Extruder Light

thingiverse

Have trouble seeing what you're printing? Need more light on your extruder nozzle? I always used a flashlight, but it was too slow and often missed the mark. Finally, I decided to mount some LEDs near or on the extruder. This is a remodeled blower mount with a place to hold a printed circuit board that holds three jumbo LEDs. The printed circuit board also has a 200 ohm LED current limiting resistor. All wiring will be inside the shelled area behind the printed circuit board. Power comes directly from the 12 volt power supply (or through a switch if you want). Wanted: * More light * Always shining on nozzle edge * Not obstructing the view on the left side For those who want to change from the existing blower fan to the typical 40 mm fan for part cooling, use the new STL file: Blower mounting with LED mount with 40mm fan R1. Print Settings: * Printer: Migbot i3 * Rafts: No * Supports: Yes * Resolution: .2 * Infill: 30% Notes: I laid the part on the blower side edge and printed the support under the printed circuit board holder. Choose the LED angle bracket (45 or 60 degree) that will give you the best LED light position on your nozzle. I used the 60 degree angle mounting block. Post-Printing: Assembly: * Print (1) Blower mounting with LED mount (~ 1 hour) * Print (1) LED angle block 45 or 60 degree (~11 minutes) * Small piece of perf printed circuit board (~1 1/2" x 3") * (2) 6-32 x 3/8" machine screws * (2) 6-32 nuts * (3) jumbo LEDs * ~2 feet of black and red wire Instructions: 1. Print the two parts needed. 2. Insert the (2) 6-32 nuts into the nut slots on the new blower mount. 3. Cut a small piece of perforated printed circuit board to fit on the bottom of the mount. 4. Assemble the (3) LEDs into the angle block of your choice (45 or 60 degree). 5. Install the LED block on the printed circuit board and wire the three LEDs in series with the 200 Ohm current limiting resistor. 6. Test the wired LEDs with a 12 VDC source before finishing assembly. 7. Install the assemble printed circuit board with the red & black leads coming out the small hole in the side of the blower mounting bracket. 8. Mount the new blower mount with LEDs on the front of the extruder where the old blower mounting was. I added some small strips of aluminum foil tape to the printed circuit board right next to the LEDs to act as a reflector. How I Designed This: This design was originally created for a Migbot i3 printer manufactured by Electron 3D. It should fit most other printers that have the X-axis mounted blower in front of the extruder motor (i.e. such as HICTOP or Anet printer).