For me, repeated removal of the blue heatsink fan mount led to it becoming a little loose. Coupled with an accidental fan blade breakage I ended up with a rattly fan and mount which moved until it touched the other fan and made even more noise. This was mostly fixed by buying a new fan, but I'd had the idea to create a guard that would keep the two fans apart and at the same time stabilize them both. I'm not sure if this is going to create more pain in the event of changing things, but wanted to throw it out there and see if there was any interest in the model. It's essential just two of these (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:128718) separated by 6mm with two struts to hold them apart.
I'm thinking maybe this fan guard should just be a snap on over the top of the existing fully mounted fans.
Well, it was a thought, not a commit . The thing with these types of ideas is that they're all nice to haves, not needs. I'll give it some thought though. The fact that the screws were in the way was what made it harder than simple.
I know I was hoping to prod you into action lol. What program did you developer this in? Maybe ifni get time I can help try to develop a clip version.
If you wanted to go down the all-in-one dual fan duct and guard route, E3D have published the design for the V6 fan duct which might help: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:340312
OpenSCAD. I remixed from the scad file that the design was remixed from, so it's pretty simple to alter.
Thanks very much for pointing that out. Definitely could be handy. Might even try printing one of those in nGen, which seems to have quite a bit of give in it, which could made it last a little longer. My first two both cracked and became quite loose.
You could try PETG as well if you have any, that has a bit more flex while still being very strong. which makes it good for snap-fit type parts. It's probably my favourite filament.
OK. Printed. Really exposes a key weakness of thin areas with weak layer-to-layer connection. Will try printing it another way round, but I can already see what I suspect will be the next weakspot.
I also only just recently printed my first things in PETG and I do like it, particularly because it seems to hold up through a dishwasher cycle. I've printed some close fitting can lids for the cat food cans, in case they don't finish a whole one and we want to store it in the fridge until the next feed.
@Spoon Unit printed up the fan guard in Entwined (which looks so nice in real life, environmentally sustainable and just prints so smoothly) anyway, the only change I ended up making is converting the holes from tap to clearance size so the screws go through it (actually did this to the fan as well). Makes changing so much easier and less chance of breakage.
I ended up reaming the holes to 3mm. That was close to clearance. I thin k the thin-ness of the item makes that a sensible call.
