Remove bottom wood panel?

[Elbot]

I want to remove the bottom panel of wood to improve air circulation for, mightyboard. Is that ok?

[Elbot]

Hood heats up mightyboard, so want to open bottom to improve circulation.

[Dan Newman]

On 30 Oct 2012 , at 7:38 PM, Elbot wrote:

> I want to remove the bottom panel of wood to improve air circulation for, mightyboard. Is that ok?

The mightyboard has been prone to short circuiting (as witness reported problems with
endstop cables). So if you do that, you're going to have to be very sure that something
metalic doesn't slide under there and catch on the wires or otherwise lead to a short.

You might be better off cutting some ventilation slots or holes in that wooden underside cover.
That may help circulation some while still giving you some protection.

Dan

[Luis E. Rodriguez]

I don't recall the size but would you print a replacement with vents in it? Of course it would be quicker to take a hole saw or another implement to it. How about a better fan?

Luis E. Rodriguez

Are you a Maker?

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[Gary Crowell]

I opened up the side of my Replicator with a hole saw at the fan location, then mounted the fan on an ~18mm high duct so that it only draws air from the outside.  Then covered the corner holes with   http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29862 and http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29858 so that no hot air would be drawn from the build area.  The duct insures that it's not just recirculating hot air.

I've also printed off the replacement plate from http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24066 , which includes the mounting for an extra fan.  

With these mods, I would not remove the bottom plate, as it serves to duct the air over the board.  Since there is no thickness restriction on the fan(s) under there, I also plan to get some better 15 or 20mm thick fans to put there.

I'm planning to gather this up and submit as a Thing in a few days.

Gary

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----------------------------------------------
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[JohnA.]

Are people having issues with overheating? 

JohnA.

[PropellerScience]

On Oct 31, 11:55 am, "JohnA." <john.abe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Are people having issues with overheating?
>
> JohnA.

I'm cool, I mean. No, not here.

[Gary Crowell]

I've read of several instances here, and one from personal knowledge, of the 5V regulator failing on the MightyBoard.  Fails rather spectacularly, I understand.  That's a linear regulator, supplying 5V from 24V, so it wastes ~4 Watts of heat for every Watt of power it delivers.  So it gets hot, and fails, without much provocation.  The more cooling on it the better.  I would expect the drivers and other FETs generate some heat too, but I haven't heard of failures.  

Gary

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[Gary Crowell]

Oh, and many people have mentioned that their fans are getting noisy, fan failures won't be far behind.  With the standard location of the MightyBoard fan, it could fail and you'd never know it until the board popped.  A redundant fan, and ducting the existing fan from the outside is cheap insurance. 

[Shawn]

I just finished putting $60ish bucks out on replacement fans. I opted
to get better fans with better bearings after my "new" replacement fans
failed within a month (heavy use, running almost 24/7). The fan for the
mightyboard out right stopped and would not spin up without some
encouragement. So rather than putting the same suspect model/brand of
fan back in, I choose to go to my local industrial electronics shop and
ordered 3 replacement fans (I know I could have gotten the fans cheaper
if I had ordered them from DigiKey or somewhere else online, but it was
more convenient to me to let others do that research/ordering.)

With the replacements, I had to drill out a little to countersink the
bolts so they could actually connect the motors. But since putting
these in the box has been QUIET. The real test will be a month or so
from now after it has been in service for some time.

But, keeping this on topic - I'm still considering drilling out some
holes on the side panel to feed the mightyboard fan. (I'm also the guy
who went through 4 mightyboards in 2 weeks due to blown regulartors)

On 12-10-31 11:43 AM, Gary Crowell wrote:
> Oh, and many people have mentioned that their fans are getting noisy, fan
> failures won't be far behind. With the standard location of the
> MightyBoard fan, it could fail and you'd never know it until the board
> popped. A redundant fan, and ducting the existing fan from the outside is
> cheap insurance.
>
> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 11:39 AM, Gary Crowell <garyacr...@gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> I've read of several instances here, and one from personal knowledge, of
>> the 5V regulator failing on the MightyBoard. Fails rather spectacularly, I
>> understand. That's a linear regulator, supplying 5V from 24V, so it wastes
>> ~4 Watts of heat for every Watt of power it delivers. So it gets hot, and
>> fails, without much provocation. The more cooling on it the better. I
>> would expect the drivers and other FETs generate some heat too, but I
>> haven't heard of failures.
>>
>> Gary
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 10:55 AM, JohnA. <john....@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Are people having issues with overheating?
>>>
>>> JohnA.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Wednesday, October 31, 2012 12:31:37 PM UTC-4, Gary wrote:
>>>
>>>> I opened up the side of my Replicator with a hole saw at the fan
>>>> location, then mounted the fan on an ~18mm high duct so that it only draws
>>>> air from the outside. Then covered the corner holes with

>>>> http://www.thingiverse.com/**thing:29862<http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29862>and
>>>> http://www.thingiverse.**com/thing:29858<http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29858>so that no hot air would be drawn from the build area. The duct insures

>>>> that it's not just recirculating hot air.
>>>>
>>>> I've also printed off the replacement plate from http://www.thingiverse.

