Loud Rambo Fan? Use this!

[Mike B]

I've read many complaints about the stock Rambo fan being really loud. Mine would groan and it drove me nuts. If you are looking to replace it, I recommend trying the Noctua NF-A4x10. This fan is super quiet (practically silent) and moves a lot of air. Another benefit is it has rubber mounting posts that you can push through the rambo mounting board with a little reaming of the holes with a drill bit. Also comes with a pigtail to solder on the rambo to use the connector so no cutting connectors off. Was $14 on Amazon well worth it for my sanity. Here's a picture after mounting to the board.

[nitewatchman]

Mike,

I installed exactly the same fan in my machine this last weekend for the same reasons plus the kit fan was so noisy that at times I could tell it wasn't starting because it was quiet. Got the Noctura fan from Amazon Prime also. The kit fan lasted about 200 hours. The Noctura is a GREAT fan and comes with all the adapters and mounting. I also solder the supplied pigtail directly to the Rambo fan taps.

I also installed (2) 5VDC fans in the rear removable panels of the base. It was just getting too hot inside the base. When I was checking the Rambo fan it seemed unusually hot inside the base. The temperature measured about 60C.

One downside of a large and efficent power supply is that under low loads the power supply fan runs slowly or not at all. The running fan pulls air into the base from everywhere, through the power supply and exhausts it through the back internal panel that the power supply is mounted to. If the fan runs all the time all is good, if not all is not good.

I bought a pair of CoolerGuys USB 80mm fans and installed then in the two back panels. I cut off the connector, added a plug connector and fitted it to a modular cable that had a 5VDC tap available. The inside now stays quite cool and the fans are very quiet.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002NV ... UTF8&psc=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The other source of heat that I want to deal with comes from the heated bed down through the top of the base. When I am printed ABS the bed runs at either 90C or 95C for very long periods of time. Shooting the underside of the top base plate, it is quite warm - 40C-45C. I would like to find a thin insulating board like Hardee Board or somthing similar about 1/8"" thick.

[Mike B]

Thanks for the link to those 5v fans, I added to cart already. I meant to ask you if you had put them in from your other post and what the results were. Glad to hear it helps! You have them set to both draw air in from outside? I was debating on that or a push/pull to pass the air through.

Off topic question but are using the stock hotend? I have a E3d v6 to install and didn't know if you had swapped it out or not..

[notarat]

Noctua = Computer porn.

They're the only fans I purchase in lots of 20 at a pop, lol. There are 4 additional fans in that build (my backup gaming rig) and, even with all those fans installed, a DVD spinning up is the loudest sound in that system

[img]http://i.imgur.com/zdktMgr.jpg[/img]

[Mike B]

Wow, that is a sweet looking system! I had not heard of Noctua before, but I am going to use them from now on.

[nitewatchman]

Thanks for the link to those 5v fans, I added to cart already. I meant to ask you if you had put them in from your other post and what the results were. Glad to hear it helps! You have them set to both draw air in from outside? I was debating on that or a push/pull to pass the air through.

Off topic question but are using the stock hotend? I have a E3d v6 to install and didn't know if you had swapped it out or not..

Actually the other way, the fans are drawing from inside and pushing out. I was thinking that if the area around the Rambo was still running warm, I could space the LCD Melamine Panel out with a nylon spacer and use the gap created to pull in air there cooling the area in front of and around the Rambo.

I am using the stock hotend BUT I built it up from the beginning with a 6mm 40W cartridge heater and an M3 Screw-in Thermistor. I followed the instructions in Gene's video, quite good and easy to follow.

[McSlappy]

While I didn't use Noctua, I did replace my stock fan and put rubber mounts on it.... World of difference!

[notarat]

Wow, that is a sweet looking system! I had not heard of Noctua before, but I am going to use them from now on.

Thanks. The Noctuas are great fans but they are ugly. They are the reason I bought a 3D printer in the first place, lol

My very first "non-test" print on my Rep2 was a cover for them with a slot for loading different colors/styles of the grille section
(prototype PLA test fitting on the corsair fans. I've since re-done them)
[img]http://i.imgur.com/VGlcDnm.jpg[/img]

[apostoly]

I just received one of these fans today. I noticed it has a 3 to 2 pin adapter in there with the normal red and black cables. Did you guys connect the adapter, cut the connector and then solder it onto the rambo?

[Mike B]

apostoly,

I soldered the adapter on and left the original connector in place.

[nitewatchman]

So did I.

[crocky]

I think I will solder the connector on as well

[teoman]

I just installed my noctua fan.

I really liked the silicone mount and the very small silicone spacer. And it is very quiet.
I am not sure how the silicone "pins" will keep the fan held in place but we will see. It seems to be holding ok. It was a pita to get them through the melamine. But i managed to do some pushing with a small metal rod (pipe cleaning tool) and get it through.

Now that all is said and done, i am left with a beautiful box the noctua fan came in. And for some reason i am deeply disturbed. What a waste, most of the box is empty. And the build quality of the box is excellent, my students dont have such good books and notebooks. Seems to be such a waste for a few seconds of the 'whoow' factor. I am thinking of a way to repurpose the box but cannot find a way.

[PrintableStudios]

I installed this fan for my initial build based on a few of the posts recommending it. While I cannot confirm nor deny it's improvement over the original, I can say that it is a very quiet fan.

[teoman]

The original fan starts out ok. No disturbing noises however after 3-5 days of printing it started to sound as if my printer was diesel powered.

[rpress]

The Noctua fans are great, I put one on my RAMBo as well. I soldered a 3-pin keyed header on to the RAMBo so I could plug the Noctua fan right in. I removed one of the pins as there are only two holes on the motherboard.

[artexmg]

hey, thanks for the tip .... I got some Noctua and what a nice and quiet fan!

[BenTheRighteous]

I got a Noctua recently as well on the advice of another thread on here - never bought a Noctua before - all I can say is that the packaging sure is impressive!!

I haven't even installed the fan into my printer yet, but I sure feel like this is a luxury item. Foldout flaps on the front AND back of the box - wireframe illustrations, tables of technical data, and a cutaway so you can even see the fan AND its rubber mounting pins!

Opening it for the first time was an experience I wasn't expecting, to say the least!

[Eaglezsoar]

Does anyone know if Noctua makes 5 volt fans or should we stick with the ones NiteWatchman found.

[Dreyfusduke]

Ordered this fan off of Amazon today. My stock fan seems to be making some noise on startup. The noise quiets down after a min or so, but it seems it was going through a struggle. LOL

[RocketMagnet]

Does anyone know if Noctua makes 5 volt fans or should we stick with the ones NiteWatchman found.

They do a 5V 40mm product code: NF-A4x10 5V
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=prod ... =99&lng=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 12V 40mm is product code: NF-A4x10 FLX
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=prod ... =47&lng=en" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not sure why you wouldn't run the fan 12V though... I've got 2 40mm in mine - Rambo fan and a case fan.. I've wired the case fan into the
Rambo board Peek Fan so it only runs when my printer is running.. Cut a hole in the cold end case and mounted it in a push fit enclosure (no room to mount internally on an Orion).

Wish Noctua would do a 25x25x10 and a 30mm blower... but 40mm is their smallest so far..

[Eaglezsoar]

Thanks RocketMagnet for the part numbers.
I will probably use the 12v but it is nice to know of other options.