Liquid cooling for everyone

[Etienne]

Hi Markus64

I am a recent owner of a PRO2 from France. I face a lot of issues with nozzle jams.

Congratulations for your cooling nozzle upgrade and THANK YOU to share all details of the modifications.
I want to try to implement this upgrade on my Pro2.

Regards

[Markus64]

Hi Etienne and welcome. The conversion is worthwhile, since the switch to water cooling I have no problems. Prints with more than 45 hours of printing time are now finally possible. If you have any questions or problems with the upgrade - get in touch.

[akoetzle]

@Markus64
Ich habe die Damen und Herren von 3d-laserdruck angeschrieben. Die sind bei mir um die Ecke....
Leider haben Sie abgelehnt an private Personen zu verkaufen/herzustellen.
Hast du eine Alternative wo ich die nowendigen Wärmetauscher für den Pro2 herbekomme?
Danke, Grüße Andreas

[Markus64]

@akoetzle,
I sent you a PM.

[Kurtyard]

Hallo, ich bin auch interessiert, wäre nett, wenn Du mir das auch schicken würdest...großartiger Umbau!
Gruß Volker

[Kurtyard]

Hi Markus, have you ever checked how the system behaves when the cooling circuit is not active? Looks to me that the mass of the cooling block provides at least the same performance than the standard heat sink. I would run the cooling circulation pump automatically via Raise USB connection and SSR.

[Markus64]

I will contact the company by phone next week and ask what speaks against supplying private individuals. It might also be an advantage if interested parties organize a bulk order.

@Kurtyard, to your question:
The heat exchangers are less massive than they look. One piece weighs 13.5 g and the thermal conductivity is extremely good. Of course, I got a blister during the first tests without cooling water.

I welcome your USB / SSR solution and hope you share your experience here.

There would be a lot more possibilities, there would be the possibility to expand the firmware by functions.
My goal was to reduce the problems of the built-in hot ends to zero in order to work properly with this machine.
Sad enough for a printer in this price range.

[akoetzle]

@Kurtyard
USB and SSR, sounds good. Looking forward to your solution.
Maybe we can monitor the cooling fan signal over an arduino....
But first things first.... Let's try to get the heat exchangers.

Regards Andreas

[Kurtyard]

This is rather easy - plugged to the Raise USB you can switch whatever you want, with the SSR in my drawing up to 480W. There is a whole bunch of SSRs available for this range, i chose the
34.81.7.005.8240 Finder.
If you open an existing, not needed USB cable for this, it‘s usually the red and black wire.
It‘s to your own risk, do not play with high voltage if you have not got the experience and expertise to do so.

[akoetzle]

Today i received my new heat exchangers from 3D printing in AlSi10Mg. Thanks to Markus64 for the phone calls and tips.
In the near future i will change my Pro2 to an Pro2 LC. Most of the parts are ready.

So stay tuned ...

[Markus64]

@akoetzle, great, then you can start! Please keep us informed. Then I'll do the nameplates

[akoetzle]

Here is a picture of the heat exchangers. Tried a quick sanding. It is easy and possible, but not necessary.
On the picture it looks worse than it is, because of the macro...
It is smooth, the threads are ok but i does a little rework. Now they are fine.

I started the work on the pump....

[Kurtyard]

Looks like the hole is not exactly round shaped, do you have to rework to make this exactly fit for proper heat transfer?

[Markus64]

C663FDA0-57DC-4216-87B4-B9C00FB7C45C.jpeg

Looks like the hole is not exactly round shaped, do you have to rework to make this exactly fit for proper heat transfer?

This point MUST be reworked in any case because it is a fit! A countersink may help here.

[akoetzle]

Not realy a problem. It is just on the surface.

[akoetzle]

As i said. No problem. It fits perfectly.

[Markus64]

So far everything looks very good!

[akoetzle]

Yes i know.... Extreme but i got this kit from Thermaltake witch i bought for an other project. So i used this here.
I used non-spill couplings from Coulder (NS212 series).

[Kurtyard]

The radiator seems to have even more surface than the Alphacool. Looking forward to the result..

[Markus64]

Whereby no more cooling surface is required than the Alphacool cooler provides. My system has an average Delta T of just under 3°C (nozzle temp. 245°C) and is more likely to be under-challenged than overwhelmed. I just want to add that so that it doesn't give the impression that two or more coolers are necessary.