>>>> **com/thing:24066 <http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:24066> , which

>>>> includes the mounting for an extra fan.
>>>>
>>>> With these mods, I would not remove the bottom plate, as it serves to
>>>> duct the air over the board. Since there is no thickness restriction on
>>>> the fan(s) under there, I also plan to get some better 15 or 20mm thick
>>>> fans to put there.
>>>>
>>>> I'm planning to gather this up and submit as a Thing in a few days.
>>>>
>>>> Gary
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 8:46 PM, Luis E. Rodriguez <lrodrig...@gmail.com
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I don't recall the size but would you print a replacement with vents in
>>>>> it? Of course it would be quicker to take a hole saw or another implement
>>>>> to it. How about a better fan?
>>>>>
>>>>> Luis E. Rodriguez

>>>>> Are you a Maker? <http://www.makerfairekc.com/>

>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On Tue, Oct 30, 2012 at 9:42 PM, Dan Newman <dan.n...@mtbaldy.us>wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 30 Oct 2012 , at 7:38 PM, Elbot wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I want to remove the bottom panel of wood to improve air circulation
>>>>>> for, mightyboard. Is that ok?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The mightyboard has been prone to short circuiting (as witness
>>>>>> reported problems with
>>>>>> endstop cables). So if you do that, you're going to have to be very
>>>>>> sure that something
>>>>>> metalic doesn't slide under there and catch on the wires or otherwise
>>>>>> lead to a short.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> You might be better off cutting some ventilation slots or holes in
>>>>>> that wooden underside cover.
>>>>>> That may help circulation some while still giving you some protection.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Dan
>>>>>>
>>>>>> --
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>>>>>> Groups "MakerBot Operators" group.
>>>>>> To post to this group, send email to make...@googlegroups.com.

>>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to makerbot+u...@**
>>>>>> googlegroups.com.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/**
>>>>>> group/makerbot?hl=en <http://groups.google.com/group/makerbot?hl=en>.

>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
>>>>> Groups "MakerBot Operators" group.
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>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to makerbot+u...@**
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>>>>>
>>>>> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/**
>>>>> group/makerbot?hl=en <http://groups.google.com/group/makerbot?hl=en>.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> ------------------------------**----------------

>>>> Gary A. Crowell Sr., P.E., CID+

>>>> Linkedin <http://www.linkedin.com/in/garyacrowellsr> Elance<http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgaryacrowellsr%2Eelance%2Ecom&urlhash=kJm9>
>>>> KE7FIZ <http://www.arrl.org>

>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> ----------------------------------------------
>> Gary A. Crowell Sr., P.E., CID+

>> Linkedin <http://www.linkedin.com/in/garyacrowellsr> Elance<http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fgaryacrowellsr%2Eelance%2Ecom&urlhash=kJm9>
>> KE7FIZ <http://www.arrl.org>
>>
>>
>>
>
>

[Ethan Dicks]

On Wed, Oct 31, 2012 at 1:39 PM, Gary Crowell <garyacr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I've read of several instances here, and one from personal knowledge, of the 5V
> regulator failing on the MightyBoard. Fails rather spectacularly, I understand.

I can imagine. Lots of power available to feed a short circuit.

> That's a linear regulator, supplying 5V from 24V, so it wastes ~4 Watts of heat
> for every Watt of power it delivers. So it gets hot, and fails, without much
> provocation. The more cooling on it the better.

In general, while a 7805 will _handle_ higher voltages, it's not a
great idea to feed them more than 12V-15V. I've seen two-stage
regulation for higher supplies - a 7815 or 7812 that goes directly to
a 7805. Costs more in components and board space, but the combination
of parts spreads out how much heat they have to discharge.

Here is a solution that's not anywhere as cheap as a double linear
regulator, but it runs cool and _might_ be a drop-in (if there's the
physical room for it), a TI PT78ST105H 1.5A switching regulator...

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Texas-Instruments/PT78ST105H/?qs=sGAEpiMZZMuo%252bmZx5g6tFKBaDRNEO7ue

$17.11 q 1, $15.57 q 10.

I've used these on another project that needed over 1A @ 5V. Not
cheap, but very nice, and probably less likely to burn down your bot
than a linear regulator being fed 24V.

-ethan

[delsydsoftware]

I did it to put this fan in, and it has worked great for a 3 months:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:29202

I also use Bench Dogs (linked in the thingiverse page) to elevate the makerbot. They reduce vibration and noise, and they elevate the replicator to the point where basically nothing will get under there and short the board, unless you like storing soda cans under your replicator.  :)