Bambu Lab A1 Cooling Project

 

This is an ongoing project for cooling my A1. It's a bit hacked together right now but everything works as intended, I'll try to find time to make it cleaner looking.

 

The current mods I can find right now either uses the 5V power from the extruder, which requires quite a bit of extra work. Or uses a thermo switch, which can only do on/off states. I wanted something with more control, so I searched around and found this 2-channel temperature controlled PWM fan controller board, which can take up to 60v as input. This would be perfect for the A1 since it has an extra molex port in the back that provides 24V. 

 

My ideal setup would be one sensor attached to the extruder motor, and one attached to the main board inside the base. But right now I just don't have the time to take apart the A1 and rout the wires. So for now, I'm putting both sensors on the extruder motor. The setup should be pretty straight foward, if you need instructions please comment below, I'll write up something.

 

As for setting up the fan controller, the English translation is pretty bad, so here's the easy to understand version. There are essentially two settings that matters here: 

• Idle fan speed, short press “OK” when powered on, ranges from 10-100%.
• Fan curve temperatures, long press “OK” when powered on, you'll be able to set a “low” and a “high” temperature in Celsius.

 

What you'll need:

24v PWM Fans *3:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CN39MCPL

Molex Micro-Fit 3.0 Plugs: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078Q798L9

18 AWG Two Conductor Wires: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BGS6CGV3

2 Channel DC PWM Controller: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804938615740.html

M3 Hex Socket Screws: 12mm *8, 10mm *4, 8mm *4

M3 Nuts *16

 

Extruder fan mount can be found here: https://makerworld.com/en/models/464018#profileId-397935