Adjustable flow part cooling duct for Anycubic Mega, 5015 fan
Adjustable flow part cooling duct for Anycubic Mega, 5015 fan
3D
Published 2020-11-21T21:45:15+00:00
A high efficiency, adjustable flow, part cooling duct for Anycubic Mega series printers (i3 Mega, Mega S & Mega X, & easily adapted for other makes). When set to 100% with a high flow 5015 fan, this gives much more rapid cooling than the standard fan. This setting is suitable for printing very small parts without Z-hops; however, at 100%, this may be far too much cooling for larger projects, so a variable baffle is included to give a much greater range of cooling efficiencies than can be obtained by fan adjustment alone.
The duct cools the back and both sides of the print, using shaped venturi that provide laminar flow air curtains above the main turbulent cooling flow to reduce cooling of the heatblock whilst maintaining efficient cooling of the printed part.
For longevity, it is recommended that a 5015 fan with dual ball bearings be used, but this is not essential.
It takes influence from (but is not based on) the cooling duct used by the Prusa i3 Mk3s.
© 2020 Eleanor Xanthe Ellis / Cyan Ellis Ltd., some rights reserved.
Licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International licence (CC-BY-SA)
Supports on the print bed (ONLY) are not essential, but are highly recommended to achieve the best shape in the venturi (supports resting on parts of the print should NOT be used!).
This should be printed with a material capable of higher working temperature – at least PETG (or better) rather than PL.
The ‘Anycubic’ version includes a strong mounting for attachment to the Anycubic Mega X-carriage. A fitting is provided for an X-axis registration fence to trigger the X-axis limit switch so that it can be used with a V6 style fan mount clipped to the heatsink, or this fence can be removed and the duct can then be used with the standard metal hot end shroud and hot end fan. If used with a V6 style clip on fan, the zero position on the X-axis can be adjusted using the ‘+2’ fence to position the initial prime blob on the edge of the bed even when using the narrow 220mm x 220mm bed.
Generic use for other FDM printers: A version of this without the Anycubic mounting & X-axis limit switch trigger fitment is planned. Since the mounting attaches to a flat surface on the duct, it’s easy to adapt this for other FDM printers.
The support columns inside the flow chamber should not be removed as they also function as vanes to control the internal pressure and turbulence profile and to direct the airflow.
| Date published | 21/11/2020 |
| Support Free | YES |