Customiser: Air cage for MK8 extruder with pipe end

thingiverse

Many ventilation shrouds for printed objects exist, but none met my needs: they wouldn't fit, featured rigid nozzles without adjustment, obstructed sight of nozzle and base layer, prohibited intervention with tweezers or related tools, or were unnecessarily heavy and bulky. In an effort to learn from the problems with existing solutions, I decided that air cages, surrounding and trapping expelled air from coolers, and nozzles, directing air towards objects, should be separate items, allowing for adjustment of the latter. Here's my attempt at designing an air cage, featuring a simple pipe end to attach a piece of flexible tube, which carries an adjustable air nozzle clamped to the extruder carrier. A wire can bend the nozzle into position. I've soldered a paperclip to a crocodile clip and attached the nozzle construction to the extruder using it. The other end of the paperclip goes to a PTFE tube as nozzle, inserted into silicone hose connecting to the air cage pipe end. This item isn't aesthetically pleasing – it's not meant to be. Instead, I've prioritized function over form, as functional aspects are more important in this application. Please note that this implementation is still in its early stages and improvements are likely. For instance, replacing the current flexible-tube-and-nozzle solution with a printed double-hinged air duct (directing air from the side) could change position and orientation of the pipe end opening to the front. Adding support for a second nozzle pointing at the object from the left might also be considered. LED or camera mount points, along with their respective cable guides, can be added easily given that the .scad file is provided. This item is fully parametrized due to differences in printers and extruders, which I experienced while searching for a fitting fan shroud. Some printers assume that extruder carriers don't protrude from the extruder, making coolers and fans appear to be floating. Others have limited space between screws and cooler, making it difficult or impossible to fit certain designs. Most existing designs only provide .stl files, which I find challenging to modify without a decent method. As a result, I'm focusing on designs with sources provided, as source-less designs tend to die eventually due to lack of evolutive capabilities. I'm unsure how much further development this design will receive because I currently lean towards E3D-ish designs and consider the attempts at improving MK8 as an intermediate step. Replacement with a E3D bowden setup seems like the next logical step. This design by Tech2C is one that I like, featuring cooling of extruded filament integrated into it. However, it comes in .stl only form and may require some extent of redoing or convincing to make it work for my device. For testing the effectiveness of air catching and channeling, I apply a drop of Ballistol (colloidal paraffin in ethanol) on the cold nozzle, then turn on the printer. When the nozzle heats up, the paraffin fumes show direction, turbulences, and strength of the air stream hitting the nozzle. Custom Section version history v0.0.1, 2016sep13 initial version v0.0.2, 2016sep13 changed support to interleaved pillars. v0.0.3, 2016Sep14 changed support to perforated walls. lowered blocks. thicker walls around air chamber. added foundation to pipe end to avoid sagging. v0.0.4, 2016Sep15 gave pipe end foundation more substance. v0.0.5, 2016Sep19 eliminated "pillars" from air chamber variable names, changing to "wall" own variable for pipe end wall thickness rather than reusing air chamber wall thickness. changed pipe end foundation to circular footprint Needs improving: Move pipe end up, for larger radius of air hose bend. Already parametrized, but presets put it too low. This is why the hose takes a horizontal 270° loop in the pictures instead of vertical 180°. A downwards pointing pipe end could be an alternative. Consider using maccaroni maker. Add 2 more blocks at top, as upper fan mounting holes constitute an air escape.