Jump to content

Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan


Recommended Posts

Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

I would like to hear your opinion on the following idea:

My UM2 is not very noisy at all, but maybe I can make it even quieter? All I can hear is basically the rear fan. It does vibrate quite significantly, causing structure borne noise.

The fan is rigidly connected to the aluminium structure. And I noticed if I unscrew it and hold it in my hands there is no noise at all.

Silicon acoustic decouples can be purchased for larger fans, but I couldn't find any for the tiny rear fan. So I figure casting my own in silicon. The mold can be 3D printed.

Here is the virgin coupler:

decoupler 2

 

It is a bit shorter then the thickness of the fan, so it holds the fan in place with some tension.

 

decoupler 3

decoupler 1

 

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    Awesome idea. Fan may move a little during fast travel speeds, but I wouldn't think it would be too bad. I've tried using rubber bushings, but I was still using screws to mount the fan, so improvement was not noticeable.

    Let me know if you try this and get it working, cuz I'd sure like to get my machines to quiet down a bit (my older one is even a little louder now)

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    I have no idea what the temperature back there is, but I guess it is pretty high due to the proximity of the nozzle. I am printing the mould for the silicon casting as we speak.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    There's quite little space for anything extra behind the print head - unless you adjust the home location by tweaking the micro switches. I would advise you to remove the white metal sheet which is covering the feeder stepper motor and one of gantry stepper motors. It's good riddance anyway - without it the stepper motors get better ventilated :)

    I think the idea of the decouples is good. It might even help to improve the cooling of the print head, because the original mounting of the fan wastes some of the fan's capacity (by having aluminium blocks actually blocking the air flow).

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    @3Poro you seems to have a front fan (at least on your user image). Did you move the rear fan in front or added another one?

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    Did you move the rear fan in front or added another one?

     

    I added another one - and inverted the air flow; here are more details:

     

    http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/6307-um2-twin-tornadoes/

    I think I could further improve cooling (and reduce noise) by adding some spacers between the fans and the aluminium blocks they are attached to. First I need to understand what kind of changes need to be made to the extruder in order to solve the problems related to the PTFE isolator.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    There's quite little space for anything extra behind the print head - unless you adjust the home location by tweaking the micro switches. I would advise you to remove the white metal sheet which is covering the feeder stepper motor and one of gantry stepper motors. It's good riddance anyway - without it the stepper motors get better ventilated :)

     

    I hope that is not a problem, at least I designed everything so that the rear fan does not extend over the rear of the extruder.

    Here is the mold (ABS). No idea if this will ever work...but I guess it is worth a try.

    2014 09 17 10.39.59

    2014 09 17 10.40.44

    2014 09 17 10.40.56

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    That Fan is really quite noisy so I'd love to hear if it worked out and if we could get these moulds..

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    My fine is basically silent. Someone else came over to my house and didn't believe me when I said it was on. He had to touch it. He has an UM2 and his is louder. If I turn off everything in the house (televisions, fans, dishwasher) and no cars are driving by outside and if I close all the windows (noisy birds and insects!) I can hear it from about 3 feet away. Any farther and the blood going through my ears drowns out the noise.

    So...

    If you can hear the fan at all then I consider it defective. We are talking about the "third fan". Behind the print head.

    I recommend buying another one. Or remove the decal and add a drop of oil (I've done this to other fans but don't know if this trick works with this fan).

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    Then my fan is definitively defect. Its making a lot of noise. So much in fact I can ear it speed up again just by blowing air at it.

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    I remember Barnacules unboxing of the UM2 @9m2s and @12m15s saying its so quite. I couldn't say the same for mine.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    Both my fans on my printers are pretty loud. I have them in their own room, and have to keep the door closed so I don't hear a constant buzz. I'm pretty sure the noise is created by the vibrations they create throughout the chassis of the printer as a whole, turning it into a little drum, or speaker, if you will.

    Maybe the fans are not balanced... Maybe some people are lucky and get a more balanced fan than others... I dunno. For now.... I'll just keep the door closed :)

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    I had 3 UM2's and the 3rd fan on _all_ of them was way more then just audible. I'd say gr5 is one of the few users with a silent fan...

    I went on and replaced the fan with this one:

     

    But I noticed that it gets louder over time. At first I couldn't hear it and now it is still quiet, but audible. Maybe the noise is caused due to thin strands of filament (aka. filament hair) getting stuck into it.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    Whilst I've been sorting out my UM2 issues, the fan was very loud indeed, so I bought a 25x25x10mm Sunon Maglev fan

    and used m2.5 x 12mm cap head screws and used a dremel to take some excess bulk on the outside of the fan to make room for the hotend feed wires..

     

    I will say it's much quieter, but not silent, although I am only 2 feet away from the printer, its very tolerable..

     

    it stated 5m3 flow rate, and it certainly is pushing a nice amount of air through!

     

    http://www.ebay.de/itm/Lufter-5V-0-43W-25x25x10mm-5m-h-16dBA-Sunon-MC25100V2-A99-/231085071506?pt=Geh%C3%A4use_L%C3%BCfter&hash=item35cdbe5c92

    Mind you I've yet to print anything, so I'll see if anything is affected!

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    Whats the voltage of the OEM rear fan?

    Edit: from the posted links I will assume 5V...

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    Whats the voltage of the OEM rear fan?

    Edit: from the posted links I will assume 5V...

    Yeah, it's a 5V DC basic fan, nothing fancy!

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    The electronic shop close by have more than a dozen type of 12V fans but no 5V. Crap... :D

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Posted · Acoustic decoupling: Rear Fan

    I have no idea what the temperature back there is, but I guess it is pretty high due to the proximity of the nozzle. I am printing the mould for the silicon casting as we speak.

    Sorry that I bump in a bit late. But those parts do not reach temperatures over 55C. The bottom part reaches about 50C when the nozzle is 220C. And the top is 42C then. In a default UM2 setup.

     

  • Link to post
    Share on other sites

    Create an account or sign in to comment

    You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

    Create an account

    Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

    Register a new account

    Sign in

    Already have an account? Sign in here.

    Sign In Now
    • Our picks

      • UltiMaker Cura 5.8 Stable released 🎉
        In the Cura 5.8 stable release, everyone can now tune their Z seams to look better than ever. Method series users get access to new material profiles, and the base Method model now has a printer profile, meaning the whole Method series is now supported in Cura!
        • 5 replies
      • Introducing the UltiMaker Factor 4
        We are happy to announce the next evolution in the UltiMaker 3D printer lineup: the UltiMaker Factor 4 industrial-grade 3D printer, designed to take manufacturing to new levels of efficiency and reliability. Factor 4 is an end-to-end 3D printing solution for light industrial applications
          • Thanks
          • Like
        • 3 replies
    ×
    ×
    • Create New...