Adding extra Cooling fans to extruder

[ian 32]

is there a big benafit to adding extra cooling fans to the sides of the ultimaker extruder ?

is there a guide and set that the ultmaker guys sell ? or is it just DO IT YOURSELF job ?

here is a youtube video shoing a nice added cooling fan to a ultimker printer.

ian

 

[joergen 2]

I prefer to just have one fan on the print head, and my current one is the Owen fan:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13625

Additional fans just add weight.

Cooling is important is several occasions:

- small layers and small islands that have no time to cool between layers (2x2cm and smaller)

- thick and fast layers (thicker than 0.25mm), the remaining heat in the deposited plasic isn't removed fast enough, so the plastic stays longer in the elastic phase. this makes a good bond with the previous layer, but messes up the geometry. you see how the plastic stays rubbery when the head moves over it: not good.

the simplest solution is using additional fans: I have a big desk fan that I use for faster prints, or I use 100mm 12V computer fans that are simply placed on the print bed to add custom cooling to a certain area (since every print is different). (I have also added a 12V supply bus daughter board to the UM, to add additional fans where I need them).

In the worst case scenario, I have my UM standing right in front of my window air conditioner, which can blast a lot of really cold air onto the print (although that sounds like overkill).

[ddurant 0]

the Owen fan:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:13625

 

I missed that one.. I'll have to print it!

One of my very, very few complaints about the UM is that the stock fan setup there aims the air a couple inches to the left of the nozzle..

[Daid 306]

 

One of my very, very few complaints about the UM is that the stock fan setup there aims the air a couple inches to the left of the nozzle..

My stock fan shroud fell apart on the 3th print... it's the only part in the kit that I found bad really.

[ian 32]

One of my very, very few complaints about the UM is that the stock fan setup there aims the air a couple inches to the left of the nozzle..

My stock fan shroud fell apart on the 3th print... it's the only part in the kit that I found bad really.

did you email the ultimaker guys about the problem.

was it just a cheap fan case or was it detroyed from vibration ?

Ian

[ian 32]

in just looked at ownes design, that looks really brilliant !

can i ask you guys, is solidworks used for modeling these products ?

I am thinking maybe solidworkds might be the best realistic software for developing solid ultimaker models.

best wishes.

Ian

[owen 19]

Done in Google Sketchup which is free. It was time consuming but at least possible in Sketchup.

I like and use Openscad a lot but this type of thing would be very hard (for me at least) to do in Openscad.