Paver Sinkers for Ikea LACK enclosure

I loved how much the Paver mod reduced the sound in my enclosure, but two things that frustrated me about the pavers in my old setup was how much they raised the printers up, and the overall look the garden stone left me with.  So, rather than have to redo the legs of the enclosure, and the wiring and all the other things, I decided to sink the pavers into the surface of the table.  I modeled the parts to be modular and small enough that they could easily be printed on something the size of a Prusa Mini or similar.  The sides bolt together with some M3 hardware and have ribs for a little added strength.  Each piece connects to it's neighbor with 2 m3 bolts and nylock nuts.  With this setup, the surface of the paver rests about 1/4 inch above the surface of the table top. The entire setup is suspended by the upper surface of the table and will not make contact with the bottom surface at all.  You can fill this space with some sort of padding if you want to, but it is not needed. 

Assemble the paver sinker as shown in the photos.  Cutting away the surface of the table will expose the cardboard honeycomb inside the table.  Cut this away with a razor or a knife to clear the pit out.  I traced the outline of the sinker with a pencil on the surface of the table and then cut the hole with an oscillating tool.  The crisscross pattern make it easier to remove the center… it can be a bit stubborn to remove, and I used a combination of flat screw drivers and a razor knife to break the pieces free of the backing.  Once the sinker is close to fitting, trace the edge again with a pencil to mark out the notches for the ribs, then go back and clean these up with a razor knife.  Depending on the hardware you use to connect the 8 parts, you may have to make some room to let the nuts and bolts drop in without interference.  When done, the sinkers should drop into place easily, but snugly.  Do not cut away too much material, or too much of the inner material, as the entire weight of the paver and the printer will be supported by the edges of this hole in the table top.  AND, if you are extra paranoid about the table potentially sagging, you could always add a brace across the bottom of the table.  

Cut a piece of floor matting, sound batting or other similar dampening material to put in the bottom of the sinker.  This does not need to make contact with the lower surface of the table, but can be suspended within the sinker; the weight of the paver will hold everything in place.  I cut these bits of batting with a razor knife and a straight edge, then cleaned up the corners with the knife freehand.  

The thickness of your batting material will determine the height of the sinker above to top of the sinker.  I wanted to have mine standing just a little above the sinker, and about ¼" above the top of the table.  This still makes it easy to service the printer if needed, but doesn't leave the displays hanging way up in the air.

You will need to print 4 of each of the files to accommodate one standard garden paver.  I was able to find these at all the big box stored for about $1.75 .  You will want to sift through the piles for ones that have smooth surfaces and no cracks.  You won't be spending much time looking at these, but they may as well be nice for those times that you will be.  Eventually, as I finish up my new enclosure, I'll paint my pavers to make them a little less obvious. This is purely cosmetic, though. 

I printed these in Kinluot Cyan and Orange PETG, in the shown orientation.  This makes a fair amount of wasted support material, but it leaves the visible surface and the surface that has to make contact with the table top clean and smooth, with no scarring left behind from having to remove support material.

All the benefits of a Paver, with none of the 

I used the following settings:

Layers: .15, speed

Infill: 40%, 3D honeycomb with modifiers for top and bottom to be 80% infill

Perimeters: 4

Supports: Yes, with sheath, 45 degree pattern, snug… though organic supports would work, as well.

This can be printed on the Mini, or any of the larger models