fan-adapterI've enjoyed using my 3D printer to solve little problems around the house. This project was extra amusing: I wanted to solve a problem I had with my 3D printer that I wanted to solve with the 3D printer.

My Monoprice Select Mini 3D Printer is a basic unit built to a low cost, and I'm probably using it a lot more than it was designed for. The first component to show serious wear was the tiny 30mm cooling fan, a simple unit with a cheap sleeve bearing that wore out. As a result the fan started vibrating and making quite a racket.

I could easily buy a direct replacement fan online, but where's the fun in that? I have a 40mm fan just lying around anyway. Let's make an adapter!

For a while I was stymied by the fact that the two fans were mounted in opposite and inconvenient directions. The original 30mm fan screws were pointed in the direction of airflow, and the original 40mm fan screws were pointed against the airflow. This meant that when one set of fasteners were mounted on an adapter, holes for the other set would be blocked.

I spent approximately an hour tearing my hair out trying to design something clever, to no avail. Then clumsiness came to the rescue: I held the cooling duct (which the fan would be mounted on) in my hand, trying to think, when I accidentally dropped it. When it hit the floor, it fell apart into two pieces.

The duct was actually two pieces fit snugly against each other. All this time I had thought it was a single piece! With the two pieces apart, the interior of the duct became accessible. This meant I could use the 30mm fan screws opposite of the original direction (pointed against the airflow) where it is no longer blocked by the 40mm fan.

Suddenly the adapter project became trivial.

"Oops" moment for the win!