet, the interior of the filter enclosure, and the exterior of the cabinet, it can detect when filtration is necessary and even if the filter needs to be replaced.

It can operate automatically, but also has a manual activation option that the user can select when they’re printing and know that fumes will be present. Everything is on GitHub if you want to replicate this filtration cabinet.