Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

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pyronaught
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Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by pyronaught » Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:31 pm

I made this adapter for panel mounting a cooling fan in my printer cabinet and figured others might find it useful. It only fits one specific fan, which is this AC fan I got off Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-AXIAL ... ge_o07_s00

Any fan with a 80mm square base should work too though. The bolt length for this specific fan are 50mm. I'm using M5 bolts so had to drill the mount holes a little larger in the fan.

The purpose of the adapter is to give you a clean mount at the back of your cabinet and then transition the airflow into a fitting that standard 2" PVC pipe will fit into. You can also clamp 3" flex hose around the outside of the output pipe, which is what I'm doing.


fan_mount1.jpg
fan_mount2.jpg
fan_mount3.jpg
fan_mount4.jpg
Last edited by pyronaught on Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:48 am, edited 2 times in total.
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pyronaught
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Re: Cooling Fan Mount

Post by pyronaught » Tue Apr 05, 2016 11:35 pm

Here's the STL files. The two pieces that attach to the fan have to be printed on a raft if you're using ABS, otherwise they warp big time no matter what your hold-down method is due to only contacting the plate around the edges.
Attachments
fan_mount_threaded.stl
(2.28 MiB) Downloaded 481 times
fan_mount_pvc.stl
(731.23 KiB) Downloaded 470 times
fan_mount_nut.stl
(1.5 MiB) Downloaded 455 times
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pyronaught
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Re: Cooling Fan Mount

Post by pyronaught » Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:41 am

Here's a couple more useful pieces for making a cabinet ventilation system. A 3" flex hose will fit perfectly on the outside of the fan exhaust, which is much easier to route than PVC so that's what I'm using. So I made a matching panel mount fitting that uses the same hose/pvc connector and same threads/nut for connecting the vent hose to the outside exhaust port. I've got five of these mounted in a window box as seen below, with a piece of silk screen over the hole to keep bugs from coming in. I also made a rubber cap that is intended to be printed with ninjaflex or similar TPU so that you can plug the exhaust ports when not in use to keep cold air from coming in during the winter.
exhaust_2.jpg
exhaust_1.jpg
Attachments
exhaust_plug.stl
(1.57 MiB) Downloaded 468 times
exhaust_mount_threaded.stl
(3.1 MiB) Downloaded 463 times
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Jules
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Re: Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by Jules » Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:48 am

Nice! Might need it for the Glowforge exhaust! :D

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pyronaught
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Re: Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by pyronaught » Sun Apr 10, 2016 5:58 am

Having five printers packed into my small office and a low tolerance for stinky ABS fumes, it's a must-have for me. I think the heat would get pretty bad too if they just vented into the room with all five of them going. With the vent system I can't smell even a trace of ABS while printing.

I'm curious how the really big printer farms deal with the heat/fumes issue. I've never really noticed any pipes or hose in the pictures, unless they just hide it well or build it into the back wall. Maybe they just aggressively vent the room itself and then people try to stay out of there.
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pyronaught
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Re: Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by pyronaught » Thu Apr 14, 2016 8:32 pm

It turns out that super fine silk screen blocks the air flow too much, so I'm switching it to window screen.
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Jules
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Re: Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by Jules » Thu Apr 14, 2016 8:59 pm

Well, I'm a couple of months out (at least) from seeing if it will fit the cutter or not, so I've got some time yet......sure hope i don't peeve off the neighbors totally with the venting. :lol:

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pyronaught
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Re: Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by pyronaught » Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:18 pm

That fan is not very high flow, once the cabinet heats up to the point where it turns on (I set mine to 37c), it just about barely keeps up with the rate of heat generation so it almost runs continuously. That's not a bad thing in this case, since you get continual fume venting.
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Jules
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Re: Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by Jules » Thu Apr 14, 2016 9:40 pm

pyronaught wrote:That fan is not very high flow, once the cabinet heats up to the point where it turns on (I set mine to 37c), it just about barely keeps up with the rate of heat generation so it almost runs continuously. That's not a bad thing in this case, since you get continual fume venting.
The GlowForge is a closed system, and I assume the exhaust fans on it don't kick on unless it's lasering something, so it would likely be more a short bursts kind of thing for this......kind of hard to tell though - best estimate is end of June delivery, and I have serious doubts they'll hit the target date. (Anyway - it's good to have something to think about until the actual machine arrives and I can see what it needs.)

I like that setup for venting out the window though - I'll need to cut a hole in a board for the connector you designed, cause we sure don't want to air-condition the whole state. (Not at today's prices.) :lol:

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3d-cafe
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Re: Printer Cabinet Ventilation System

Post by 3d-cafe » Wed Apr 20, 2016 1:33 am

Awesome! :D

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