3D Printer Enclosure: Upcycled Refrigerator

A year ago in my cellar i found an old refrigerator in an extra-size made for drinks all white with no glass front.

At that time I was looking for an enclosure for my Prusa 3D printer and a lot instructables to me seemed difficult to build. So I started a quick-and-dirty modification job that I enhanced over the time.

You need:
- big fridge that includes these inside - boards made of wire or glass. My fridge has inside measurements of 60 by (width) 120 (height) and 60 to the back. It is important that the front is flat, not rounded
- at least one glass or acrylic glass pane. I took one of the glass boards from the inside
- a smoke detector
- a little fan (optional, 12V would fit to LED stripes)
- a LED stripe, white or colored, about 2m long with power adaptor
- a spool holder for wall mounting (optional)
- power outlet strip that can be taken apart or power extension that can be taken apart

Tools:
- angle grinder with metal cutting blade, dusk mask, eye and ear protection
- silicone or other strong glue
- litte tools like screwdriver

Lay the fridge on its back, door to the top.

Decide where you want the window and how big is your glass. With a pencil, draw the size of the window hole with 5cm overhang on each side.
Cut a hole with the angle grinder. If the blade of the grinder is not very big, you will not cut all the way through the filling / styrofoam and the inner metal layer. In that case, you have to do an inner cut, too. Use protection googles, a face mask and ear protection.

Break the window out and clean the cutting.

Place the glass pane on the window, draw a line around the pane, apply silicone on surface of the fridgedoor, place the pane on the glue, press gently, wait about two hours.

Drill a 10-12 mm hole in the side or bottom of the fridge. Take a power outlet strip or a power extension apart so you can feed the cable into the fridge. Make sure you connect the cable in the right way (take a picture if unsure) and fasten the connectors tightly.

If you want to mount a fan, you can drill that hole now, too.

From my experience, if you remove the top and bottom rubber sealing out of the door, the thermic situation lets the air folow gently and the temperature goes up to 40°C (actually only with two printers running) - not more. So a fan is maybe not necessary. but please monitor that temperature closely at the beginning. If your printer turns off, it was way too hot. The stresstest is of course a log print with ABS, because of the 100°C hot printbed.

Place the power strip above the printer and above the glass "window" sourrounding it. I used silicone to mount it. If you want to use a camera or want to watch the print through the window, you do not want to get blinded.

Mount the smoke detector on the ceinling of the fridge.

Mount a camera if you want that. For mounting I used dry wall screws.

Mount a filament holder if you want.

Put the shelves in. If you have enough space for filament in the bottom, place more shelves in. The humidity stays relatively low in the fridge for a while after printing, so if you have to exchange the filament, you might not have to use a dry box while the printer is in use.

Connect electricity (put the plugs in).

Happy printing.