building an environmental monitoring sensor for the 3D printing farm
MyPrintPod built a Raspberry Pi environmental monitoring system using an Enviro+ board and laser particulate sensor to support 3D printing farm monitoring.
on Sunday 29 June 2025, myprintpod started work on a useful environmental monitoring project for the 3D printing farm.
my son interned with me at myprintpod, and I gave him the task of designing an environmental monitoring sensor for the print environment.
this is what we came up with: a Raspberry Pi powered system using an Enviro+ sensing board and a laser-based particulate measurement system.
why monitor the print environment
environmental monitoring matters if you want to understand what is really happening around production.
for a 3D printing farm, that can include:
- temperature
- humidity
- air quality
- particulate levels
- changes during printing
- changes caused by ventilation and filtration
the aim is not to guess. The aim is to measure.
the hardware
the system is based around a Raspberry Pi with an Enviro+ sensing board and a laser particulate sensor.
that gives us a practical route to monitor the print environment and build up a better picture of baseline conditions before testing filtration and containment.
the software
fortunately, suitable software was already available on GitHub to create a web-based monitoring service.
that made the project much more useful because the data could be viewed and tracked through a browser rather than just read locally.
useful in more than one way
this was a useful project in several ways.
it supported myprintpod’s work on responsible 3D printing, sustainability and environmental monitoring. It also made a good intern project: practical electronics, software, enclosure design and a real manufacturing use case in one system.
we also designed a box for the system.
if anyone wants the box design, drop us a message.
#3DPrinting #Sustainability #Environment #RaspberryPi #MyPrintPod