indy4x
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- 3,099
- Location
- Pontypool, South Wales. UK
As some of you may have noticed a few posts on the 'Today I Acquired' thread where I have been collecting 'stuff' to reduce the noise of my 3D printer. Thought I'd start a thread to show what I have done and the results so far
The printer lives upstairs in the office/play room/craft room that is just across the landing from our bedroom. Even with the door to the office shut, at night you could hear the printer working away.
The main sources of noise were
1. Stepper motors
2. Power supply and mainboard cooling fans
3. Hot end cooling fans
1st up was the mainboard. The original mainboard in my Ender 5 Plus has what most people seem to refer to as workhorse stepper motor drivers. Nothing wrong with the original mainboard, it was working perfectly well. However, while they are good at what they do you do get a very noticable whine from the stepper motors.
So I purchased the Creality V2.2.1 Mainboard with the TMC2208 drivers. It is only an 8bit board, would have liked a 32bit board but there isn't a Creality one available at the moment and didn't want the aggro of playing with an aftermarket board and firmware so took the easy option. The TMC2208 drivers are able to move the stepper motors with a significant reduction in whine. This shouldn't be an issue with the newer Ender 5 Plus as I believe they now come with the updated board
No before and after noise measurements but the difference was significant, the stepper motors still make a little noise but the difference was very noticable.
Next up was the power supply and cooling fan for the mainboard.
Bought the following items
1. 2x Noctua 120mm fans (S/H from eBay)
2. 1x 24V to 12V DC converter
3. Meanwell silent power supply
4. 4mm Aluminium plate, 300mm x 200mm to act as a heatsink
5. Thermal paste as used for CPU coolers
6. Thermal transfer silicone adhesive
The case on the Ender 5 Plus is only 200mm wide so had to trim the Aluminium plarte down by 10mm. Centered the PSU and drilled and tapped 4x M4 holes to attach the PSU. Smeared some thermal tranfer compound on the back of the PSU and then bolted this to the Aluminium plate with some M4 SS cap head bolts
The Meanwell silent PSU is a different layout, the 240V inputs are the opposite end of the PSU to the 24V outputs and there are only 2 pairs or 24V positive and negative terminals whereas the original had 3 pairs of outputs. This meant I had to double the terminals on the outputs of the new supply. This is a shot of the new PSU inside the case, used several sploges of the Silicone Thermal Transfer Adhesive to hold the Aluminium plate to the top of the case. Cables have yet to be connected
The Noctua Fans are too thick to fit inside the case with the stock cover but I found some suitable replacements on Thingiverse that mounted the fans under the bottom of the case. These had to be 3D printed in two parts as they are too big for the build plate. Additionally I had to 3D print some mounting feet to increase the space under the printer to allow the fans sufficient clearance as they were 25mm deep and there is only 16mm under the case.
I'm not happy with the plastic covers as they are, have taken some measurements and will be drawing up alternatives that will allow the fans to sit inside the case. These will mean the printer can sit on its own feet without the fans coming into contact with the workbench/shelf/floor which they currently do. The feet I 3D printed will still be needed to allow airflow to the fans.
So what was the end result of all this?
With the silent board and original PSU the printer was generating around 63dB with the sound meter by the control box
With the silent PSU and Noctuna fans the printer is generating around 51dB measured at the same location so a significant difference
I also took temperature readings off the case before and after the modifications
Before temperature when measured on the case was 37C with a rooom temperature of 19C
The after temperature measured in the same way was 24C, again with a room tempertaure of 19C
The printer lives upstairs in the office/play room/craft room that is just across the landing from our bedroom. Even with the door to the office shut, at night you could hear the printer working away.
The main sources of noise were
1. Stepper motors
2. Power supply and mainboard cooling fans
3. Hot end cooling fans
1st up was the mainboard. The original mainboard in my Ender 5 Plus has what most people seem to refer to as workhorse stepper motor drivers. Nothing wrong with the original mainboard, it was working perfectly well. However, while they are good at what they do you do get a very noticable whine from the stepper motors.
So I purchased the Creality V2.2.1 Mainboard with the TMC2208 drivers. It is only an 8bit board, would have liked a 32bit board but there isn't a Creality one available at the moment and didn't want the aggro of playing with an aftermarket board and firmware so took the easy option. The TMC2208 drivers are able to move the stepper motors with a significant reduction in whine. This shouldn't be an issue with the newer Ender 5 Plus as I believe they now come with the updated board
No before and after noise measurements but the difference was significant, the stepper motors still make a little noise but the difference was very noticable.
Next up was the power supply and cooling fan for the mainboard.
Bought the following items
1. 2x Noctua 120mm fans (S/H from eBay)
2. 1x 24V to 12V DC converter
3. Meanwell silent power supply
4. 4mm Aluminium plate, 300mm x 200mm to act as a heatsink
5. Thermal paste as used for CPU coolers
6. Thermal transfer silicone adhesive
The case on the Ender 5 Plus is only 200mm wide so had to trim the Aluminium plarte down by 10mm. Centered the PSU and drilled and tapped 4x M4 holes to attach the PSU. Smeared some thermal tranfer compound on the back of the PSU and then bolted this to the Aluminium plate with some M4 SS cap head bolts
The Meanwell silent PSU is a different layout, the 240V inputs are the opposite end of the PSU to the 24V outputs and there are only 2 pairs or 24V positive and negative terminals whereas the original had 3 pairs of outputs. This meant I had to double the terminals on the outputs of the new supply. This is a shot of the new PSU inside the case, used several sploges of the Silicone Thermal Transfer Adhesive to hold the Aluminium plate to the top of the case. Cables have yet to be connected
The Noctua Fans are too thick to fit inside the case with the stock cover but I found some suitable replacements on Thingiverse that mounted the fans under the bottom of the case. These had to be 3D printed in two parts as they are too big for the build plate. Additionally I had to 3D print some mounting feet to increase the space under the printer to allow the fans sufficient clearance as they were 25mm deep and there is only 16mm under the case.
I'm not happy with the plastic covers as they are, have taken some measurements and will be drawing up alternatives that will allow the fans to sit inside the case. These will mean the printer can sit on its own feet without the fans coming into contact with the workbench/shelf/floor which they currently do. The feet I 3D printed will still be needed to allow airflow to the fans.
So what was the end result of all this?
With the silent board and original PSU the printer was generating around 63dB with the sound meter by the control box
With the silent PSU and Noctuna fans the printer is generating around 51dB measured at the same location so a significant difference
I also took temperature readings off the case before and after the modifications
Before temperature when measured on the case was 37C with a rooom temperature of 19C
The after temperature measured in the same way was 24C, again with a room tempertaure of 19C