I am recommissioning a very abandoned MPCNC with a new control board and to make life easier (i hope) i bought a SKR pro board from the shop
I intend to mount this under the table as I don’t think i’ll need to get to it too often
And looking at all the case designs out there I see they all feature many many fans and slots. 3D printer builders like fans.
Which is great for a 3D printed but i can see a CNC being much more of a dust monster
So how much cooling do these boards actually need?
Depends on your ambient temperature I suppose but I don’t think they really need a lot. On my first build I mounted the board on the underside too - I didn’t even put it in an enclosure - and it worked fine.
Passive cooling is fine. If you install a fan, you’ll never have to worry about overheating.
The skr pros use tmc2209 drivers. Those will automatically reduce current if they get too hot. It is hard to catch.
Wood or foam dust isn’t a problem. Aluminum chips are going to be. If you close it off too much, you’ll need a fan.
You can sit and explain to me in great detail and at great length why wood dust isn’t a problem
And i will agree with every single point you make
Then I’ll look at the electronics and think
“shouldn’t get dust on it”
Ok. Then a better solution may be to enclose it in something, put a fan on the box, and put a filter in front of the fan. That is overkill, but if you sleep better or it makes you proud, then it is worth it.
You don’t have to design a custom case and print it either. If you have the room, an oversized electrical box would work well, and give you enough room for all of your connections. You can easily cut a couple of holes, mount a fan, and add some filter material.
There should be a lot of skr pro cases by now though. With fans and filters.
A side question
i have the TFT screen which has card holes on the side
how often do you need to use the USB slot etc on the main board?
This just makes me smile…
I agree that dust is bad on my electronics, so I mount them vertical so the horizontal accumulation surface area is reduced. I like your idea of mounting them upside down underneath, but then it would only accumulate on the back side of the board. Not sure there is a good answer other than periodic air gun cleaning to ensure it isn’t building up.
If you want to print from the marlin side of the TFT screen, you need to put the files in the skr pro. If you are using the touchscreen, then the bigger sd in the screen is fine. They make microsd card extenders if it is hard to reach.