CR-10 50mm to 40mm Adapter for internal cooling mount

thingiverse

Well, I'm a huge admirer of Noctua fans, and right now they're not producing a 50 mm x 10 mm 12v fan. I had just swapped out the internal stock CR10 control unit fan (which was noisier than the stock heatsink fan) with a quieter fan when it suddenly failed on me. The cost of replacing it was almost as much as the Noctua 40mm NF-A4x20, and Noctua's specs were impressive - approximately 5.53 CFM and a static pressure of .88in H2O. I now own seven of these fans, so I figured "I'll just replace it with a 40 mm." Easier said than done, though. I couldn't find an adapter, so I designed my own using Fusion360. I'm quite fond of using hex screws for almost everything - must be a Harley thing. It fits perfectly, leaving enough space to disconnect the stepper motor cables if necessary. For mounting the fan to the internal CR10 bracket next to the motherboard, I used 4 M3 16's. For attaching the fan to the bracket, I needed 4 M3 12's. And for securing the fan to the adapter, I required 4 M3 nuts. There is just enough room if you remove the metal bracket first, then insert the 16's through the adapter, and finally mount but don't completely tighten the 12's (using 3M nuts inside the fan) through the adapter into the fan. It takes a bit of finesse to tighten them all down securely. Now, there are several ways to connect the fan to the controller. I prefer cutting, soldering, and shrink-wrapping - but Noctua has kindly included all the necessary adapters. You can choose to attach it directly to the motherboard or power supply - your call.