Mecreator2 raiser feet

thingiverse

Nothing is more infuriating than a four-hour print that stops before completion due to a poorly designed cooling system. I love my Mecreator2, but the design is absolutely atrocious! It can go from not starting at all when I first unboxed it to running at 150% of its maximum speed in the garage with an ambient temperature below 10°C this winter. Why am I keeping it? Easy to understand: it's open-source, reasonably upgradable, sturdy, and can print almost all common plastics on the market. Some people might argue that the print volume is too low, but nothing is impossible with a good design. During the weekend, I tried to print one of the gear-bearing spinners proposed by the community, but once again, it didn't complete. I knew the root cause: the extruder stepper driver was in security mode due to the poor cooling. It was just overheating as usual. I did a full replacement of the stepper drivers last year, but unfortunately, I had to revert the replacement for the extruder as the TMC 2208 drivers were causing problems if you use the linear advance feature. The problem disappears if you use TMC 2209 drivers, and if you add the fact that this printer is originally equipped with an annoying and noisy 40mm side fan, you have a perfect combination. It was time to take action; I was fed up. First, I opened the printer and checked if it was possible to move the drivers, but nope, it's too messy. Second, I checked if it was possible to relocate the controller board outside, but that's also too messy. I finally decided to use my angle grinder, make a hole just on top of the controller board, and install a 120mm fan outside. Wait, outside?! Yes, outside! As I mentioned before, this printer is not exactly the piece of design of the decade, and putting the 12v, 120mm fan inside was too tricky due to the bad cable management. This led me directly to the "project." I needed four feet for my Mecreator2, but I didn't know the clearance height. Another occasion to practice my favorite CAD software, Fusion 360! After a few minutes of hard design (just joking, I went straight to the essentials), I was ready to print this almost-four-hour print at 0.3mm with 15% infill. The ideal occasion to test the new cooling "design." I set my printer on planks, crossed my fingers, and started the print. And guess what? It worked as expected! Now, I'm more confident to start longer prints. Enjoy!