I thought some folks might not stumble into the other thread that wasn’t titled well for this project. So I collected the relevant posts into this one initial post so the thread has a collective home that is properly titled.
Here is the new fan shroud and mount plate:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:766633
Enjoy. Let me know if you build one and what your results are.
The following hardware list assumes you would be converting an existing single hex extruder head from Lulz and would be using the extruder assembly, existing 40mm fan and all existing wiring and connectors.
Here is my chosen fan (Evercool 30x30x7 ball bearing 5v):
http://www.evercoolusa.com/?p=678
And the ebay link:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/121149126099
Other hardware:
8x m3x3.8mm Heat Sets
2x m3x10mm Hex screws (attach shroud to extuder mount)
2x m3 washers
4x m3x10mm Pan Head screws (can use hex but pan gives more lateral clearance to the z limit switch/wiring)
1x 2 Pin connector
2x Pins for the above connector
Heat shrink tubing.
2x 33ohm 1/8w or 1x 15ohm 1/4w resistor (optional if you want to cut down the rpms and sound level)
Optional:
These are for the wiretie to hold it to the aluminum plate, seen below with a bread twistie temporarily.
1x m3x8mm Hex screw
1x m3 washer
Printed Parts:
Fan Shroud (shown in orange below)
Extruder Mount plate (shown in green below)
I played with some resistors in series and I like 15 to 16ohms. It cuts the rpms down and the noise but still leaves way more airflow than the dinky little fan the Taz had. I have two 33ohm in parallel to get 16ohms. They are 1/8w so that gives me 1/4w dissipation across the two. Ran it off a PC supply for 2 hours tonight and the resistors never changed temp that I could tell with my fingers.
No changes are made to the Taz itself and this mod is 100% reversible. You will make no changes to any Taz5 part that is not reversible. If you wish to return to the stock setup, simply transfer all your parts back to the stock mounting plate and print on!
I have not soldered anything yet. Got busy with a laser project tonight too.
Here is the assembled prototype. All thats left is to put some heat shrink tubing on to make it look nice, solder on the two resistors, put the 2 pin plug on the fan and the 4 pin on the stepper, its one of the 1/2 height steppers from Lulz’ shop. My intention is for this extruder to eventually be part of a dualie or flexi-dualie.
I am printing a second extruder mount plate and another fan shroud to convert my other print head. Once those are done, I will dry fit this head and verify clearances work as I think they should. I will then disassemble my existing head and convert it. As I said, this one is destined to be a dualie and I don’t want to heat up the hex just yet.
After a reasonable break in on the other head and if all goes well, I will upload STLs to Thingiverse for everyone to have. I will include a shroud for 30mm fans as well as one for 40mm fans if you choose to go a larger diameter, as well as the modified mounting plate to accept the shroud.
Here are a couple 40mm fan candidates, I have NOT tested these at all:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221655455848
http://www.ebay.com/itm/370641477512
Look for 40mm x 40mm x 7mm 5v fans.
Here is the fan with the new screws and its wiring harness finished:
As you can see, with the 7mm fan and the pan head screws, there is plenty of room. This is fully homed on X:
Here are two vids.
Here is the Taz homing with the new fan in place:
http://youtu.be/01mz3FG8cFg
And here is a sound comparison between my tiny squirrel cage blower stock Taz5 fan and the new 30mm I built:
http://youtu.be/kcP5SsKEs3w
I know, really action packed video eh? Sorry, needed both hands to work the wire connector so I had no choice but to lay the camera down for this one.
Here are picts of the plate as most have been the shroud.
All you need from your existing head:
And here she is all assembled:
Here it is beginning to print a herring bone gear:
http://youtu.be/9k8HNd6Luqg