Spent the last two weekends getting my AD5X buttoned up in a proper enclosure and it is finally finished. Clear panels on three sides, printed corner brackets and a frame extension up top to give the spool and tube some breathing room. Printed all the brackets in PETG since the top of the machine runs warmer than I expected once the doors are closed. Big difference so far is the chamber temp. My ABS prints were always lifting at the corners before and that has basially stopped. Also had to reroute the tube through the top panel because the door kept catching on my first layout. Just a hole with a grommet and it feeds fine now. One thing I whould tell anyone trying this, leave yourself slack in the tube and run the bed through its full travel before you button up the side panels. I had to pull a panel off twice because I got impatient with that step. Doors line up straight, the touchscreen still reads fine through the acrylic, and honestly the orange and blue trim looks better than I thougt it would.
Enclosure finally done, a few notes from the build
Oct 12, 2026
Last reply: 1 day ago
3 Replies
I did something similar with my AD5M last fall and the corner lifting on ABS went away for me too once the chamber held heat. I used polycarbonate panels instead of acrylic because I kept reading acrylic gets brittle near heat, but honestly either works fine at the temps these machines see. My chamber sits around 40 degrees with the doors shut and that was enough to fix my warping on bigger flat parts. One thing I learned the hard way with my brackets was that plain PETG creeps a little over time near the top of the machine. Mine still hold fine after eight months but you can see they have sagged a hair where they take the load. If I redid it I would print the load bearing pieces in ABS or ASA since I can print those now anyway. I also ran my filament thru a grommet in the side instead of the top, mostly because my enclosure sits under a shelf. The slack advice is real though. I fed my tube too short at first and the extruder would grind when the bed moved to the far corner. Took me three test runs before I found a length that never pulls tight no matter where the head goes. On the fumes, I added a small exhaust fan with a carbon filter on a timer since I print ABS with the door closed now. Keeps the smell down in my office.
Funny timing, I wrapped up my own enclosure build about a month back and ran into a snag you might watch for. I used PETG for my brackets too and after a few long ASA prints they started to soften slightly where they sat near the top of the frame. Nothing failed, but I could see a little sag when I checked them, so I redid the two closest to the heat in ABS and that solved it. If your chamber is holding heat well enough to fix your corner lifting, those PETG corners are prolly worth a peek now and then.
The other thing that caught me off guard was ventilation. Once the enclosure was sealed up nice, the smell from ASA got noticible in my small office, so I added a small vent hole with a flap near the back and it made a big difference without dropping my chamber temps much.
I also skipped the acrylic entirely and used thin plywood panels I had leftover from a shelf build. Rougher look than yours for sure, but the wood seems to hold heat even better and it cost me nothing but an afternoon with a jigsaw.
Been down this road more times than I can count. Back before kits were a thing I built my first box out of plywood and foam board, no clear panels at all, just a peek hole cut in the side. Worked fine for ABS but you flew blind on the first layers. One thing I'd add is check that top panel hole every few months, grommets near warm plastic tend to harden up and crack sooner than you'd think. Cheap fix, just keep a spare on the shelf. Also run a long print with the panels off first and note where your cables want to wander, saves you pulling things apart later.
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