Fan Base improvement

[feik 0]

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/fan-base-um2

I guess that we all can agree that the OEM fan base for the UM2 it's not the best.

After trying different https://www.youmagine.com/designs/fanduct-another-idea, I had an idea to improve the quality of the prints even more: focus the air flow more towards the nozzle. This way the plastic will solidify quicker, hence the quality when doing big overhangs or bridging should be improved.

The differences are considerable when compared with the original fan base. In order to test it I have printed the original ultimaker robot .gcode with the OEM fanbase and the new design. Results below:

 

Any feedback is welcome!

 

[DidierKlein 729]

Hi,

Nice design, i've myself thought a bit about enhancing the cooling on my UM2, but i didn't find the time yet to put my idea in my Cad software

One question: did you print it in PLA or in something else? How does it react to the surrounding heat?

I had printed a fan improvement but the airflow was interfering too much with the nozzle temperature (it wouldn't stabilise)

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Would be interesting to see how it looks with the standard fan duct and fans reduced to 20% or even less.

 

[feik 0]

I have printed the fan base with the original ultimaker blue PLA. To avoid heat problems I used a thin sheet of aluminium (coke can) around the hot-end.

I have no problems with the air-flow interfering the nozzle so far. Please tell me if you have any.

 

[pm_dude 27]

Wow that's pretty concentrated air-flow. Does the fan sound louder than when they are on the OEM duck?

 

[gpb01 23]

Hi Feik,

I can confirm that work like a charm, thank you for sharing!

Printed with the original Ultimaker black PLA, added, following your suggestion, the aluminium shield (from a beer can).

Yesterday I printed for 16 hours without any problem and ... yes ... better quality

Guglielmo

 

[helder-l.-santos 0]

Hi all,

I don't know if it depends of the cooling system, but i can't understand why the new Makezine Review on 3D Printers (http://cdn.makezine.com/make/magazine/V42-preview.pdf) gives a 5 star Overhangs to the Ultimaker Original+ and only 3 stars to Ultimaker2.

 

[chrisr 18]

Nice fan design, :smile: very tempted to print this out and try it!

Basic questions: which orientation do you print this in? did you use supports?

Also, where are the details for the heat shield which gets mentioned (and where does the shield go)?

https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/files.youmagine.com/uploads/image/file/46629/Shield-20140508.png

 

[chrisr 18]

Ok, I printed this "upside down" from the orientation that Cura loads it. i.e the ventilation grill sits on the glass plate (see photo)

 

I used support "touching buildplate" (35% fill, 40mm/s)

 

With the part "upside down" Cura estimated the build time as 3hrs 54mins, with the part "normal way up" 5 hours 45 mins. Quite a difference... as well, the only support material I have to cut away upside down is around the ventilation grill.

 

I aborted the print when it reached the two "tangs" which I guess are there to just tidy up the fans wiring? You can see this in the photo as the two cross hatched areas on top of the print.

 

Couple of suggestions:

 

1) Loose the tangs. They're not really necessary (imho) and just add complexity to the part. *

2) Can you make your ZETOFF label a little smaller? (it's a bit in yer face) and just adds extra complexity.

3) You could probably loose the ventilation grill altogether and just have a hole in its place.

 

I hope these observations are helpful..

 

I'm really pleased with the print and can't wait to fit it to my UM2 and try it out. Really nice job Feik in putting this together! :smile:

 

(Edit * or are these for the heat shield... oops me bad - they are for the heat shield)

 

 

[gpb01 23]

Hi Chris, printed without any problem and without any support rotated 90° (bottom touching the heated bed) in high resolution (layer 0.06 mm)

 

Guglielmo

 

[chrisr 18]

Guglielmo, in this orientation?

 

Having pealed my print off, it took a lot of sanding to make the front look acceptable and neat to the eye. Frankly the over sized "ZETOFF" lettering just makes the whole thing look like crap marring the front face. I'll try printing this again in your orientation tomorrow.

 

My main concern in orientating the print as I did was to ensure that the important air channels printed out faithfully.

 

[korneel 176]

just found a mayor drawback.. you have to take off the fans if you need to take it off again.. so maintenance on the printe rjust became an additional 8 screws...

 

[gpb01 23]

Guglielmo, in this orientation?

 

Yes Chris. I have printed twice, still with the same orientation, just to test differente resolutions (0.1 and 0.06) and, both times, I had no problems

But I agree that "ZETOFF" logo would be nicer and less intrusive if smaller and in one corner

Guglielmo

 

[chrisr 18]

Thanks Guglielmo, that looks to be printing out perfectly! It continues to amaze me what the UM2 is capable of :-)

 

[korneel 176]

Feik;

just a reitteration of my request;

would it be able to design this in such a way the screws are still servicable? at this point i have to take the fans off before taking the fan shroud off... that is quite the pain..

 

[chrisr 18]

Wow! Just completed a couple of prints with this fan base design. My prints are coming out notably "sharper" looking with better defined edges compared with before. Seriously pleased with this. Thank you very much Feik :-)

 

[kvones 5]

Would this design work with the UMO+ to add a second fan? It's the one mod I have been seriously mulling over as I do a lot of fine structural prints and a second fan would probably increase quality a lot.