3D printer toolheads often have large blower fans with big fan ducts ending in small holes and I wonder how necessary that is.
These large part cooling setups are most of the size of the toolhead and significantly reduce print area. Blower fans also do not produce much pressure so those fan ducts greatly reduce their effectiveness.
Does it make sense to, instead of using a blower fan, use a small compressor like for an aquarium and have the airflow delivered Bowden style to a small nozzle? The airflow would be substantially higher than from a fan. Noise isn’t really an issue for a tiny compressor.
Has anyone tried this? I might eventually but don’t have the time to set it up now.
That’s definitely more how like laser cutters and cnc mills do it right? Although maybe that’s more for removing debris than cooling. Seems like a good idea, unless it’s too much pressure and starts deflecting the plastic while it’s still molten.
That was my first thought
Indeed I’d have to play with the distance between the printed plastic and the nozzle as well as air pressure, otherwise it’s a silly string machine. But that seems to be the easy part.