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I have been experimenting with the cooling of the stepper and extruder gear. With this new design I have reduced the stepper temperature significantly. Here are a series of pictures showing how I did it. The stl files will be on my thingiverse page shortly.
Attachment 961Attachment 962Attachment 963Attachment 964
It is a redesign of the mag mount, wind barrier, and stepper mount. It exposes the stepper motor so there is more surface area exposed for radiant cooling. It also adds a vent for the extruder gear for better cooling. Cooling of the gear will hopefully prevent jams due to the gear melting the filament. The wind barrier changes include redirection of the hot air and better sealing around it for better fan efficiency. The wind barrier is an older design of mine and works quite well.
Very nice. Be sure to post the Thingiverse link when they are uploaded.
done!!Quote:
Originally Posted by BurnItDownBaby
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:300335
Since the modifications I have printed a number of models and all seems to be better. My stepper is slightly cooler. I tried to print the print board sized model and got 2/3 of the way complete (6hrs of print time) before the filament jammed. Before I could only get it to print this model for about 3 hrs before jamming.
I waited to post this one. I have been printing almost non stop for 24 hrs. and not one jam. I removed the small brass filament guide tube from the heating element and opened up the entrance with a small centering drill. If you don't know what a centering drill is, it is a tapered drill bit for use on a lathe to drill a tapered hole in the end of a shaft for the lathe centering support mechanism. The entrance of the brass guide is the point where the filament jams every time on my machine. With the centering drill I basically increased the chamfer diameter and depth of the original chamfer. The combination of the plastic mods and increased chamfer has , for now, solved the problem of filament jamming.
Here are some pictures
more pictures
Finally some real head way with cooling the stepper. Its kind of complicated but here is the thingiverse post of my final setup with a fan dedicated to the stepper motor. My stepper now stays at 38c at two hours into a big print. :)
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:304209
I will answer any questions.