One of the suggestions to me to improve my print quality was to add a fan that blows…

One of the suggestions to me to improve my print quality was to add a fan that blows on the print and help cool it faster. So last night I printed it, and tonight I installed it. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:10988

It didn't work. Too much back pressure, no air came out of the nozzle at all! Just to test the 'fan' theory, half way through the print, I pointed a case fan at the print and it instantly improved in quality.

So, the fan is needed, my first attempt failed miserably.

In album

The fan mount I chose looked quite promising. It mounts around the existing X carriage and directs air towards the print area.

A little fan fits in here.

I found myself in a room, with an orange marker, and my cone shaped nozzle. Of course it’s going to become a road cone.

It points at the print area. It stays off during the first layer, so the layer can stick better.

Doesn’t look very good does it? Half way through the print, I turned a larger fan on it, and the square pillars became square shaped and not the shagbark hickory shaped they where before.

A little subtractive modification to my additive manufactured part, and I think I may have something serviceable. Air actually moves through it now.

Nice big hole for the air to come out of.

It is installed. Time to test it would be tomorrow, as I am nearly out of filament and need to ration it or I will end up going days without printing.

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16 Comments

  1. just be careful, the previous layer will cool drastically so the molten plastic coming out of the nozzle doesn't fuse quite as strongly with the cool hard plastic, the layers can rip apart with much less force when using a fan. without a fan it's molten plastic onto molten plastic so the result is pretty strong.

  2. just be careful, the previous layer will cool drastically so the molten plastic coming out of the nozzle doesn't fuse quite as strongly with the cool hard plastic, the layers can rip apart with much less force when using a fan. without a fan it's molten plastic onto molten plastic so the result is pretty strong.

  3. just be careful, the previous layer will cool drastically so the molten plastic coming out of the nozzle doesn't fuse quite as strongly with the cool hard plastic, the layers can rip apart with much less force when using a fan. without a fan it's molten plastic onto molten plastic so the result is pretty strong.

  4. just be careful, the previous layer will cool drastically so the molten plastic coming out of the nozzle doesn't fuse quite as strongly with the cool hard plastic, the layers can rip apart with much less force when using a fan. without a fan it's molten plastic onto molten plastic so the result is pretty strong.

  5. just be careful, the previous layer will cool drastically so the molten plastic coming out of the nozzle doesn't fuse quite as strongly with the cool hard plastic, the layers can rip apart with much less force when using a fan. without a fan it's molten plastic onto molten plastic so the result is pretty strong.

  6. Mark – thanks for the insights. I was having troubles with the 'pillars' on my calibration cube staying molten for a cm or more so the whole thing would wobble around as a new layer was being added to it. Very strong, as you pointed out, but very ugly!

    Like everything here, it's a matter of sorting it out and understanding the compromises.

  7. Mark – thanks for the insights. I was having troubles with the 'pillars' on my calibration cube staying molten for a cm or more so the whole thing would wobble around as a new layer was being added to it. Very strong, as you pointed out, but very ugly!

    Like everything here, it's a matter of sorting it out and understanding the compromises.

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