Building a Compact Insulated 3D Printer Enclosure for a Garden Shed

How I converted the unused space under a workshop bench into an insulated 3D printer enclosure using leftover materials and parts from a half-finished IKEA Lack enclosure.

3D Printer Under Workbench

My 3D printer had spent the better part of six months sitting unused in a half-finished enclosure after a house move. The new house came with something the old one never had: a shed. The challenge was finding a permanent home for the printer without sacrificing valuable floor space.

The space under an existing workbench looked promising. With a bit of insulation, some leftover materials and a healthy amount of repurposing, it turned into a compact enclosure suitable for printing ABS and other temperature-sensitive materials.

Why Build and Enclosure?

For some time my 3d Printer stood on a table in the dining room. I then started thinking of printing ABS, and wanted to add a HEPA filer and fan, to keep all the nasties out off the air. 

Enter the Lack table enclosure. There are millions of them all over the internet, and I copied one of the enclosures I liked. Never got round to fitting the sides and the doors, as I bought a house and moved.

That was 6 months ago.

Since then the printer has stood forlorn and abandoned in the same half build enclosure in the living room.

The new house is smaller than the old house (but it's mine 😁) and the printer and enclosure just took up too much space. 

Choosing a Location

I do however have a shed now. Something that the old house lacked. In said shed, the previous owner had installed a workbench, and due to my motto of "everything as cheap as possible", I re-used the workbench in situ. Standing in the shed one day and looking at the workbench, I noticed that the space below the bench is quite substantial, and mostly unused. I have plans to add some drawers on the right hand side but on the left, the space called for a 3d printer enclosure.

The size of the available opening below the workbench was:

• Width: 700mm
• Depth: 650mm
• Height: 850mm

Comparing this with the lack table dimensions of 550mm x 550mm x 650mm, I could see how this could work.

Space below Workbench

Insulating the Cabinet

The picture above is of the area on the right hand side, but basically just a mirror image on the left. The shed is much cosier after all the work done on it, but some of the areas are still a little, let us say, coldish. ABS does not like wind or fluctuating temperatures, so I decided to insulate the cabinet, at least from the sides and the top. The additional space available when compared to the Lack table, allowed me to include the insulation without encroaching on the Lack Enclosure dimension benchmark.

Materials Used

• 50 mm insulation board
• Rockwool insulation
• OSB board
• 2x4 timber
• Acrylic panels from previous enclosure
• LED strip lighting
• Multi-socket extension
• 3D printed hinges

Building the Cabinet

I purchased some 50mm insulation panels and had some rockwool laying around from the "Keeping the Atlantic at bay" project. I lined the floor with rockwool and installed a very sturdy OSB base in the area. Then lined the left, top and back with insulation and installed an OSB board on the right hand side. The insulation on the right is actually on the  other side of the board. I left the OSB board exposed on the right hand side to give me something to mount sockets etc against.

All lined out and ready to trim

To mount the door I decided to create a frame around the front with 2x4's that I had laying around. As this is a shed and not a living room, the frame was just but-jointed. No fancies here.

Frame Installed

Repurposing and Reusing Materials

For the hinges, I used some hinges that I 3d printed previously for the lack table enclosure and the door is the plexiglass sided that was never fitted to the Lack Enclosure. Waste not Want Not.

That left me with a little bit of a gap at the top and on the right hand side because this panel is lack table size. A nice piece of laminate trim at the top to pick up the gap and to give me something better to stick an LED strip light to, did the trick. For the gap on the right hand side I cut one of the other pieces of leftover plexiglass and secured it in place.

And, hey presto!!

Cabinet Complete

The height of the cupboard obviously does not allow for the mounting of the top fed spool holder. On the Lack table, the spool stood on top of the table with a grommet through, but this is not an option here with the worktop above. 

In days gone by I had an old Anet A8 printer that came with a floor standing spool holder. Repurpose alert.

Power and Lighting

For power, I fished a multi socket in from the worktop above and mounted it on the OSB board on the right hand side. A length of LED lighting stuck to the white laminate trip and connected to said multiplug rounded off the installation.

Finished Cabinet with Printer Installed

  It's not beautiful, but it works. Benchy printed. Equilibrium restored to to galaxy.

Future Improvements

Some items still needs attention.

The Wi-Fi signal from the house is not reaching the printer in sufficient quantities. I need to install a remote access point in the shed.

