Wanhao Duplicator 4 Fan Duct

thingiverse

I always make full use of both my extruders, so to extend the life of my gantry motors, I upgraded them (along with their fans) by installing these two replacement parts on each side. The fan duct can be mounted from below (utilize one spare fan's lead and connect it to that of its companion motor's fan), and both pillar and duct can be secured in place by just two screws (I utilized a pair of 60mm M3 hex screws with lock-washers). My nozzle points directly at the right extruder's tip, blasting away all filament residue immediately due to quick hardening while printing. The picture above is taken from my monitoring camera and shows clearly that every base layer it produces comes out solidly laid down without even a hint of stringiness. To take advantage of this setup, be sure to install the pillar piece since not only does it organize your cables, but it also triggers the right home sensor. I carefully designed this part so it points outward and slightly off to the side - in that way the electrical wires are safely out of contact with any filament which is instead threaded from below through a 2mm hole near the top. One thing I don't worry about: not using a tube around my filaments. To me, there's simply no practical use for such - swapping filaments out can actually be super easy and efficient when done this way. Give it a try, folks! If you get anything good out of this project, go ahead and share it with us and by all means have a look at some more designs which I have available on thingiverse (all made with an equally keen attention to the little details as they are numerous - you'll see!):