Keep it cool

Hi all

I've not been printing for a while. Here you can see the front of a building which came out pretty good.

I can still notice the bed not being perfectly 'flat' even after leveling it multiple times.

To make the bed perfectly level I will (in the future) install these parts from thingiverse. This is the link http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:63796 

I printed the part at 0.1mm layer height and the parts came out looking very good.

To get my prints looking this good I tweaked the extrusion multiplier in slic3r. This head to be done because I didn't do this after I started using a new roll of filament.

One problem with this printer is that the Y-axis motor gets reasonably hot. It's mostly because of the heated bed constantly hovering above. I'm currently trying to insulate the top of the motor (closest to the heated bed) and cool the underside of the motor (with a heat sink). If my temperature sensor/finger is accurate and the motor does run cooler then before.

Saved the best for the last. I've printed a new enclosure for the electronics and tidied up the wiring.

Upgrade #2 upgraded (again)

Because my previous version of the cooling started to melt away I made a new cooling unit.
This version is more compact and of course doesn't melt.
In the picture you can see two versions the one on the right is final version. The top of the cooling unit is covered with a layer of aluminium foil to reflect heat from the print head. 

Photos of the little problem

Already working on an ABS replacement/upgrade

Little problem

Ran into a little problem with my cooling. When I switched from PLA to ABS my cooling unit started to melt.
Pictures will probably follow later.
I'll try to print a new cooling unit out of ABS so it doesn't melt as easy as PLA.

Upgrade #2 upgraded

Not long after I installed upgrade#2 I upgraded it.
The fan I previously installed wasn't very effective. I redesigned the cooling unit and replaced the normal fan with a radial fan.

Upgrade #2 done

I've finally got the fan working.
Instructions will follow shortly (still working on them).

Upgrade #2 almost done

Today I figured out the electronics to make the cooling fan work. Still have to make some firmware changes because the fan can only be turned on or off.
When it all works I'll post more info on how it's all put together. 

-upgrade #2

It's bin a while since the last update. Although not much has changed.
I've removed the previous update because it didn't work as planned.
The air outlet was to close to the print surface and destroyed a couple of prints. Another reason why I've removed it is because it's impossible to control the fan with the Gcode (it's always on).
I've been researching a way to make a controllable fan. I'll post an update when I've found a solution.

Upgrade #2

I told you before I had a problem with the layers not sticking together. I'll try and make the layers stick together more by increasing the print temperature. This will help the layers fuse together (I hope) even if the previous layer has cooled down.
To make sure smaler layers cool down in time I added a fan.
I downloaded the model of thingiverse, for those who want to know.