The repurposed spool holder is a temporary measure. It needs a permanent solution.

No cooling fans currently installed in cabinet. I will monitor the heat in there, and if required I will install a fan to cool down the internals. It will probably only come in play for long prints. Benchy did not even lift the needle at the bottom of the cabinet.

All in all, I am satisfied with how this turned out. Some tinkering still required, but functional and working at the moment.

Benchy Happening 

Still To Do

Improve Wi-Fi coverage

Design permanent spool holder

Monitor enclosure temperatures

Add cooling if required

Japfest 2026, and the weathergods smiled on us.

And quicker than you can say, "Oh look, the year has gone!", it was time for Japfest 2026. Held on Sunday the 26th April at Mondello Park.

The weather gods smiled down on us, and not a drop fell from the sky!

As with all things Automobile in Ireland, the bulk of the show was much the same as last year, with some notable absences.

My personal pick for the day?

To be fair, it could go to any number of the cars, but for pure "would you look at that" from my point of view, I'm going to have to choose the Fair Lady below.

You either love them, or you hate them. I choose to love this one.

Honourable mention will have to go to this nice Sunny. In the neck of the woods where I grew up they were known as a "Datsun 1200 Bakkie". The "Bakkie" being Afrikaans for a small bowl. Don't judge us, the language only recently turned 100.

Any of the MR2's could also slot in here. They were gorgeous.

Below a selection of some of the other cars on show.

I just had to put this somewhere - Radiohead's Fake Plastic Trees

I'm too dumb to fully appreciate Radiohead and their music. But sometimes a light goes on for me. This was one of those moments. For your reading pleasure, Fake Plastic Trees.

A green plastic watering can

For a fake Chinese rubber plant
In the fake plastic earth

That she bought from a rubber man
In a town full of rubber plans
To get rid of itself

It wears her out, it wears her out
It wears her out, it wears her out

She lives with a broken man
A cracked polystyrene man
Who just crumbles and burns

He used to do surgery
On the girls in the eighties
But gravity always wins

And it wears him out, it wears him out
It wears him out, it wears

She looks like the real thing
She tastes like the real thing
My fake plastic love

But I can't help the feeling
I could blow through the ceiling
If I just turn and run

And it wears me out, it wears me out
It wears me out, it wears me out

And if I could be who you wanted
If I could be who you wanted
All the time, all the time

-Fake Plastic Trees by Radiohead

This is absolutely brilliant. Love it.

St. Patrick's Day fishing

 In fairness, I'm not too big on St. Patrick's Day celebrations and standing amongst a million other people to maybe catch a glimpse of a parade going by. No thanks.

I do however love fishing, because the amount of people crowding is usually much less.

So this morning, after some time waiting for the Dodder fishing season to open, it was that time at last. And the solitude did not disappoint.

The river flows through Dublin, starting it's journey not too far outside Dublin. It flows into the Bohernabreena reservoirs and then abruptly enters the west of Dublin and flows down past the Aviva stadium and into the Liffey at the entrance to the Grand Canal. While not as famous as it's brother the Plodder, it is much more of a river than the Plodder. 

Angling on the Dodder is managed by the Dodder Angling Association and permits can be bought from most of the tackle shops in Dublin.

Near my home, the Dodder runs through at least three parks in close succession. This morning I decided to visit a spot in the Dodder Valley Park. It's close enough to cycle there, and in fairness, I would much rather park my bicycle right next to me on the river bank than park the car at the entrance and having to walk all the way down with the fishing gear in tow.

So I packed the donkey and saddled up.

And off to the river we rode on the "Fishmobile". 

I am very rusty when it comes to flyfishing. So I will chalk up today to getting the cobwebs out of the gear and re-discovering long lost muscle memory. But even though it was not a very successful trip if measured by the amount of fish caught, it was hugely successful in the clearing of the head and spending quality time in nature. There is nothing as soothing as the sound of a river. At least not today.

Sir Lance-alot, I presume

 As I was washing the car the other day, I was once again struck by how terrible the standard Bosch soap dispenser is. I am also not going to be the one to spend my entire paycheck on a foam lance.

So I started browsing Amazon and came across this one

Does what it says on the tin, really. But does it work?

I'll let you be the judge, but in my opinion it was well worth the 20 squids or so. Does a much better job than the standard Bosch attachment in any event.

Can't wait to let it loose on the bike...