Tevo Little Monster - Volacon Fan Duct with DC42 IR Sensor Mount

thingiverse

The component is engineered to pair seamlessly with the Effector strain relief I created, found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2852262. I replaced all counterfeit parts in my Tevo Little Monster with authentic components, including swapping out the control board for a Duet Wifi and upgrading to genuine E3D Volcano hotends and Titan extruders. Consequently, I also needed to replace the subpar fan ducts that came with the Tevo LM and design a spot for the IR sensor to mount securely. The original fanduct had airflow going in every direction, including down onto my high-temperature plastic prints, which was detrimental to warping issues. Additionally, the original design suffered from poor airflow around the heatsink, causing clogging problems with an all-metal heat-break. This component is designed to work with both the standard hotend that came with the Tevo LM and the genuine E3D Volcano hotend, although it won't accommodate the BL Touch. My primary objective in creating this design was to minimize the overall footprint of the cooling fans. With the fully enclosed heated chamber on my Tevo LM, the original fan ducts protruded significantly beyond the effector, resulting in collisions with the enclosure walls. By reducing the size of the fan ducts to fit within the effector's footprint, I ensured that the effector and connecting rods are now the limiting factors in size, allowing for an unobstructed enclosure. The design not only channels all airflow through the heatsink fins and concentrates it where needed but also incorporates a dual fan mount to push-pull air through the heatsink. This push-pull configuration makes a substantial difference in the notoriously finicky E3D volcano hotends when printing with PLA, fine nozzles (0.25-0.4), and super-fast head and retraction speeds. With an enclosed heated chamber on my Tevo LM, cooling must be executed exceptionally well, which the dual fan setup excels at, particularly when printing Polycarbs. I also replaced my 30mm fans with superior dual ball-bearing units that move 5.6cfm and triple the pressure of the original E3D fans (3.5cfm). The mount reuses the blower fans that come with the Tevo LM, which I believe are ideal for 3D printer fans due to their perfect balance of air volume and pressure with low noise. The design also incorporates a area to keep heater wires away from the heat break and routes them up the back of the effector under the IR sensor. This keeps everything organized out of the way and prevents accidental entanglement or snagging. The new design also provides easy access to the front of the hotend and fan filter (if used), making it simple to add or change a silicon sock and facilitating room for a spanner on the hotend, enabling effortless nozzle changes.