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SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Hacks & Mods → Easiest way to wire an additional fan into Workbench Apprentice
The Workbench Apprentice has an unused fan hole on the back of the case and I'm thinking about mounting an exhaust fan there to avoid heat buildup in my enclosure. Is there an easy way to connect it to the RAMPS board or would I have to splice it in somewhere?
Why would you want to remove heat from the enclosure? Thats counter productive for ABS printing. Most users install heaters or 100 watt bulbs and such in their enclosures to raise the tempertures. Unless the inside temps are getting over 100c I would not worry about it.
I had an issue with layer shift on a print after 8 hours of printing and I thought heat buildup near the stepper motors may have contributed. I know it could have been other things as well, but since I wasn't watching it when it failed I don't know for sure what the cause was.
I would add fan mounts and fans to each stepper if you suspect they are getting too hot. Also adjust your vref so it just enough to make the steppers move but not over drive them. Usually stepper heating is caused by excessive current.
As for patching them in just connect them to the power supply directly. Just use fans that have the same voltage rating as your power supply such as 12 or 24 depending on your supply.
I would doubt highly this was caused due to excessive heat. My Solidoodle 4 came with a fan mounted there, and I want to turn it off to get better quality ABS prints.
To me, this is most likely tangled filament on the spool (which will cause the head to bind because the filament actually drags the head) or something else knocked the head out of alignment. This could be hitting a lump on the print or if the head runs off the edge of the printing area and binds against the x or y axis.
do you have a fan on your motherboard? a majority of the time these issues are a result of an overheating stepper driver. i believe the WB/WBA have a fan and heat sink already on the X motor, which is the only one that can actually overheat. adding a fan to the back won't help, but i'm not convinced it hurts either. some people like to create negative pressure inside the printer to keep fumes out of the house.
The shift happened along the y-axis, so it definitely could have been a filament snag that pulled on the head and shifted the print. It must have corrected itself though because there was no issue with the filament roll when I stopped the failed print. I wish I had seen it happen so I didn't have to guess at what the issue is.
do you have a fan on your motherboard?
The motherboard is in an enclosure with an exhaust fan that removes heat and a passive inlet that draws cool air in. Overheating shouldn't be an issue.
have you turned down VREF on the Y axis? it's probably running too hot. also nothing is more effective than a fan blowing directly on the stepper drivers. i'm skeptical at best on the cooling setup used by SD on the SD4--sounds like its the same on the WB/WBA.
moving the motherboard out of the frame will also save you a lot of trouble. drilling some holes in the back and securing a mount that way is very easy.
have you turned down VREF on the Y axis? it's probably running too hot. also nothing is more effective than a fan blowing directly on the stepper drivers. i'm skeptical at best on the cooling setup used by SD on the SD4--sounds like its the same on the WB/WBA.
moving the motherboard out of the frame will also save you a lot of trouble. drilling some holes in the back and securing a mount that way is very easy.
I haven't adjusted anything. Next time I open the motherboard housing I'll check the stepper voltages with a multimeter.
When I adjust my vref on any printer that does not use digital current control, I back off the setting just to where the motor won't move, it just buzzes. Then I go up .2mv if you have a meter or just to the point where the motor will move the full travel of the axis.
I agree with what carl said.
skip the multimeter you're just more likely to blow up the board. turn the drivers down until the motor skips, then go back up SLOWLY until you can no longer stop the carriage with your hands. do it with a dry run first. if it skips with a print, up it just a hair more.
if the workbench has the same board setup the SD4 does - and it looks like it does, that one little fan on the bottom is NOT enough to keep the steppers from overheating. You want an additional fan blowing ON the board. Trust me on this one - trashed the board on our SD4 due to a lack of good cooling.
The SD4 comes with a fan on the back of the case in that location. I cannibalized that one to run a fan on the X motor that was getting hot - too hot to touch. It could also be used to help cool the board... it is NOT needed to vent the case... in fact, I have taped over all the excess holes in the back of the SD4 case to keep heat in...
If you haven't checked/adjusted the vref - do so. it DOES make a difference, and keep that board cool!
SoliForum - 3D Printing Community → Hacks & Mods → Easiest way to wire an additional fan into Workbench Apprentice
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