cooling on e3d ms-tc
-
If I read correctly running duet2eth up to 1.5A and mounting the board vertically should have sufficient cooling on its own without any additional heatsinks and forced air movement. I'm right now assembling E3D MS-TC (it's going to take way more than I expected, I did not expect for 3k GBP to have to print this many parts) and I'm not sure if this will have enough cooling on its own so I did something like this but I'd like to hear what others think before I leave it like this.
Blowers are standard 5015 12V (I will put them in series to run on 24V, or add a small DCDC, should not be a problem) and are blowing under the board. I think that should increase the cooling ability significantly and even allow running high current through the drivers, not that I need it. In any case, I believe that they will not do any harm.
I do believe the blowers like this will not do any harm, but I have a very bad experience with acrylic. Apart from rotting, if it comes in contact with any real chemistry (IPA will crack it, most antistatic sprays will get it to start rotting, most lubricants will get it to start rotting), and being unable to handle vibrations, what I fear most is the static electricity. Acrylic is notorious for static electricity and blowing air over flat sheet might be asking for troubles. How unsafe might Duet+Duex be in this case?
The plan is to replace all sheets with aluminium ones in the near future but that can be postponed a lot depending on unrelated stuff so I'd like to have this safe as is now.
-
I run my E3D TC with no fan cooling. The general rule for Duet WiFi/Ethernet/DueX is that below 2A motor current, no fan cooling is required. Exceptions would be if the Duet is in a confined space and/or directly controlling a high current bed heater. In the case of the TC, there is good convective airflow over the back of both boards.
Another nice effect of mounting the Duet in this way is that the WiFi antenna is vertical, which is best for signal strength.
-
Even a small amount of airflow over the bottom of the board makes a huge difference.
