Print cooling fans: How powerful? [Now with 3x 40mm shroud]

[redoverred]

I was designed a fan shroud for my rostock that used the original squirrel cage fan that would blow from all directions at once and hold some LEDs as well for lighting. When I printed it, I found that it blows almost no air and the fan itself is super weak. So, I then designed a blower for three 40mm fans, but I am thinking that might be overkill.

The question is: how much air should I move? Should I use one 40mm fan, two, three, more?

[Jimustanguitar]

Like all settings on a printer like this, you'll get a resounding "it depends".

PLA parts usually require a layer cooling fan, and how much air will depends on the print temperature, speed, object size, etc.
ABS parts can benefit from layer cooling, but you have to be wise about how you use it because of how ABS contracts as it cools.

I personally like to move a lot of air, and have 3 blowers going.

[redoverred]

I personally like to move a lot of air, and have 3 blowers going.

Good to know, thanks. I was thinking of getting three of the Noctua 40mm fans and mounting them to this thing (image1, image2) (which I made). I am currently printing it for fitment testing.

[Earthbound]

I'm liking that design a lot.

[redoverred]

I'm liking that design a lot.

Thanks, I'll be sharing it once I get it dialed in properly for size. One thing I had to do is install the three long mounting bolts and nuts backwards so the nuts are on the top (will share a photo later) and it doesn't extend below the effector plate as much. It is easier to tighten the nuts this way as well, so that's a bonus. It's for the stock hotend, but I will also post a CAD file so people can edit it if they'd like. It seems to be printing pretty well considering there are some gnarly bridges in it, but I'll post some photos when it's done in an hour or so also. I think I'm going to try putting some tin foil on it as well on the top for melt protection.

[redoverred]

I finished the print and it looks pretty good overall. The holes for the mounting screws are off a tiny bit, but it clears the arms when moving around. The main problem is that the mount clears the nozzle, but it does not clear the binder clips around the edges of the glass. I will probably just raise the fan mount sides a few mm and see if that helps.

Here is an album of images. I didn't have fans or extra screws, but you can see how it works. I'll release the bitbucket with the Inventor 2015 file and STL as soon as I get it dialed in.

[redoverred]

I updated the object for the proper spacing on the attachment posts. I still haven't been able to attach fans, since I just ordered some, but it should be the right measurements for those. Here is my repo for this project, but I'm going to probably completely update this object in the next week or two from the ground up, so this could be considered the "beta" version of it with a better version to come. You'll need Adobe Inventor 2015 to open the full CAD file for now; STL is also included (but not netfabb'ed).

https://bitbucket.org/redoverred/40mm-x ... d-for-rmv2