Project Printer Enclosure: Hotend Cooling

Hello @ all,

I am in the process of building an enclosure for my printer. The main motivation is to have a controlled temperature for ABS printing. In my mind I have pretty much everything sorted out (in theory at least) except for the issue of hotend cooling. How do other people deal with supplying the hotend with cool air instead of warm/hot air from inside the print enclosure ? Has anybody found light weight flexible ducting which is light enough to not cause too much strain on the steppers ? Has anybody experience with Peltier elements to cool the hotend ?

Any input is welcome.

Regards
Jan P.

Forgot to mention, its a Prusa I3 MK3 with the original hotend that comes as standard, I believe its the E3D v6.

Just seen this:

https://e3d-online.com/blog/2017/12/20/water-is-cool/

That looks MEGA cool (literally) and would go a long way reducing weight on the moving parts compared with a air duct or Peltier solution. Have to check out how that can be fitted to the MK3.

Jan P.

1 Like

That does look interesting, indeed.

There are lots of solutions for cooling the water-cooled spindles (as seen on eBay) and those might be worth a look too, though for a turnkey solution the thing above looks very neat.

Could also be used with waterless coolant, to avoid mixing water and electrics. Though I suspect that a waterless coolant leak would be a lot more trouble than a water leak (which will just naturally dry out)

Peltier might not work. I once tried to make a Peltier fridge for a single carton of milk. The problem is that the Peltier effect only guarantees a temperature difference. Without a heatsink and fan on the hot side you will get one side 20 degrees above ambient and the other 40 degrees above ambient (illustrative numbers). Which isn't much use.

Hi,

"water-cooled spindles" ? Not sure what that is now, do you have a link ? I am trying to find a mod for the MK3 with Titan Aqua but what I have found on the internet does not look so well. But its a project, I have no expectations as for time line........

Re Peltier element, yes, I know I would need a fan on the other side and power (plenty of), both as such is no big deal except the added weight ofc. I have a few Peltier elements on order from ebay for experimenting.

Jan P.

Ahhhhh....... you mean CNC machine spindles ? Have seen them alright !!

Thanks
Jan P.