E3D Toolchanger - No PWM Control For Part Cooling Fan

yngndrw

I have the E3D Toolchanger platform with a Duet 2 Wifi (v1.03) + DueX5 (Firmware v2.05) and for some reason the part cooling fan only works when set to 100% - Any speed below about 253 results in it stopping.

I did find this thread but the recommended solution involved changing the PWM frequency but that didn't seem to help:
M106 P2 S0 F100

Is this an issue related to my board version or is it a common issue with this fan?

infiniteloop

@yngndrw said in E3D Toolchanger - No PWM Control For Part Cooling Fan:

Is this an issue related to my board version or is it a common issue with this fan?

Should be the fan. You can try to lower the frequency even further (e.g. M106…F10), but some fans simply refuse to cooperate. In that case, you will have to swap it.

BTW, beware of M106 if you migrate to RRF 3: there, M950 is used to define the PWM frequency.

dc42

The fan outputs on the DueX5 have a fixed PWM frequency, and it seems that the fans on the tool changer don't work well with PWM. You could reassign the fans so that the 3 fan outputs on the Duet drive 3 of the 4 part cooling fans so that you can change the PWM frequency of those 3; or you can try different fans.

yngndrw

@infiniteloop With F10 I get a tiny bit of control but it's not proportional - Below 90% doesn't spin, 90-99% spins very slowly and 100% is full speed.

I'm using the standard E3D toolchanger fan from their Bowden tool and haven't seen anybody else report the same issue so that's why I thought it might be related to my setup - Unless they have changed their fans.

yngndrw

@dc42 I'm only using the fan headers on the main Duet board right now so PWM frequency control is available, but it just doesn't seem to be working with their default part cooling fan. I'm just surprised to be the only one to have an issue with this setup. I'll ask E3D if they have changed their fans on their forum.

infiniteloop

@yngndrw said in E3D Toolchanger - No PWM Control For Part Cooling Fan:

so that's why I thought it might be related to my setup

Given the fact that you can control the fan with M106 (somehow), given further that the fan reacts to the commands (just not as expected), there are not many culprits left. Spoiler: it's not you, it's not the Duet. As a cross-check, you might wanna try some other fan(s) from your grab bag: flying circus, just a connector and two wires…

yngndrw

@infiniteloop You're right. I've just tested a whole range of fans:

The E3D hot end fan does not support PWM control
The E3D toolchanger part cooling fan does not support PWM control (Surprising seems as the Duet config which they provide sets it to 50% :/)
Both of my own (Larger) centrifugal fans do support PWM control
My existing part cooling fan (2x 40mm fans in parallel) do support PWM control

Interestingly the fans which don't work are all quite small, but either way it is the fault of E3D's fans.

Thanks for your help.

janmaartengriffioen

The problem is that the provided toolfans are quite sensitive to magnetic fields. I installed thin steelplates 3x4cm between the fans and the Hytera's stepper motors which solved all of my problems! https://jan-griffioen.synology.me/en/e3d-toolchanger-hymera-fans-24-6-and-8-intermittent-problem-solved/