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October 9, 2016 | By Don Musilli | In Blog, LiteWorld Protective Enclosure

Since its entry into the market at the end of 2015, the LiteWorld Protective Enclosure has been successfully installed for over 40 customers across the U.S. The LPE was originally designed to be used over the LulzBot TAZ 5 and TAZ 6 3D printers providing 360 degrees of visibility and enough room to have two spools of filament mounted on the TAZ 6 with two large access doors providing plenty of access before, during and after printing your objects. 

One of the main benefits of the LPE is the ability to provide both safety when using the printers in schools, libraries and government operations keeping small hands from the  hot ends and heated build platforms. But it also will reduce the noise produced by the 3D Printers below 40 dBa..or library quiet which means you can operate your printers during class or in your office or any location adjoining occupied areas.

The LPE has a fan with carbon media located on one corner of the back along with a separate filter located on the other back corner. The fan can plug into your computer and you can turn it on and off from a switch. When printing with ABS or other materials that can warp or split during printing do to temperature changes in the printing environment, the enclosure helps maintain a constant temperature in the enclosure which keeps cold air from laying on the printed object as it moves higher up off the heated build platform. This helps to minimize the shrinking and warping of the object. In addition, the use of the fan allows for maintaining the temperature inside the enclosure around 85 degrees F with the carbon medial removing some of the odor and the filter section allowing relatively clean air to be pulled into the enclosure.

The two large access doors open the entire length and height of the enclosure making it easy to place or remove equipment as well as work on the printer when loading filament. The overall response from customers are very positive when commenting on the enclosures. The LPE is one of the largest plexiglass enclosures for 3D Printers on the market.

In September,  LiteWorld made some significant changes to the enclosure by using a knuckle tri-prong end piece that easily connected to the aluminum tubes using small 2.5 mm screws. This makes it much easier to assemble and eliminates the need to pound the aluminum frame pieces into each corner connector with a rubber mallet as used in the previous design. The new door hinges allow for better adjustment and the entire unit weighs just under 25 lbs completely assembled. 

To view this new design please go to our website at:  https://www.liteworldllc.com. A bill of materials along with the assembly instructions are listed as well. The LiteWorld Protective Enclosure is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution – ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

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