Cooling the Duet Maestro
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I am planning a build that uses a Duet board, most likely the Duet Maestro, and I am currently thinking about board cooling. Now I know that not all printer mainboards need cooling, but I would like to cool this one. My question is, would it be effective to cool the bottom of the board? This will be mounted on a flat surface, and having a fan blow air underneath the board would be easier to implement, especially since no connectors are blocking anything. I cannot mount a fan directly above the board as my vertical space is very limited, so I will need to have a fan blowing from the side. Which side, top or bottom, is the question...
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there is a post about this for the wifi
https://forum.duet3d.com/topic/8451/found-a-heatsink
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On the maestro most of the stepper driver heat is being dumped into the ground plane copper of the board thru thermal vias under the chip.
So the short answer is yes, cooling the bottom of the board should be effective. The long answer is you'll have to test your own setup.
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@Veti and @nhof thanks! I will see how it works once this build starts (really just planning right now)
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@master_aar said in Cooling the Duet Maestro:
I am planning a build that uses a Duet board, most likely the Duet Maestro, and I am currently thinking about board cooling. Now I know that not all printer mainboards need cooling, but I would like to cool this one. My question is, would it be effective to cool the bottom of the board? This will be mounted on a flat surface, and having a fan blow air underneath the board would be easier to implement, especially since no connectors are blocking anything. I cannot mount a fan directly above the board as my vertical space is very limited, so I will need to have a fan blowing from the side. Which side, top or bottom, is the question...
Maestro has less load capacity than Ethernet and WiFi, and DC42 usually says under most conditions active cooling isn't needed. Mine has bottom cooling but I probably don't need it.
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The Maestro typically needs fan cooling if the motors are set to 1A current or higher. Preferably, use a fan to blow air from the edge of the Duet along the line of stepper driver chips on both sides of the board. I don't advise using a fan to blow air directly at the board from above or underneath because if you do then there will be a dead zone with very little cooling directly under the centre of the fan.
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@dc42 said in Cooling the Duet Maestro:
The Maestro typically needs fan cooling if the motors are set to 1A current or higher. Preferably, use a fan to blow air from the edge of the Duet along the line of stepper driver chips on both sides of the board. I don't advise using a fan to blow air directly at the board from above or underneath because if you do then there will be a dead zone with very little cooling directly under the centre of the fan.
What if I'm pulling air from the center instead of pushing. Presumably it enters mostly from the edges past the driver chip since my mount has a channel that is open in that area.
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@3dmntbighker said in Cooling the Duet Maestro:
@dc42 said in Cooling the Duet Maestro:
The Maestro typically needs fan cooling if the motors are set to 1A current or higher. Preferably, use a fan to blow air from the edge of the Duet along the line of stepper driver chips on both sides of the board. I don't advise using a fan to blow air directly at the board from above or underneath because if you do then there will be a dead zone with very little cooling directly under the centre of the fan.
What if I'm pulling air from the center instead of pushing. Presumably it enters mostly from the edges past the driver chip since my mount has a channel that is open in that area.
There will still be a dead zone at the centre.
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@dc42 said in Cooling the Duet Maestro:
@3dmntbighker said in Cooling the Duet Maestro:
@dc42 said in Cooling the Duet Maestro:
The Maestro typically needs fan cooling if the motors are set to 1A current or higher. Preferably, use a fan to blow air from the edge of the Duet along the line of stepper driver chips on both sides of the board. I don't advise using a fan to blow air directly at the board from above or underneath because if you do then there will be a dead zone with very little cooling directly under the centre of the fan.
What if I'm pulling air from the center instead of pushing. Presumably it enters mostly from the edges past the driver chip since my mount has a channel that is open in that area.
There will still be a dead zone at the centre.
Party pooper
