3D Printing Airflow Part 2

Well what I was printing was not for my printer! As the file contains many different parts for different printers with different upgrades and parts. Also what I read about the airflow was outdated and the part had been updated so that did not help. What I ended up doing was actually reading the info with the files to figure out what was needed rather then looking at the 3d objects and saying that looks like that part.

Maybe it is in my head but I do believe that with the nozzle airflow now coming in from both sides rather then one side it prints cleaner and nicer. The PLA coming out is now being cooled more uniformly and as such I don't get the strings anymore. They were where the PLA was pulled away as the head retracted and you would get little hairy strings at times attached. I have not seen them on the prints since I installed all the airflow parts. That is a plus. Less cleanup.

I have also discovered tree supports which is in the experimental section of cura 3.6.0 that I use to slice the models. While that almost hides the print it makes getting the supports off to be a cleaner experience.

The airflow is two parts. The base for the extruder fan and the duct for the nozzle.

The base video

The duct video

The hot end before with the standard parts. The extruder fan in front and to the right the tip fan which you can't really see.

The old parts removed and the new part in place with the fans.

The two pieces printed. The tip fan is now in front and the duct goes to both left and right so the air flow comes from both sides.

Thanks for looking
Jim

3D Printing air flow for Ender 3 Extruder

First piece done. I have decided since I updated the firmware on the ender 3 to TH3D to provide thermal runaway protection. The stock Ender 3 does not have this in the firmware. Why? That is a good question. But it does not matter now. I had to first take my arduino and connect it to the 3d printer internally since the Ender printer did not have a boot-loader. So I had to program the arduino to program the boot loader to the board. Once I did that I was able to disconnect the arduino and hook directly to the Ender with the laptop and then load up the TH3D firmware which provides the thermal runaway protection. So lets see if printing the new airflow extruder pieces improves the print.

SO this is time-lapse comes from octoprint which runs on a Raspberry PI that I have connected to the printer. It takes this cheap 3D printer and puts it on the web in my house. I can now use an SSH tunnel into my home to monitor/stop/start print jobs. Octoprint also streams my prints to youtube so I can watch them from anywhere since I don't want to put my 3d printer on the web for the whole world to hack.

This is the first piece which is for the fan that cools the actual hot end. I am now printing the air duct for where the filament comes out the nozzle.