Elephant Head for Anycubic Kossel

Description

Elephant Head for Anycubic Kossel: Update: 12.1.19 As a little bonus I've added a sculpture of a cute little elephant that you may want to print. Also I've included an alternate J6 hot end mount for this printer based on my little elephant model. Please note: I've not attempted to print either of these as yet. The new J6 mount should be functional but, again, it's not tested! On the plus side maybe someone would like a cute-looking hot end and I've tried to make the mount so the two 40mm x 10mm fans required should just snap in without screws. I've not been 100% happy with my effector upgrades for this printer so with more thought and effort I present my (hopefully) final Anycubic Kossel Plus effector upgrade: Assumptions: -Parts associated with the Hot end will need to be printed in ABS (or similar) -This upgrade is for E3D J6 hot ends, and clones, feel free to alter for the J5 if you wish -Also included are parts to allow the use of a Volcano with your J6 -You will need an additional 12v 40mm fan, either 10 or 15mm depth -The factory effector plate is retained -A good, accurate job will make a big difference Reference: The main photo demonstrates the primary parts and their approximate orientation. -Dark grey components are the replacement J6 hot end mount, the elephant's trunk, cooling duct, and strain-relief spring -Red components are the Volcano adapters. Note: The full elephant's trunk will not line up with the cooling duct when a Volcano is attached. -Green component is a Z-Probe protector because I'm tired of breaking the darn thing when the head crashes Options: All parts; .123dx, .stl, and .gcode are arranged within the included .zip file to help with locating to components for you. J6 Hot end mount: The J6 hot end mount is a direct replacement for the factory J5 mount. This is the primary upgrade and assuming this will be printed on your Kossel Plus I've included a suitable .gcode file for ABS along with the .stl and .123dx files. It's intended that the two halves will clamp tightly around the hot end's neck, depending on tolerances you may either need to do a little sanding or add a little heat-resistant tape to the neck of the hot end to ensure a tight fit. The halves can either be clamped together with suitable nuts and screws or if using ABS a little Acetone + ABS slurry makes an excellent, and permanent, glue. Mount the assembly in place of the factory unit re-using the original screws. You may find it easier to use suitable wood-screws as they will get a better purchase on the plastic housing. Re-use your factory hot end fan, mounted more-or-less as before, and fit your new filament cooling fan to the other side. There are two versions of the elephant's head. One with a hole in it to allow the wiring loom to be cable-tied to the effector, and another with mounting rings for what I think is a neater and more robust solution - if a bit more fiddly to use. Once you screw on the J6 block you will note it's a bit bigger then the J5. I found the best way to orient it is with the larger side facing the Z-Probe mount, hence the reason for my placement of the wiring mounts. The down-side is the factory Z-Probe mount (with probe attached) won't quite fit. My solution was to offer up the probe + mount with the hot-end fully assembled and screw it in place a little further out than standard - I also used a couple of metal washers to ensure the attachment remains solid. Note: There is room for a heat-block sock with "my" parts and I would suggest using one but you don't need to Venturi cooling duct: You may also want to replace the factory filament cooling duct with my latest Venturi-style duct. The .stl file is labeled 1_5_10.stl or 1_5_15.stl depending on which folder you find it in. There's also a slightly better version in the "Bonus" folder if you don't intend to go for the full elephant's trunk solution. IMO this is just about the best and most efficient one-sided duct available for this printer, and it's also designed to fit the "elephant's trunk". Elephant's trunk: Consider this an optional, but funky, part. It won't fully fit with a Volcano but does come in two versions depending on whether your 40mm cooling fan has a 10 or 15mm depth - be sure to choose the right trunk before you print! (*_5_10.files are for use with a 10mm fan and *_5_15.files for use with a 15mm fan) It connects the input of the cooling fan to the associated Venturi cooling duct - why..? -Why not? I think it looks cool ;-D -With the fan fully enclosed it's a lot quieter ...more importantly, some theory: While my venturi duct is intended to