My first 3d printer (A modest initial success story?)
The proverbial wailings of my home server's cooling fans had finally convinced me that I should put together some sort of internal ductwork solution, and I knew the cardboard-and-duct-tape route wouldn't be a particularly good long-term solution; long story short, I got in line for a Mini which was safely delivered after what seemed like an interminable wait.
I must admit that 3d printing has something of a learning cliff in the first layer calibration. A fair amount of one sample PLA color was sacrificed before a nominal success was achieved. Of course, I proceeded to print most of the objects that were included on the usb drive that ships with the printer. For grins, I also put it through an overhang test: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2806295 There are some flaws in the result, but nothing I'd call catastrophic...
It's only been a week, but my primary goal has already been achieved. The blowers in the server are now secured with something better than twist-ties, and now an 80% workload is met with a shrug when a 40% load had sent the fans into a tizzy.
Some CAD-porn (TinkerCAD):
Server before & after:
Prusa MINI w/Bondtech IFS extruder, Slice Copperhead groovemount, bed-leveling mod
RE: My first 3d printer (A modest initial success story?)
Nice design project and glad it worked out 🙂 If over time you experience some warping with the PLA parts, you could try printing them in PETG or another filament type that has a higher temperature resistance. PLA can start to warp at 60C / 140F.
Shane (AKA FromPrusa)
RE: My first 3d printer (A modest initial success story?)
The fan orientation is a bit less than desirable, too. Normally, centrifugal fans want the pressure work to be on the outlet, not the inlet. With most servers having shrouds that direct air from the fans through the heat sinks. My guess would be those four rectangular holes in the chassis are where the factory shrouds were mounted.\
But, looking at what you started with, progress has been made. Good job. You're probably moving enough air the PLA won't deform, but if over time it does, just reprint in PETG and you'll gain 20c in heat resistance.
RE: My first 3d printer (A modest initial success story?)
@fromprusa
...without a doubt, PLA's temperature range was foremost on my mind during this process, and shortly after finishing this, I put in an order for 3 PETG & 1 ASA Prusament spools (Already delivered!) If they do warp in the long term, they will have served as very useful prototypes 🙂
@tim-m30
Not sure what you mean--the front 2 fans draw air in, the 2 blowers draw up through the heatsinks and out through the new duct...
This is a Chenbro NETSERVER case from the 90s--very much a knock-off design of the HP/Compaq cases of the era and marketed shortly after the ATX form-factor was introduced. When I ordered it new from the reseller, they only had options for various power supplies. You can almost make out the mounting holes in my pictures, but there originally was a long expansion card support between the front intake fans and the system board! For a general-purpose generic piece of hardware, ductwork wasn't even a design consideration.
It's getting harder to find info about the case, so this old auction will have to do: https://picclick.de/NET-SERVER-CASE-Server-Tower-Geh%C3%A4use-Chenbro-A9891R207-322609594057.html
As an aside, I did this frankenserver on a budget and recycling parts on-hand; had I put the Supermicro board in it's designed-for Supermicro case, most-assuredly there'd be Supermicro heatsinks and Supermicro ducting 😉
Prusa MINI w/Bondtech IFS extruder, Slice Copperhead groovemount, bed-leveling mod