I'm back... and I'm here to show some new upgrades

[cope413]

Been gone for a few weeks, and I've got a lot of catch up on the forum I see.

Wanted so share a couple upgrades I've made lately.

First, cooling fans shrouds/mounts. Variations on a theme, but I've had a recent uptick in print jobs in PLA and I wasn't happy with my layer cooling setup - and couldn't find anything I was happy with online, so I designed my own.

40mm fan shroud_v1.STL

(343.05 KiB) Downloaded 291 times

In case you can't tell from the pic, they are 40mm x 10mm fans. 12v. They are rated at 5.75CFM. I plan on installing a rheostat to be able to pot them up/down, but that's not necessary right now.

Also, the fans print great without support provided you print in .20mm layers or lower and have decent bridging ability.

I didn't want to use screws, so I just used some RTV silicone to attach them.

I also made a panel that mounts to the top plate for on/off switches for each individual fan

Fan Switch Box.STL

(13.75 KiB) Downloaded 358 times

I attached the Solidworks files for any that may be interested.

Really happy with their functionality. I'm printing PLA nicer than ever before.

Also have another upgrade in the works to swap out the cheapskate bearings with smooth rods and linear bearings. Waiting for some parts to arrive, but I will be sure to share that in another thread soon...

Cheers

[dpmacri]

Nice. Have you restricted your build area to make sure the fans don't hit the extrusions? The seem to stick out pretty far .

[cope413]

They can't hit the extrusions

They would hit if the print bed was 285mm, but at 280, free and clear

[Nylocke]

Going with a RichRap style Rostock? Nice, it'll be cool to see what you get!

[cope413]

Don't ask me how I know they won't hit...

[Eaglezsoar]

That tube and bearing upgrade sounds interesting.
That is an E3D you are using for PLA yet no problems. Interesting.

[cope413]

Yeah, I really don't know why it has a bad rap for PLA.

I printed this guy in November for a customer... and I didn't have good cooling fans.

Massive print. Over 6lbs of material. 3 different spools. 75 separate pieces.

Not even the slightest hiccup with PLA.

[cope413]

the iphone and beer can are for size reference

[bvandiepenbos]

Nice! you can never have to many cooling fans!
This is almost exactly what I have been wanting to do, but alas my 3D drawing skills really stink.
Only thing is I wish it was for 30mm fans, I already has a bunch of them in stock for the J-Head mounts we sell.

Thanks for sharing your file.
I am going to print some for my machine.

I wonder if it would work to just print your .stl at .75 scale to use the 30mm fan.?

[cope413]

I can make them for 30mm fans. Give me a day or so and I'll make the change.

[Eric]

I printed this guy in November for a customer... and I didn't have good cooling fans.

Massive print. Over 6lbs of material. 3 different spools. 75 separate pieces.

Impressive as the print is, I really want to know what the mystery item is. Unless your customer swore you to secrecy?

[cope413]

Yeah, hah. I was really curious too. It's some sort of board game prototype. Not really sure, but I think it's aimed at kids and has something to do with shape recognition and such. The whole thing spun on a lazy Susan type thing that you can't really see in the picture.

[bubbasnow]

I printed this guy in November for a customer... and I didn't have good cooling fans.

You printed that on the couch? Nice!

[PartDaddy]

that looks like at least a 12 pack type of project...

[PartDaddy]

BTW, very impressive.

[626Pilot]

I like these mods. Have you thought about putting these STLs on Thingiverse?

BTW, I have better luck printing PLA with the E3D than I have with any other. It does have problems sometimes, but these tend to go away when I switch filaments so I think it may have to do with humidity. Some filament is just so pesky about moisture. It prints great out of the bag, and then two days later all it does is skip. Then I put it in The Bucket for a few days and it prints fine again.