Single E3D V6 Mount with Active Cooling (CTC/Makerbot/FlashForge)

Built for the CTC Dual (Converted to Single), but should work on Makerbots and Flashforges.

After heavily modifying everything about my CTC Bizer (Makerbot Replicator clone) printer, it was a real workhorse. However the extruder began to jam frequently, to the point it could not finish a print. I also got rid of the second extruder as I rarely use it (Literally just disconnect the left extruders motor, thermocouple and heating element cables and change the CTCs settings to single extruder).

There are other designs on Thingiverse for an E3D mount on a CTC but none featured active cooling. I wanted to design something from scratch that allowed me to use a silent 40mm fan for the E3D aswell as active cooling. All inside a small package as other designs protrude and smack into the enclosure doors. The active cooling is split well and perfectly positioned so that my hotend doesn't cool down and cool the print just right. My previous experiences with other designs applied too much cooling to one side and caused warping. It's also far away enough from the hotend not to melt. I now use this for ABS and is better than any solution I've tried on Thingiverse (And I've tried loads).

I've designed it using natural shapes for ease of printing and strength. It should print easily and requires a minimal amount of different screws. I've also designed it to be relatively modular as I plan to redesign the cable guide to create a cable chain version.

You HAVE to print frame.stl and e3d-mount.stl but the rest is optional. I highly recommend the entire set over just the frame and mount though.

You will need:
1 x Bowden E3D V6/V6Lite (Metal only, you can reuse the heater block and thermocouple)
12 x M3 x 16mm Countersunk
2 x M3 x 40mm Socket Cap (The long black screws from the CTCs extruder/fan is perfect)
14 x M3 Nuts
2 x 40mm Fans

The fan for the E3D is a 12V silent fan, which is powered by an addiontal 12V rail I added by wiring an AC-DC step down transformer. 24V fans can be wired straight into the power supply. The active cooling fan is a 24V fan scavenged from the printer.

After printing you may need to give some areas a light sanding and the holes a small drill through using a 2.5/3mm bit. If you can't get the head of the screws down a cavity, carefully use a 6.5mm drill the clear it.

Then install all the push to fit nuts. I do this by putting an appropriate sized M3 screw in and fully tighten so the nut gets pulled into the M3 shaped gap. Then remove the screws. For the 2 long screws, I mounted the nut using a M3 x 50mm screw, the nuts for the fans were done with a M3 x 10mm screw.

Start by installing the fans first, I couldn't actually fit the bottom two nuts on the E3D mount, however its no big deal and still works perfectly. I think if printed with active cooling it will fit. Then screw together the frame and E3D mount with the E3D mounted inside (Screws accessible THROUGH the fan). Then attach the entire active cooling part already assembled, and tighten against the frame.

Now sort out the wiring, I've made small grooves towards the bottom of the frame to route the hotend cables. Zip tie together on the cable guide. I have the heater cartridge routed to the left and the thermocouple routed to the right.

Then screw directly into the already existing X-axis carriage mount.

Enjoy!