When it comes to FDM 3D printing, one of the most important pieces of hardware is the extruder. While the older Prusa based cartesian printers with moving build platforms were limited in speed mainly due to larger moving masses, new printer designs are capable of reaching much higher travel speeds without sacrificing precision. On these new FDM printer designs, the limiting factor has become the extruder responsible for positioning the filament for accurate material deposition. Read More
There are several practical reasons why you may want to cool the components inside your 3D printer. The first and most important is to make sure that your printer remains operational and free of maintenance for as long as possible. The most obvious low-hanging fruit for most 3D printers are the stepper motors responsibility for extruding and positioning the model on the x-y planes. These three motors can run so hot that they will burn you if you try to touch their surface platting during a print. While these motors are designed to run hot, there is a limit to how hot you want them to get for prolonged periods. This is where stepper motor cooling comes into play.
