Fan on a Prusa i3

Hi all,

I want to install a cooling fan on my Prusa i3. I'm just beginning on 3D printing and working with PLA the whole time. Researching online, I've seen people who use the fan to cool the coldend part of the extruder and also people who use the fan to cool what's has been recently printed.

What is is really advisable to use the fan for? What is the difference between using it for one thing or the other?

Thanks in advance!

You use a fan directed at the cold end above the hot end, to prevent heat creeping up the extruder and causing a blockage through expanded filament. This is normally an issue for all-metal hotends and especially when using PLA. If your hotend doesn't have one and you've been printing successfully with PLA, you probably won't need one.

You use a fan directed at the extruded filament to cool it as soon as it's been laid down, to help bridging and overhangs. You'd only use this for PLA. If you have a RAMPS board, the fan gets connected to D9 on the board and is controlled by g code. If you're using Slic3r, take a look at the cooling settings in the filament settings section.

---

[3DKarma.com] - suppliers of quality, affordable 3D printer kits and filament for the UK market.

Awesome answer, thanks a lot! Eventually I found a fan adapter on Thingivers whichs directs the airflow to both the extruder shaft and the printed surface.