SMART CABINET
The Smart Cabinet completes the Epsilon ecosystem, offering seamless integration with your BCN3D Epsilon printers and boosting their performance. Its filament humidity control keeps your materials in optimal condition, and its uninterruptible power supply protects your work at all times, avoiding the risk of losing your print job due to power outages.
Compatible with:
Epsilon W50
Epsilon W27
Sigma D25
BCN3D Spool Cartridge
The new BCN3D Spool Cartridges have been designed to give you greater control during the process of loading and unloading filaments, while significantly accelerating both workflows.The magnets in their cover and the main body allow for easier loading of spools, as well as to quickly snap the cartridge in the loading or parking area of the Smart Cabinet. This system also prevents filament tangling: when unloading your material, the extra slack due to the long distance between the extruders and print heads is kept inside the cartridge.
BCN3D Smart Drying Technology
Within our humidity-controlled environment, an automatic drying cycle pushes the air through a compartment filled with alumina, a material that absorbs the moisture.
The desaturated air is pushed back towards the material compartment, free of any moisture that could damage your filaments. This cycle reduces significantly the environment’s relative humidity.
This technology effectively keeps the filament dry, ensuring that the materials maintain their mechanical properties throughout the whole 3D printing process.
Smart Cabinet Key Features
Humidiy-controlled environment
Designed to extend the service life of your materials, the alumina absorbs the moisture from the air in the chamber. Once it becomes saturated, this material is isolated from the filaments and gets heated up until it releases the moisture, purging it out of the system. This process effectively keeps the filament dry and in optimal condition for its use.
Print while in storage
The dehumidifier can fit up to 10 small spools (weight between 750 g - 1 kg and width up to 55mm) or 4 big spools (weight up to 2,5kg). These can be loaded to your 3D printer directly from this humidity-controlled environment, therefore allowing it to print while keeping the materials in perfect condition.
Complete working station
The tool drawer provides you with every utensil you might need, and thanks to the extra space for your laptop or tablet you count on a full working station right by your 3D printer.
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)
The UPS electric signal filtering protects your print from any possible outages and micro-cuts on the electric current. In the event of a blackout of up to 10 minutes, this technology will enable the 3D printer to automatically resume the printing process once the power is back. In case of a longer outage, the UPS will save the printer’s last position, so that you can manually resume the printing process at any time and without consequences for your print.
Storage and transportation
Maintain your workspace organized and clean at all times thanks to the ample storage space, designed to keep extra building plates and unopened filament spools - and thanks to the Smart Cabinet’s transportable structure, your printer can be easily moved across your facilities.
The mechanical properties of the 3D printed part are strongly dependent on how well the filament is stored
THE DURABILITY MEASURE
Tensile specimen printed in Polyamide (PA) from a spool stored in the Smart Cabinet resulted in
+ 22% Tensile Strenght. + 57% Young's Modulus of rigidity
THE EFFECT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HUMIDITY
Print quality was tested with our most hygroscopic filaments, after recreating an environment with constant humidity and storing each spool for 4 days. PVA ensured good print results for a wide range of conditions, while PA and especially TPU required a much more restrictive storage protocol.
HUMIDITY LIMIT OF HYGROSCOPIC FILAMENTS
The humidity limit of printability was obtained after storing the filaments for 4 days at 25 ºC and specific relative humidity (RH). We observed that PVA could be printed successfully when stored at up to 40% RH. PA started to show superficial imperfection when stored at a 30% RH. TPU proved much sensitive to moisture and did not give satisfactory results when stored above 12% RH.
HYGROSCOPIC FILAMENTS SHELF LIFE
The three hygroscopic filaments under test underwent a kinetic absorption evaluation. When stored at typical humidity conditions (60% RH), each filament required a different amount of time to reach its printability limit. We calculated that PVA could be kept on an unprotected shelf for up to 12 hours before requiring a drying cycle. PA shelf life was estimated at 4 hours, which makes it unsuitable to very long prints. According to our calculation, TPU should be handled carefully, as its extrusion performances started decaying after only 1.5 hours.
Specifications for BCN3D Smart Cabinet
| Product Properties | |
|---|---|
| Certifications | CE / FCC |
| Overall dimensions | 690mm (W) x 530mm (D) x 950mm (H) |
| Weight | 85kg |
| Shipping box dimensions | 800mm (W) x 600mm (D) x 1240mm (H) |
| Shipping Weight | 102kg |
| Shipping method | Half Europallet |
| Electrical Properties | |
|---|---|
| Output | 120V |
| Input | version 120V: 100 / 110 / 115 / 120 / 127 V AC [50-60 Hz ±10Hz] |
| Power output | 1000VA |
| Data connection | USB connection (type-A to Type-B cable) |
| UPS topology | Online 1kVA |
| Battery Specifications | 3 batteries / 36 VDC x 7Ah |
| Sensors | Internal and external humididty sensor |
| Dehumidifier Properties | |
|---|---|
| Dehumidifier topology | Air tight container with an active humidity controller unit |
| Dehumidifier system strategy | 4-cycle desiccant and recovery system: First cycle: spool drying Second cycle: stand-by Third cycle: desiccant recovery Fourth cycle: desiccant cool-down |
| Desiccant type | Alumina base desiccantv |
| Humidity level | < 40% RH |
| Recovery time (approximate) | 2h |
| Material handling | |
|---|---|
| Filament diameter | 2.85mm |
| Compatible spools | With BCN3D Spool Cartridge • Diameter: 197mm - 203mm • Central bore diameter: more than 50mm • Width: 55mm Without BCN3D Spool Cartridge: • Diameter: up to 303mm • Central bore diameter: more than 50mm • Width: up to 105mm |
| Number of spools | 6 BCN3D Spool Cartridges or 10 small spools (350/500/750gr.) or 6 medium spools (1kg.) or 4 big spools (2.5kg.) |