Arduino/Motor Shield Enclosure (Picture Heavy)

[MeticulousMaynard]

@jwolter

Well, until your velocities go supersonic, that is!

That’s the plan!

@Matt_Nelson

Very nice case! I wanted to let you know I did a remix of your design. I just needed something simple and didn’t want to add cable extenders, this gives me a fan mount and a mount for the maslow circuit board.

Really like your design! I saw an email come in about the remixed model, very nice. I decided I didn’t like the cable extenders myself.

@pillageTHENburn

I don’t know why I’m just now seeing this but this is great! Good work!

Thanks! I had figured that this thread had gone dead a long time ago.

@pillageTHENburn

I’m curious, why did you choose to make the output vents in the sides rather than the end of the enclosure? I would assume you might get better airflow past the heat syncs if the case was vented on the end opposite the fan instead. Maybe I’m wrong, was there a purpose here I’m missing?

You are entirely right. After I finished printing the prototype, I realized that was a design flaw. I actually made the changes you were suggesting to the Thingiverse file. When I went to print out the improved version, my extruder didn’t heat up and I haven’t a chance to troubleshoot it. If I can’t get it working, I may just canabalise the steppers and linear guides and make a Prusa i3 clone.

@pillageTHENburn

I had an idea in my mind to make an enclosure that had internal cowling to direct the airflow almost entirely through the heat syncs. The idea being that any air that passes the board more than about 1/4" away is really just wasted as it won’t do much to carry away heat. If one were to force the air through a smaller area then the velocity increases, therefor your cooling is more efficient… right? I don’t really know. This is just an idea

I like that idea a lot! I hadn’t thought of making internal cowling to force the air to go through the heatsinks. Definitely an improvement I’d like to make when I get printing again.

I actually have an update of my own to show. Now that I have my machine working, I finally have put the case to the test:

The cooling this design offer is definitely an improvement for the machine. I didn’t test the heat-sinks with any sort of thermometer, but they stay very cool, even when I’m cutting along the top of the machine. I have left the door out for now, partially because I want to still be able to access the PLC while I am still setting up the machine. This photo was taken before I set up the Z-Axis, so that cable is missing in the photo. I’m trying to figure out how I want to route all the electronics around so everything is zip-tied in place. I have also left out my extenders, it simplified the system greatly, it was just one more part that could go wrong.

I actually made up a second version of the design:

Fusion 360 Link: Fusion
This file is avalible in the MaslowCNC Fusion 360 folder that @mrfugu and I have been working in. Not sure how to share that link.

I’m hoping that this solves quite a few problems I had with the previous design. I am still planning on making some kind of cowling to go over it, possibly hold the heat sinks in place mechanically and force air over them better, as @pillageTHENburn suggested. I also am planning on making an actual electronics cabinet that this will be mounted in. As such, I’m less concerned with dust isolation.

Now, if only I can get my printer working again…