moving the electronics outside the base

[Leithan]

I am currently considering an R max 2, one of my concerns about the printer is having the electronics in the base, I understand that some heat from the print bed radiates down into the base. I also understand that ample airflow is provided by fans to cool the controller. My concern is I live in the desert and it is a very dusty environment, my son has had 2 Xbox’s fail do to overheating because the cooling fans deposit so much dust inside the case, we now just leave the case open and hit it with canned air every few days. I was wondering if anyone has moved their controller and power supply outside the base. I was thinking outside the base the controller and power supply would be easier to dust off and maintain, as well as require less airflow and reduce dust contamination. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[Jimustanguitar]

This can be done, yes. Do you need to, maybe not.

I wouldn't be concerned about the radiant heat from the bed at all. The bed is on a "snowflake" of melamine that's held off of the top of the base with nylon standoffs. The bed's heat would have to saturate the snowflake, and radiate from that piece of wood to the top of the base through the 1/4"ish air gap, which is exactly where the PSU cooling fan blows anyway. The Rambo board is mounted vertically behind the front panel and isn't in danger of receiving excess radiant bed heat in my opinion. Not to mention that people have been putting their Rostocks in enclosures to heat the build chamber. That's got to add a lot of heat to the electronics, and I haven't heard any horror stories yet.

I'd be more worried about the dust than the temp. The ATX power supply is just like what you'd find in a computer power supply. Care for it the same way that you would your computer.

Everything is enclosed pretty well, maybe you can just engineer an air filter at the openings in the base. The sides are sealed, so I bet you could find a nice breathable material like speaker grill cloth and spray glue it to the insides of the top and bottom of the base...

[Eaglezsoar]

I am currently considering an R max 2, one of my concerns about the printer is having the electronics in the base, I understand that some heat from the print bed radiates down into the base. I also understand that ample airflow is provided by fans to cool the controller. My concern is I live in the desert and it is a very dusty environment, my son has had 2 Xbox’s fail do to overheating because the cooling fans deposit so much dust inside the case, we now just leave the case open and hit it with canned air every few days. I was wondering if anyone has moved their controller and power supply outside the base. I was thinking outside the base the controller and power supply would be easier to dust off and maintain, as well as require less airflow and reduce dust contamination. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

The power supply can be moved outside the case without much effort other than extending the wires, the controller is a different case.
The LCD cables are sensitive to length and you would probably need to bring the LCD out with the controller. There are ways to extend the LCD cables such as using
Ferrite cores surrounding the cables but it is not usually recommended. The door containing the LCD is fairly easy to open and the Rambo controller is behind the door
and it would be a simple matter to open the door every few days and using the canned air to clean off the Rambo.

[Leithan]

It doesn’t sound like there would be much need to move the controller if it's that easy to access it. Air filters on power supplies actually make it worse; they clog up quicker and choke off the air to the fan. It would probably be easier to externally mount it so that I can just blow it out every few days. Thank you for the replies.

[teoman]

I would try mounting the printer in an enclosure.

That is what I intend on doing. Mainly to reduce the noise and to ahelp thermal buildup. I am also slightly worried about cat hairs entering the machine.

I will be going to Ikea to see if I can find anything nice.



The side panels are easy to take off. So you could air blast the controller periodically.

[teoman]

You just gave me an idea.

I have an idea to build a peltier dehumidifier inside the enclosure that I will eventually make.


Another fan could be directed to the water that is produced. (If you live in a very dry environment, you could use oil). This way when the fan blows the air and dust, thebdust gets stuck on the liquid.

Check out rainbow vaccum cleaners for the concept.