April 5, 2020
Description
Using CarstenD's 'Creality Ender 3 part cooling fan duct' as inspiration (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3091300), I have designed a Part Cooling Fan Duct for the Ender 5. I prefer this design of duct as when it comes to printing ABS, it is far better. With a standard or small fan duct, the hotend cooling fan blows air down towards to nozzle due to the bottom of the cooling fan shroud being open. With the duct I have designed, it forces more air past the hotend keeping the area around it cooler, and stops ABS prints from warping as badly due to stray air cooling the print.
It uses plaetti's Airflow Cooling Duct (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3376186), as it fits and clips on better then CarstenD's and Filboyt's Ender 3 Vent Ring (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2912394), and I think it has been the best cooling duct I've used. The Airflow Cooling Duct is a great design but I found it tends to just blow air past the nozzle tip rather then at it. So I decided to use ideas from all 3 designs to create my Ender 5 Part Cooling Duct.
It just clips onto the bottom of the fan housing and is retained by the part cooling fan duct screws.
----------------------------------- UPDATE V2.0 IS NOW OUT -----------------------------------------
---------------------------------------- UPDATE V1.4 SLIM ----------------------------------------------
Just another small mod, this version is now 1mm slimmer. I cut off a part of the bottom to make it slightly easier to view your print. Note: This is the last version I will do of this duct, my next version will need to be a complete remake from scratch. The design has been chopped and changed too many times and artifacts are starting to show when printing the duct. When slicing you may notice the outlet ducts will get vertical lines in them, I can't fix this, although the duct still functions perfectly. It looks a bit messy but once you bolt it on you don't see it.
If you need to print in 2 halves because your printer doesn't do overhangs, just open it in a CAD or tinkercad, and split it 2.7mm up from the base, that's the thickest part then glue it together.
-------------------------------------------- UPDATE V1.4 -------------------------------------------------
Thanks for all the feedback guys, here is an updated model!
Some people mentioned it was too difficult to print with certain materials as it wouldn't handle the overhangs. The new update has a split version which can be printed in 2 separate pieces with full supports that can be removed. You can either glue it together which is what I did or if you like, put it in your cad program and add some locators so it just presses together. I have designed the 2 halves so that each corner has a solid portion that a stud/hole can be placed so it can be assembled without using glue. I didn't use pins and holes as my printer is not accurate enough for it.
Some people complained the airflow was no good. Keep in mind I only meshed 2 popular designs together and my results were good. The idea is for the vent ring to be restrictive, the same way the A/C ducting is in your local Costco or Walmart. You have a massive blower fan forcing air down a narrowing tube. Restriction = +Pressure. However, upon deconstructing the ring I used on my design, I found that the air output holes varied in size. They ranged from 1 mm to 2.5 mm with some also being parallelograms. The design was not symmetrical. So with this new update I have completely redesigned my own duct ring. Using air channels (refer to pic) that point directly to the tip of the nozzle. (-0.5 up nozzle to 2 mm below nozzle). My previous idea was to provide a 'cushion' of air that blew at the bed and curved up the nozzle giving a bubble of moving air around the tip, however when you tried printing narrow walls more then 5mm high the performance was lost as there is no bed for the air to reflect off of. My bad. This new design does not rely on the bed.
The ring inner is now smaller. 18mm instead of 20mm. Some people mentioned that their designs melted or warped due to hotend proximity. I have also spaced the ring slightly further from the hotend for you but I must say, I have only been printing PLA for the past 2 months with a total of 27 hours print time, using this duct design printed in PLA and I have not experienced any warping or melting. Perhaps you are setting your bed or nozzle temp too high (60/200C) or are using a non stock hotend/no silicone cup? I'm yet to use this design in summer so that could be it but you should have an external fan / A/C blowing towards the printer in summer, otherwise, fire. Keep your chips below 60C.
The nozzle is now perfectly in the centre of the ring. 1 person mentioned it was slightly out. Mine was too, but now I have moved the ring 1.4mm away from the fan inlet. Some peoples may have already been in the centre, there's not much I can do about it, a lot of it comes down to the thin steel used to mount the hotend and the play in the mounting screw holes. Undoing your screws and moving it or straightening your hotend cage may be all you need to get the nozzle in the centre.
Happy printing.
-------------------------------------- UPDATE V2 BETA FINAL ---------------------------------------------
Hello again everyone!
I know it has been a while. I was so full of hope designing a brand new, first ever seen duct that would fit any Ender 3 or 5 printer but my testing on it didn't go too well.
Unfortunately, I'm limited by what filaments my printer can print. I haven't found a direct drive upgrade that suits my needs yet.
So, today I bring you the design I had, in the hopes that the incredible creators on here may be able to improve it or print it in a filament that allows it to work.
As you can see, it's completely modular, so everyone can print it. You move the ring to the center of the nozzle and on the first print the layers will "glue" together keeping the duct pieces in place.
The main feature is the place-able duct ring. With people saying that the duct ring on the old model wasn't lining up with the centre of their nozzle, I've reworked the design to suit everyone's Ender 3 & 5.
For people who had problems with bridging, this version can be printed with full supports that can be removed.
Printed in 3 parts, the mounting bracket holds the parts together, while the duct ring can be moved with a small tool.
The top will still seal out unwanted hotend cooling from reaching the print.
Nice and easy to put together. Ensure you print each part using the features I suggest below.
Note: A lot of people complained that their duct melted. I can't do anything about this. I'm putting a plastic that melted through a nozzle, right next to that nozzle. IT'S GONNA MELT.
With this design, there is more internal layers. So the duct will still melt but from the tests it will melt the housing to the duct which will stop it from moving and the layers should prevent the duct from drooping below housing level. If you notice drooping, adhesive foil on top of the duct is a good way to go or print the duct in a high melting point filament.
Features:
Made from scratch. To prevent print artifacts, I completely redesigned this duct myself.
Thinner duct system. More space for keeping the duct cool.
Duct spaced further away from hotend. Because of the spacing, air from the hotend fan should cool the top of the duct as it is no longer in direct contact with the silicon sock.
Adjustable duct ring to suit your individual nozzle location
Modular parts mean you only need to replace the part that failed.
No glue required. Parts snap together.
Not including any air leaks from filament gaps, the 20 output ducts only make up 20% of the fans inlet area, meaning the air coming out of the ducts will be forced.
Can be printed with full supports for people who have problems with bridging.
Printed ring top side of duct acts as a glue layer on first print. Meaning after adjusting duct ring to nozzle centre, the heat from the hotend will melt the duct to the ring, locking it in place and helping it seal.
Instructions:
Print in a high temp filament.
Make sure your printer is properly calibrated and prints 90-100% accurately. No underextrusion, correct flow etc. Only 2 layers keep the air in.
No more then 0.2 layer height. (0.12 is good, 0.08 is better) To make the duct slimmer I had to make the layers thinner and print more of them to give it strength.
If needed your can print the housing with supports. The top and duct ring don't require supports.
Adjust the duct ring so the nozzle is in the centre of it before you start printing. Otherwise the duct ring will glue in the wrong place.
20% infill.
JUST REMEMBER, this duct didn't work out for me in PLA or ABS. It warped way too much. If you don't have better filament, I recommend you continue to use my previous models or see how you go upgrading my design.
This may also be my final update on this design. I have fixed everything I possibly can with my previous designs (No, I can't make the duct stop melting, stop asking). I can't update it much further to do anything significant (No room from upgrades). So hopefully one of the designs I offer continues to serve you well.
Until next time, happy printing.
License:
Creative Commons - Attribution
ShaunTheBaa
