Dr Boo's CR-10 Squash Feet by DrBoo

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

A token tip if you use/like this would make my day.
Edit: 25/4/2018 - added a bit of tolerance (0.4 mm) to the screw holes so that they're easier to use. You can change TOLERANCE and and SCREW_DIAMETER in the scad file if you want to adjust things.
I did some actual measurements using an app on my phone ("Sound Meter"). I placed the phone on a raised support just in front of the electronics box. With the printer switched off (i.e., ambient noise) I averaged 14 dB over 1 minute reading. With the printer switched on, 25 dB (all fan noise, of course). I removed the squash ball feet and saw about the same, perhaps a 1 dB increase which I put down to the machine now sitting on a hard wooden surface and getting some noise from vibration. Negligible difference, though. Next I started the same print twice and ran it for a minute to determine the average noise both with and without the squash ball feet installed. Without the squash ball feet, the noise level was 35 dB average. With the squash ball feet, the noise was 28 dB average. Conclusion - in this test the squash ball feet made a difference of 7 dB for the same print, which is quite significant. Note that this machine already has the vibration dampeners installed.
TESTIMONIALS...
"Works great !
Very effective reduction of sounds and vibrations."
"Love them. They print and attach easy and the printer is making so much less noise, it's incredible. I could barely believe it! :o Thumbs up and thanks!"
"Excellent. Better than supporting the printer on the foam packaging that it came in."
"I thought it can't be better than the original box's foam under the printer. I was wrong. It does way better job than the foam."
"Solved a lot of vibration problems as well as the fast movements. Thanks!!"
"These feet are Amazing!
I installed them at the same time as I installed stepper dampers. The fans are the only thing I can hear now!"
"Super simple mod, cut the noise down significantly, very happy!"
"Wow! What a difference in noise!!!!! - I really appreciate the designers time and efforts. This printed easily and well. The noise reduction is quite incredible. The transmission of noise through the bench upon which the CR-10 3D printer rests, through the walls and floor, and into the downstairs bedroom where it was keeping my children awake at night (and hence could not be used) is simply incredible! I would estimate a 90% decrease in the noise transmitted through the floors / walls etc. In the printing room itself, the printer is also now FAR more quiet than it was before. A VERY worthwhile thing to download and print, and a huge credit to the designer."
"The difference in the sound generate when printing is astonishing - previously, I could hear the printer through a solid brick wall, but now I can't. Even sitting right next to the printer, the sound produced is very low, pretty-much drowned out by my noisy fans (that's the next upgrade)."
"Easy to installed and shocked at how much they cut down on the noise!"
SQUASH FEET...
Derived from "Squashball Feet" by kaktus2 (see link on this page), this is a redesign using OpenSCAD to generate the STL. Kudos to kaktus2 for the original idea and implementation. I wanted to get away from the (slightly) fragile arms of the original, and I found that a solid ring was good enough to hold the ball, and yet still allow its insertion. This version does not need to be printed solid; the one shown in the pictures uses 10% infill and it's quite sturdy. I used a two-part print to get the colour band; the idea is to keep the "racing stripe" theme of the CR-10 going. To do two-colour prints, set your slicer to end the first part ("stop printing at height") at Z = 22.10 mm. Print that, and when it ends swap in the new filament colour and cycle the extruder a bit so all the old colour is gone. Then print the second part with the slicer set with Z starting ("start printing at height") at 22.10 mm. Easy as! Of course you can just print in one go, in one colour.
Squash is an actual sport. It's fast and exhausting. Look it up! I played it a lot, in my youth. To complete this build you will need one squash ball per part you print. Use a yellow-dot ball if you can - these are softer and less inflated.
This design seems to have dramatically reduced resonance and noise from my printer which was sitting on a wood desk on a wood floor. I think there has been a slight improvement (i.e., reduction in ringing ... ghosting... in the prints it produces, too).
I'm including the OpenSCAD source file. It's a real quick hack, and not pretty at all. But it's there so you can see how it's done and modify it if you need to. Apologies for the lack of comments.