M3D fan holder for overheating printhead

thingiverse

When I Got My Printer, It Worked Pretty Well But After A While, Print Quality Went Down And Then Prints Stopped Extruding In The Middle Of The Print. After Trying Everything, With Some Help From Support, I Did A Test With The Print Cover Off And A House Fan Pointing At The Printer. This Allowed A Near Perfect Print. What Was Happening Is That The Print Head Got Too Hot Maybe Because My Fan Was Malfunctioning Or There Was A Design Flaw. Inspired By Others, I Decided To Move My Fan To The Front Of The Print Head. But Replacing The Fan In The Bottom Didn't Work As It's Really Too Small. I Had Already Tried Replacing The Fan At The Bottom Of The Print Head But That Space Is Way Too Tight And It Doesn't Cool The Extruder Enough, Either. In Fact, The Fan Was Actually Hitting My Printed Parts While They Were Still Printing. Putting It Anywhere Higher Would Mean It'd Be Touching The X-Axis Shaft - Definitely Not A Good Design Move. I Decided To Build A Custom Cover To See If I Could Find A More Permanent Solution By Placing The Fan Up Front Where It Could Cool The Cold End Of The Extruder Better. But Prints Were Still Getting Too Hot, Or At Least They Were Staying Too Hot After The Print. To Fix This, I Added A New Part To Redirect The Fan Exhaust Down Towards The Print Area And Also Taped Over The Top Vents So That Air Was Drawn In Where The Fan Used To Be, And That Fixed It. Now My Prints Are Really Great Quality. However, There Is One Little Problem - When You Move The Head From Left To Right Along Its Axis, There's Not Enough Room For A 'Vent' Below The Bottom Of The Print Head. But Keeping Vents Open Towards The Printed Area Above The Gantry Does Seem To Do The Trick Just Fine. The Fan Just Fits Into The Small Slot That's Been Created For It. It Does Need Some Force Applied In Order To Get It Fully In Place. My Printer Settings Raft Setting No Matter What Supports: Yes Resolution: 0.1 Is Ideal Since The Tolerances Are Really Tight. Infill Setting As High Or Even All The Way To Solid For This Specific Print Print It Up And Remove Support Material Carefully, Because That Will Save A Lot Of Headache. Be Sure Not To Overly Rely On Bridging Techniques Here, Since The Results Can Vary Greatly Depending On The Print Material. The Fan Cover-Deflector Can Actually Be Printed Pretty Much Without Support Needed, If You Turn It On Its Back, Tilted Gently Forwards And Then Flip It Back In Once You've Done Printing The Inside Of This Part. Here Are A Few More Pictures Showing The Ideal Printing Orientation. Now To Try And Reproduce These Results: Print Out This New Design While Using Your M3D With The Original Print Head Cover Removed - That'll Give You Space Enough To Use An Additional Fan. Place The Other End Directly Onto Your Print Area And Get It To Breeze Some Air Down On The Printing Parts Themselves. Don't Forget That If Any Part Slides Off During Print Operations Make Sure That's Fixed ASAP! The Final Stage: This Might Slightly Limit Your Printer's Capabilities In A Small Way So That Larger Objects Cannot Be Printed Without This Outer Shell In Place At All Times. Always Put An Insulating Cover Over The Tip Of The Extruder To Keep It Running Smoothly. Remember: When You Slap That Fan Into The Slot Created Inside - Ensure Proper Orientation And Alignment Is Achieved Between Both Units. Don't Get It Backwards As It Won't Function Well. That Logo For The Original Part Faces Forward, Outwards. If Your Blowing The Right Direction Then All Should Be Fine With Cooling Air Streams Directed Toward Printed Object During Process Steps, While Ensuring Good Spinning Capability As We Designed In This Mod With Added Small Spacer Bars Keeping The Outer Edges Of Each Port Open So It Could Work Properly Inside Print Head Assembly Overall Design Layout Considerations Also Applied For Easy User Experience Ease.