Extruder Cooling, Printrbot Simple V2

thingiverse

The filament guide on this will not work on Simples ordered after October 2013. Printrbot modified this area to eliminate the removable filament guide and closed up the opening used for this filament guide/fan mount combo. The other fan mounts should still work without issue. Having difficulty with heat above the hot end so I designed some heat dissipation components. Extruder gear - I incorporated a fan mount into my filament guide. This allows quick removal and access to the extruder gear (both top and side) if necessary. Since installing, access has not been necessary because jams have been eliminated. Extruder motor - I needed to increase the power to the extruder motor. Down side is this generates more heat, so I picked up a couple heat sinks ($1.50 ea) and added a fan ($4.40) to the extruder motor. Mount using the existing screw locations, you just need longer screws. Printrboard - Just to cover all the bases I threw in a fan for the Printrboard to make sure the motor drivers don't get too hot and shut down. My power for the fans came from an old ATX power supply that is simply on when the printer is on. No need to regulate these cooling fans. The good: No heat problems! The bad: Extra weight on the Y axis however, I am actually able to run faster and more reliably with these items installed, even with the extra weight. Prior to this I had to slow everything down to keep the heat under control. Fans are a little louder than I would like, but they certainly move the air!