MK6 Stepstruder cooling mod for PLA

thingiverse

I was having problems printing PLA with my TOM, after a period of time the heat would conduct through the stainless steel pipe and melt the PLA near the drive gear (causing it to bind up and stop extruding). I tried to solve the problem by adding some heat sinks made from coins with an 8mm hole in the centre but on long prints (2+ hours) the PLA was still melting. I had a 40mm fan lying around so I redesigned the back part of the acrylic Stepstruder support to accomodate a fan that blows air directly on to the SS pipe. I stuck a thermometer on the top of the pipe and it's now at a temperature of 26C so no way close to melting the PLA. Instructions I've included all of the acrylic parts in the file despite only redesigning one piece, this is because makerbot suggest using superglue to join the bottom plates, I went a bit crazy with the glue and most of my parts were stuck together. It was easier to make the whole thing again than unstick the parts. Laser cut from 5mm acrylic in whatever colour you want then counter sink the holes. Use 2 M3 x 30 CSK screws and 2 M3 nuts to attach the fan. I hard wired the fan to the 12v supply, but alternatively it could be wired to the FAN output of the EC board.