E3D V6 fan shroud designs

youmagine

These designs are still in development, so please print them with caution. You may need to modify or adapt these prints, or take extra care when assembling them. The 40mm fan mount is the most tested design, and the 40mm fans are easier to find. A quick overview of each design: The 40mm fan design has several issues. Tight wiring and fiddly assembly make it a challenge. Printing with the duct facing upwards can avoid the need for supports. However, this design requires 4x M2 screws for the ducts and another 4x M2 screws for the fans themselves. I'm unsure about the length of the screws as I cut mine down using a Dremel. Mainly, the 40mm fan design has one major flaw: the blades stick out of the enclosure, allowing air to escape through the inlet rather than exiting the duct. The 30mm fans should fix this issue. The 30mm fan design uses untested 5v B0503AFB2-8 fans. It's difficult to find 30mm blower fans. This design fixes space issues and provides more room for wiring. However, it requires supports to print the ducts and must be glued to the body. I may use screw fixings instead, but this would compromise the cold end fan. In my opinion, this design shows promise. The pipe mount design eliminates wiring issues completely, making it more compact and freeing up space. The difficulty lies in bending the pipe and using a powerful enough air pump for the required air pressure. I suggest using 4mm copper pipe attached to flexible silicone pipe. This combination is easy to cut and bend by hand, inexpensive, and widely available. General thoughts: After spending too much time on fan design, I feel confident in offering input in this area. Managing micro-air flows is challenging. If the two ducts meet each other head-on, they can create a dead zone as the air flows cancel each other out. Positioning the angle of the ducts too high causes problems with the hotend, while placing them too low may not cool the correct area enough and can also direct flow down the side of the print and into the heatbed. It seems that placing the two fans at 10 and 2 on a clock face rather than the current norm of 9 and 3 would be best. This arrangement allows the fans to work together, creating more predictable airflow while providing better coverage than a single fan setup. Expect further updates as my thoughts develop. Most of this is conjecture and opinion, but I'll try to back it up with relevant facts where possible. I might even organize some of these ramblings better in time.