what wood to use for shelving unit for 3d printers enclosure

MDF is a sensible choice as it's pretty dense,.so this will minimise vibration and lower sound also.

As Cyber-Mav says, if you want to use something that isn't soulless and devoid of any character ;) ... then oak would be decent all-rounder. Pine is a bit lightweight sound would be as good for sound or vibration. Plus oak is immensely strong also.
 
Well as the vast majority of plywood will be pine/softwood, solid oak will obviously be stronger. But for these purposes any of MDF, ply or solid will be perfectly fine - but density will play a role in sound/vibration absorption - so worth considering.

It's very common people put a slab of concrete under their printers for exactly the same reason - has a big effect on noise levels!
 
katie279 said:
Well as the vast majority of plywood will be pine/softwood, solid oak will obviously be stronger.
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not true.
due to the way ply is made it's more often than not stronger than hardwood of a similar thickness as it will use hardwood in its construction.
 
Hmm, not sure you read my post that you're quoting - clearly I pointed out pine, which isn't a hardwood....?

As an aside, just look up the engineering data on this and you can see the modulus of rupture and compressive strength variances (the two forces I'd be most interested in for this use case). Massive variation across wood species, but pine ain't the winner - really doesn't matter hugely for this use case, but oak is about 4cm deflection on 2m span shelf and 100kg weight, ply would be about 6cm. Ply comes into its own in sheet strength - very strong cost to strength ration, but there's a good reason we don't build houses out of plywood/mdf beams.... ;)

Cyber-mav is right in his advice though, all about density for this use case, any would do fine - but MDF/HDF (density) or Hardwood (slightly lower density and looks) would get my vote!
 
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Cyber-Mav said:
Go all out with a granite top?
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Yes, think that's ideal if you're getting lots of printers. Although for Chris' benefit I've had a printer working flawlessly for many years on an ordinary desk, so don't read into it too much as essential, just a nice choice.... so no need to whip out the osmium slabs just yet.... :cry:
 
i got my one on top of a drawer cupboard them mid height ones. although i get the feeling having rubber or silicone feet on the printer would be a good idea so thats next on the list to get.
 
Go to a b&q near you. They will cut the wood for you, just pick a sheet and i think its 50p a cut or so and i think first cut or 2 is free. Been a while since i went though
 
I built my 3d printer cabinet out of plywood and it very sturdy. Got an ender 5 s1 inside and my laser engraver on top now (did have an ender 3 on top until I got the laser engraver)
 
Cyber-Mav said:
i got my one on top of a drawer cupboard them mid height ones. although i get the feeling having rubber or silicone feet on the printer would be a good idea so thats next on the list to get.
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Or you could print them out of TPU on the printer..... :cool:
 
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