Cooling Settings in Cura

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Cooling settings in Cura allow you to enable layer fans during printing, these ensure that the material is properly cooled before printing the next layer.

For parts with bridges or overhangs, cooling can increase print quality.

Proper layer fan settings can make all the difference in the appearance and accuracy of your printed models.

In this article, I will guide you through the different cooling settings in Cura so you can get the most out of your 3D printer.

Enable print cooling

With this setting, you can enable or disable the layer fans during printing. The fans ensure that the material is properly cooled before printing the next layer.

For layers with a short layer time and those with bridges/overhangs, cooling will increase print quality.

To activate the layer fans follow these steps:

• Open Ultimaker Cura and select the print profile you want to modify.
• Go to the “Cooling” tab.
• Make sure the “Enable Print Cooling” option is enabled.

fan speed

When the printhead fans are enabled, you can change certain parameters, one is the fan speed.

Controlling the fan speed can help improve layer quality and prevent problems such as warping.

A higher speed allows for better cooling, reduced dripping and stringing, but can also increase material shrinkage.

This is why the speed may be different for different materials.

This setting is divided into the following parameters:

• regular fan speed: The speed at which the fan spins before reaching a threshold. When a layer is printed faster than the threshold, the speed gradually increases towards the maximum fan speed.

• Maximum fan speed: The speed at which the fan rotates in the minimum layer time. The fan speed gradually increases between the normal fan speed and the maximum fan speed after reaching the threshold.

For PLA I recommend always using a speed of 100% for the fans, with the exception of materials that may cause warping problems such as ABS, Nylon where I would use a speed of 50%. You should also do your own tests.

Normal/maximum fan speed threshold

The normal/maximum fan speed threshold determines when the layer fan will begin spinning at its normal or maximum speed.

Slower printing layers use the normal fan speed. For faster layers, the maximum fan speed is increased.

This setting defines the layer time in which the fan will switch between normal speed and maximum fan speed.

*By default for an Ender 3, Cura sets this value to 10.0s

Initial fan speed

It is used only for the first layer., in which the object is adhered to the build plate.

Usually The fans are disabled in the first layer to promote adhesion from the material to the build plate.

The speed then changes back to normal fan speed, which is achieved once the height setting for normal fan speed is reached.

By default, this setting is set to 0.0 for an Ender 3

Normal fan speed at height

This is the height at which the fans will ramp up to full speed.

In the lower layers, the fan speed will gradually increase from zero to normal fan speed.

It is also possible to change this parameter by adjusting the layer number at which the fans should be at full speed.

Using a higher value increases bed adhesion, but can also result in bleeding and reduced print quality. Printing with the fans at maximum from a height of 0.5 mm is usually sufficient.

This value may change automatically when changing the layer height.

Minimum layer time

The minimum layer time determines how long it should take to print one layer.

If a layer would normally take less time than the set value, the printer slows down so that the minimum layer time is reached.

This allows the material to cool before printing the next layer.

Minimum speed

This is the minimum speed at which the printer is forced to print, despite being reduced to the minimum layer time.

When the printer slows down too much, the pressure at the nozzle is too low and results in poor print quality.

For example, if a minimum layer time of 5 seconds requires the printer to print at a speed of 8 mm/s, it will only do so if at least 8 mm/s is set as the minimum speed.

If the minimum speed is set to 10mm/s, that means it will not print at a speed lower than 10mm/s and the layer time will change accordingly, and will then be less than 5 seconds.

raise the head

Enabling this setting allows the print head to move away from the print during printing, while at minimum speed, but when it has not yet reached the minimum layer time.

The print head will wait until the minimum layer time has passed and then return to printing to continue.

This allows the material to cool while at minimum speed.

Improve Ender 3 ventilation

Here are some popular options for you improve layer ventilation on the Ender 3 3D printer, along with the links to download the files from Thingiverse:

1.Hero Me Fan Duct

The Hero Me Fan Duct is a highly customizable layer ventilation system compatible with the Ender 3. It offers excellent cooling to improve print quality, especially when printing with materials that require good heat dissipation.

You can find different versions and configurations on Thingiverse to adapt it to your needs.

Download link: Hero Me Fan Duct on Thingiverse

video youtube: Teaching Tech (Automatic subtitles available)

2.Bullseye Duct

The Bullseye Duct is another popular design that improves layer ventilation on the Ender 3.

This duct directs airflow precisely towards the nozzle and build piece, resulting in better cooling and higher print quality. It's also available on Thingiverse.

Download link: Bullseye Duct on Thingiverse

video youtube: Teaching Tech (Automatic subtitles available)

3. Satsana Fan Duct

The Satsana Fan Duct is another popular design that provides better cooling for the Ender 3.

This duct connects directly to the existing layer fan and effectively directs airflow towards the nozzle and build piece, thus improving print quality.

You can also find it on Thingiverse.

Download link: Satsana Fan Duct on Thingiverse

video youtube: Lucas 3D

Continue reading about the speed settings.