Anyone with a E3D hotend do you use the cooling fan or is it

Anyone with a E3D hotend do you use the cooling fan or is it ok to use without it. I’m only printing ABS right know so it shouldnt get to hot

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Don’t use it without the cooling fan. Heat will creep up and you’ll get a jam. Just hook up the cooling fan. It’s amazing how many people, for whatever reason, refuse to do this simple thing and end up messing up their hot end permanently after trying to drill out the clog, etc.

Ok I guess I will have to hook it up then. Figured I would ask before I broke the darn thing. Thanks

You don’t “NEED” the fan but active cooling allows for better filament temperature control which gets you better print quality. Especially with tiny details when the extruder isn’t pushing enough plastic to cool itself.

Also what the first reply said.

As above, you do need the fan, the E3D was designed to use it.
With ABS though maybe design & print an upwards facing vent for it so you know that no air is blowing down on the print, I’ve seen this done with success.

@Jim_Wilson
Are people having trouble with air flow going down to the prints from the stock fan holder

Use the fan ! When you understand the thermal characteristics of how filament melts, how the different metals conduct heat you will understand why !

What everybody else said. Even with ABS.

I was just hoping to be lazy. I don’t have any wires for the fan up there yet and was wondering if i could get away without having it. It sounds like a good idea having the fan so I’ll wire it up :slight_smile: thanks everyone

@Corey_Punches , the proper way to do this is to set a hot end fan pin in the marlin configuration. It’ll turn on if the temp is over 50C, and turn back off when cooled down.

I just hook that bad boy directly up to 12V from my power supply. If the printer is powered on, that fan is running. I don’t want to risk such a nice hotend.

I use a 40mm fan hard wired to 12v with 1/3 airflow directed to the print. There’s no control but it seems to work well - have printed 120+ cameras (ABS) with it. It works well enough that I haven’t redesigned it for two fans. Support is included but may be hard to get out. Slow and careful trimming required. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:152853