A8 Fan Shroud for Quick Filament Changes

thingiverse

Changing filament on the A8 is tricky because the filament feed path isn't visible. 75% of the time, I couldn't get it to work and found it easier to unscrew the whole extruder mechanism, which is preloaded by a spring, etc. - that's quite a hassle. There are several good solutions out there. Mine's a minimalist combination of two of them. In particular, I took inspiration from the cut-down-the-heatsink approach and half-shroud design from [nicolaidiz] (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2037833) but didn't want all the extraneous hinging to hold a fan loosely in place. Where my design has an ad-hoc clip, [85holmberg] has a nice basket to sit the fan in (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2326111), and that looks much more professional. However, the pillars that support the basket block airflow from the sides of the heatsink, which is something I couldn't figure out how to design around. Anyway, the clip has worked for me for about 100 printing hours, so I'm calling it good until I get bored or inspired again. The Heatsink: I cut the heatsink with a hacksaw after the fourth rib. [85holmberg] has some excellent instructions. I also drilled two holes in the top rib that allow air to leave the fan vents and pass through the heatsink fins. (See the third photo.) I do this because my shroud sits directly on the top fin, and most of the flow from the fan would otherwise be blocked. The cold side of the heatbreak seems to stay cool enough with the fan running and this minimal amount of heatsink in place. YMMV. I'd still like to see a better, quieter or more elegant solution, but this works so well that I'm not messing with it further. If you get inspired, let me know!