Cooling Base for WD MyBook External Hard Drive

thingiverse

I recently purchased a [WD MyBook External Hard Drive](https://www.amazon.com/Book-Desktop-External-Drive-WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN/dp/B01LQQHLGC?dchild=1&keywords=WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN&qid=1619757746&sr=8-1&linkCode=sl1&tag=jeremybcom-20&linkId=0960899dc82c4397b179f276c8ee321c&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl). Unfortunately, it seems to run really hot. It quickly hit 65C while active, which is beyond its recommended operating temperature range. To reduce the temperature of the drive, I designed this cooling base. The 3D printed base snaps together, and holds two 40mm, 12V fans using friction-fit posts. The base pulls in cool air from vents in the plastic, and pushes its it up through the ventilation chamber of the drive. Hot air then exhausts from the top of the drive. With this base installed, the hard drive max temperature has been reduced from 65C to 41C during sustained writing in a semi-closed cabinet. If you use 12V Fans, you can tap them into the 12V AC/DC supply that powers the drive (they consume a small amount of current, and the included AC/DC has sufficient overhead to power the fans and the hard drive). I did this using a barrel jack splitter and some 2.5mm pitch JST connectors, but you can also just solder it all together.