enhance air flow toward the part your are printing the (minor) down side of any one-sided duct is you can, in theory, get differential cooling of your part which may, in theory, reduce the quality of your prints. One option is an all-enclosing duct but personally I like to have good access the the hot end, or you can play silly-buggers with the air flow to induce some vortices and a bit of chaotic flow. The former should help to 'swirl' air round the part and the latter should help heat conduction in this situation. To this end my elephant's trunk reverses the flow direction of the Venturi so that the central part continues to blow on the part, while the external part is 'sucking' in the opposite direction. ...it works for me! As there's bound to be tolerance issues from one printer to another, and also to make printing easier, I've separated the trunks in to three parts (ABS .gcode files included as well as .stl and .124dx) -Make sure you print the correct trunk: *_5_10 for a fan with a 10mm cross-section and *5_15 for one with a 15mm cross-section. (Longer, more powerful, fans exist but from my experience ge in the way of the effector arms) -Attach both the cooling duct under the effector plate, and the first part of the trunk to the cooling fan -Offer up the center section (which I made 1mm long on purpose) and see how good the fit is. -Perform whatever sanding / curring is required, most likely the end nearest the cooling duct, and on to gluing it in place. -Assuming you printed in ABS I'd suggest the best option is to use some Acetone + ABS slurry - it will make a permanent bond while drying quickly gives a bit of time for fiddling. I'd suggest a blob of slurry on some card and dip both open ends of the center section (go easy, you just need the end faces covered) then push the part in to place. Once finessed to your satisfaction holding it in place for a couple of minutes should be enough to seal the deal - it will be a good 10mins + before it's fully hardened. Tidy spring: Another optional, but hopefully useful addition. It will fit in to the recess on the top of the J6 mount (elephant's body) as a stress-reliever for the Bowden tube, and also a mounting point for the hot end wiring. Volcano parts: If you intend to fit Volcano to your J6 hot end (and why not?) this will make the over-all setup 10mm longer. That's no good for whatever cooling duct you are using and no good for the factory Z-Probe. The two parts coloured red in the main picture should sort this. The Duct_Riser is intend to screw to the factory effector plate in place of your duct using the standard Allen, bolts and your duct of choice will then screw to that - small wood screws may hold to the plastic better than the more usual Allen bolts. The Z-Probe_Riser mounts between the Z-probe itself and it's magnet - just unscrew the magnet, pop in the riser, and screw the magnet back in place. Done! Note: The Venturi cooling duct and elephant's trunk parts will not connect when using a Volcano and associated risers. You can still fit the elephant's trunk if you wish as you may simply like it, and it does quieten the fan. The Venturi cooling duct will function in it's default mode. IMPORTANT!!! For the love of all that's holy make sure your fully re-calibrate your printer from scratch before using it. As a safety net this J6 mount leaves the extruder nozzle just a smidge shorter than the factory setup. This is to allow for tolerances in printing an err on the side of not crashing one's head if one is daft enough not to re-calibrate post upgrade. Notes: 40mm duct fan: A 10mm thick fan will fit without issue but a 15mm one may clash with the effector arms at extremes of movement. I'm currently running a 15mm thick fan by the expedient of cutting off the lower mounting holes as they run up the side of the fan housing, while leaving the the plastic at the base for the mounting holes in tact. I have tried a 40mm thick "dual-fan" but it can't be made to fit. Elephant's Face: Do be sure you picked the right one to go with your fan thickness. The ears and tusks are not wholly for decoration. The ears have a stress-relieving line to help ensure the ABS doesn't warp while printing - it's very important it prints accurately. The tusks form a suitable attachment point between the lower face and the fan, should you need, as the lower face doesn't include screw holes to avoid the effector arms. Files: I've included .123dx, .stl, and .gcode files for pretty-well everything but the Volcano adapters. The .gcode files are intended for use with ABS and work well with my printer.

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