Anet A6 Control board cover with 8cm fan by Gnattycole

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

I took the original inspiration for this cover from tobbi007's design which was a copy of the original Anet controller cover, with the fan mountings and a hole added. I had it fitted to my A6 for a while after I noticed that the heatsinks on the control board were getting pretty hot during a print, especially some of the stepper drivers.
One of the other pet hates of mine is the rats nest of wires going on around the control board so I wanted to try and tidy up the appearance as well as adapt the original design for use in a Lack enclosure. This is phase one of the cover project, as the next stage is to try and design an inlet duct for the fan, fed from the underside of the Lack table top the printer is mounted on. This should help cool the board with fresh air from outside the enclosure and provide the enclosure with positive pressure to reduce the ingress of dust.
The design is intended to keep exposed wiring to a minimum and utilise the existing fasteners from the original printer design. Insert the two nuts into the T slots as usual and then slide the tenons into the slots of the main frame and secure with the screws. Before tightening, ensure the rear of the cover is located over the edge of the rear frame which holds it secure.
The cover has a cable guide built in, to help keep all the wiring to the front edge of the control board. This is intended to improve the air circulation over the control board and hear sinks. I routed most of the wiring behind the control board and then out from the sides where they plug in. The rest should be routed to the front edge of the board, immediately behind the printer main frame. I'm planning on bringing the 12 volt supply from the PSU up through the IKEA Lack table, directly inside the cover and connect to the board supply terminals. The fan can be connected here at the same time..