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New Cooling System, V6 Volcano

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by Brendan Fennell, Sep 21, 2016.

  1. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    So I recently installed my V6 Volcano hot end, and I'm loving the improved print speeds and strength. I've been using the 1.2mm nozzle. The thing is, I've noticed a degradation in the quality of my prints that isn't the increased layer visibility. Corners end edges seem to be much less sharp than expected, with 'ninety-degree' edges having much more than the .6mm radius than you'd expect from a 1.2mm width. I've had to slow down the printer to around 20mm/s to combat this, and while helping, it hasn't completely fixed the issue. Also, my ability to print overhangs and bridges has nearly vanished. I've come to the conclusion that this is all caused by an inadequate cooling solution, since the printer is putting out much more filament that needs to be cooled. I used to use two ducted 40x20mm ducted fans with the stock extruder, but that was op, so I re-purposed the fans and went back to a single 40x10mm fan that I've been using with a shroud ever since. I just don't think the one 40x10mm is cutting it any more. I had an idea to put a much bigger fan on the printer, but not have to add a lot of extra weight to the carriage. It use a large fan (maybe something like a high static pressure fan for AIO CPU cooling systems on computers; something made to push air through restricted spaces) mounted on the side of the chassis, with a single or dual duct funneling the air into one or two tubes to funnel the air through the top of the printer, directly onto the filament being extruded, and possibly onto the print itself. I've included pictures (hopefully) of how my printer sits now and what I'd like to do, please let me know if anyone has any suggestions on what kind of fan I should use, if the printer will be able to power it with the stock fan header, if something like surgical tubing would provide too much resistance for the carriage to move freely, etc. Thanks for your input, I look forward to any suggestions or comments!

    Current Setup:
    [​IMG]


    Future Setup:
    [​IMG]
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    A single ducted fan works for me with the volcano. Bear in mind that print temperatures go WAY DOWN when you switch to the volcano. I print PLA at like 175-ish.
    Every printer is different and every environment too, but test your extrusion temps. They should be a lot less
     
  3. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    I'll try lowering my temps first, thanks! How do I know when I've reached an optimal temperature? I've always just printed PLA at 210C
     
  4. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Put the extruder in the air in the center
    Set your temp to where you *think* you need to be.
    Extrude 10mm or so

    What does it do? Does it come out and hang down or does it curl right back up to the hotend?
    Obviously if it does not smoothly extrude then you are too low, but this is uncommon :)

    If it curls back up to the hotend then you are too hot.
    It it comes out and hangs down naturally then you are at the sweet spot.

    This is a quick test that works for PLA, ABS, PET and some others. You can't use that as a benchmark for nylon though.

    Too hot or too cold? Bump the temperature 5 degree and try it again after it stabilizes.
     
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  5. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    Thanks so much! I'll adjust the temperature, try some more test prints, and report back!
     
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    My temperatures dropped at least 10 degrees on everything once I switched to the volcano. You could just be printing hot and 'melty'

    Good luck.
     
  7. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    So I lowered my Temps to 195, below that I start to have adhesion issues with the bed. If there's a way on matter control to easily make the first layer temperature different, that'd be great. I've ordered a 120mm Noctua high pressure fan to try my idea, but I can always use it on my pc if the new cooling system doesn't work. I've got bit problems with curling when I try to print overhangs, and although I set bridging speed to 5mm/sec, I haven't noticed a point in which the printer actually slows down bridging gaps. I'll post a picture of a test print when my classes are over.
     
  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Not a MC user, but I think the answer is "no". Someone else can chime in correct me.

    That is all on the slicer so ... try a different one. It absolutely should otherwise bridging will be poor.
     
  9. c. West

    c. West Member

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    Simplify 3D has proven to be my favorite printing software. Tons of fine tuning options and layer specific changes and such. It is 150 bucks or so but in my opinion has saved me hours in time of failed prints which is priceless.

    Sent from my SM-N920T using Tapatalk
     
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  10. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    So I've given up on the external cooling idea, at least for now. The printing and assembly went rather smoothly, but even the highest flow case fan I could find didn't push ANY noticeable air through the system, whether due to my poor design or the impracticality of the idea. I'll just have to go back to a dual fan setup, so I suppose that's fine. I'll include some pictures of the attempt for fun, I can't tell if the design looks awesome or ridiculous. Thanks for the suggestions guys, but I had to try it.[​IMG] [​IMG] [​IMG]
    I know the super glue reside looks bad, but it sure made a seal
     
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Looks great, but functionally it is air and you would need a hefty fan (more like a compressor) to stuff that air down those tubes :) (you have multiple reduction points -- lots of pressure drop points, or air flow reductions at any rate)

    You could put something like a hairdryer fan on the input -- it would need to be beefy, but should work.
     
  12. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    Haha, that's true. I'm thinking of doing a big rebuild of the printer right around Christmas with octopi, a titan, thermocouple, etc. So I'll just wait and see if Ezra Ehrhard's remix on Marquis Johnson's fan shrouds provide enough cooling, I'm sure they will. I'll have to get good at modeling so I can remix those to work well for the Volcano.
     
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  13. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    Just go all-out and hook it up to the exhaust port on a shop vac (one of those dust collector system vacs that move 800CFM, not the cheapo home depot specials that only move 125CFM)
     
  14. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    Nah, I'll bolt it to my tailpipe and rev the car at 6,000 rpm for the duration of the print
     
  15. daniel871

    daniel871 Well-Known Member

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    That would probably actually be weaker than the shop vac.
     
  16. Brendan Fennell

    Brendan Fennell New Member

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    Most likely, 2.4L won't move much air!
     

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