CPAP SwitchBlade air box for Rat Rig V-Core 3/3.1 printers

This is the SwitchBlade CPAP air box for a Rat Rig V-Core printer.

The key feature of this air box is that it has a vertical 'SwitchBlade' slide slector that allows a WS7040 CPAP fan to either draw warm part cooling air from inside the enclosure for printiong ABS and nylons, or cold air from outside the enclosure for printing PLA or PETG parts. It is part of my family of Gold Series upgrades for the V-Core 3 printers.

The SwitchBlade air box has been designed to be an easy retrofit to an already assembled printer. It fits all versions of Rat Rig V-Core printers.

Both 15mm and 19mm internal diameter hose adaptors are included in the files. A 19mm hose is quieter and will flow more air.

The only panel that needs to be modified to fit this to a Rat Rig V-Core printer is an extra cut out in the small horizontal rear shelf panel above the electronics panel. I cut mine with a hack saw.

All parts are printed in their as installed orientation except for:

1. The hose adaptor
2. The main air box

Which are both printed upside down.

All parts are designed to be printed without supports, except for the main air box.

The main airbox will need a support just under the edge of the walls for the part of the air box that slides under the rear extrusion.

It is preferable to print the fan damper mount from TPU95A to make the setup as quiet as possible. I print it with a 20% gyroid infill as typically this infill has very good damping properties.

Coffee fund
If decide to make a donation to my coffee fund (which keeps me up late at night doing more of this stuff) I would appreciate it. There is absolutely no obligation for you to do this. My PayPal account is [email protected]

Please remember to post feed back as it is always valuable to me for future iterations.

Many thanks.
Liam Venter
MFBS Design

BOM

2 x M8 10 mm cap screws and T-nuts (for mounting collar to extrusions)

2 x M5 x 10 mm cap screw and T nuts for mounting airbox bod

8 x CSK (or cap head) M3 x 10mm dscrews for mounting bottom plate

3 x gauge 3, CSK self taping screws for mounting fan (preferred)

3 x CSK M2.5 for mounting fan (alternative)

Category: 3D Printer Parts

Updates
24/09/24
Resized hole in the top to fit both 15 mm and 19 mm CPAP V2 hose adapters
Remodelled 15mm and 19 mm hose adapter to fit new hole in the top.