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I was talking to myself the other day and I asked:

Self, why is everyone focused on fans, building brackets for fans, wiring them up, etc? I've seen heads with three fans! Imagine the time shifted over to something actually practice (non-reprap)? There are more damned fan brackets in Thingiverse than there are actual 3D printers!

Why not a clip on tubing system where the flow is controlled externally?

That's when I told myself that it was nuts unless someone smarter than me improved upon it.

I hear you talking to yourself John I'm in the midst of setting up a locline system off my shop compressor.This would work much like a bed fan setup, so nothing added to the effector. The one drawback I see, is portability. When you start slaving outside systems, it (60gal upright compressor) gets hard to put in the front seat of the car I'm a bit of a nut when it comes to adding anything to the effector head. Plus IMO cooling should happen at the part, not moving all over the place with the hotend.(peek fan exception of course)

Don't be rediculous... I've got 4 fans And most people don't even recommend 1 with ABS.

The only reason I have that quantity is for even coverage. I'm not trying to pump as much air as possible, I'm trying to cool both sides of the part so that I get a consistent print.

Wouldn't adding a "Bowden" air line add it's own stresses to the system? Possibly even asymmetrically so? wouldn't/couldn't that be worse than adding mass to the effector?

granted, something like asymmetric forces already exist on a bowden configuration, tradeoffs are tradeoffs... Just wondering if the additional trade off would really be effective.

I've seen your effector Jimustanguitar http://i.imgur.com/vNViFax.png" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; At first, I thought it was a new design for a quadcopter Just kiddin', I really like that blue effector.

neurascenic wrote:Wouldn't adding a "Bowden" air line add it's own stresses to the system? Possibly even asymmetrically so? wouldn't/couldn't that be worse than adding mass to the effector?

granted, something like asymmetric forces already exist on a bowden configuration, tradeoffs are tradeoffs... Just wondering if the additional trade off would really be effective.

You could use silicone aquarium tubing, it's very flexible. The problem you'd run into is what nozzle or orifice to "spray" the air out of so that it does what you want.

You could....wait for it...PRINT nozzle and mount designs to test out what works best. :O haha, but seriously, I've considered this myself, particularly in the thought process of running a heated chamber. At any rate, I wouldn't think nozzle designs should be a concern if you have CAD background.

Batteau62 wrote: Plus IMO cooling should happen at the part, not moving all over the place with the hotend.(peek fan exception of course)

The one time that might be an exception is doing a print with a lot of bridging.

Batteau62 wrote: I really like that blue effector.

Scrapped production run / dumpster diving I think they were testing different colors, or at least the mice were while the cat was away, and they became scrap parts on the shelf instead of going into circulation.

I have a handful of red idler bearing spacers if you're interested. No blue though, not even for me. Sorry.

*Cough* I may have designed one of these a while ago. It's pretty noisy, but that could be because of my choice of a very high flow fan. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:164487" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Glacian22 wrote:*Cough* I may have designed one of these a while ago. It's pretty noisy, but that could be because of my choice of a very high flow fan. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:164487" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for pointing out your Thingiverse post. That is a cool approach to cooling and a lot better than using an electricity hog like an air compressor.

Eaglezsoar wrote:

Glacian22 wrote:*Cough* I may have designed one of these a while ago. It's pretty noisy, but that could be because of my choice of a very high flow fan. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:164487" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks for pointing out your Thingiverse post. That is a cool approach to cooling and a lot better than using an electricity hog like an air compressor.

That's why I appreciate this forum so much I will have to re-asses my compressor plan now. I do a fair amount of air brushing so my instinct was to use that supply for this application. Eagle is right, they are electricity "hogs".

Glacian22 wrote:*Cough* I may have designed one of these a while ago. It's pretty noisy, but that could be because of my choice of a very high flow fan. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:164487" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I really like this idea Thanks for the design! I stand by my "less on the effector" approach. Now to make it less noisy

Jimustanguitar wrote:

Batteau62 wrote: I really like that blue effector.

Scrapped production run / dumpster diving I think they were testing different colors, or at least the mice were while the cat was away, and they became scrap parts on the shelf instead of going into circulation.

I have a handful of red idler bearing spacers if you're interested. No blue though, not even for me. Sorry.

Maybe geneb can use the red spacers on "Red Sonja"

Batteau62 wrote: I really like this idea Thanks for the design! I stand by my "less on the effector" approach. Now to make it less noisy

By all means, let me know if you work something out! Getting some kind of larger fan might do the trick. I also played around with using black corrugated tubing, since it's more flexible than the tubing in my pictures, but hilariously it whistles. And as the hotend moves around the pitch changes...so basically it tried to sing along to the motors. XD