Table HDD Cooler - Modular

Do you need to copy a large amount of data to/from an HDD? You might want to cool that drive, to achieve best performance and to prevent damage!

This 3D printed system can cool a various electronic components to prevent their overheating while you put them under a heavy load. It is mainly intended to be used by data recovery professionals, to cool drives/mobile phones while they make a bit copy of their data. 
 

Printing instructions:

• I have tested prints with PLA and ASA and both are working just fine.
• Do not print with supports! This is designed to print without them with no problems. 
• You can enable brim, if you have bed adhesion problems.
• Infill is not important, you can set it to 10-15% and you will be fine.
• Strength of this model comes from number of walls, I would highly recommend to print with 3-4 outside walls.

Since this is a system of parts, let me explain what parts do you need:
 

• First you need to get the base, there comes your first choice: Passive or Active cooling?
  • For passive cooling just choose between PassiveBaseLong and PassiveBaseShort and you are good.
  • For active cooling you will always need ActiveBaseHDDMount. Then you need to decide between printing one ActiveBasePrintInPlace or one ActiveBaseAssemblyBase and four ActiveBaseAssemblyConnector. It does not matter if you choose “Print in place” version or the “Assembly” version, but if your printer can handle the long and thin posts, I would prefer the "Print in placeů version.
• Once you have your Base you are good for cooling 3.5 and 2.5 inch HDDs and SSDs, however if you want to expand your capabilities, you can add an Adapter:
  • There are 3 adapters: AdapterUniversalGrill, AdapterSpecialPGrill and AdapterSpecialGGrill. Universal adapter is good for M.2 drives and Mobile phones. When it comes to the two special adapters, they are made for special data recovery tools, and you probably do not need those.  

Now for the assembly instructions:

• There is no assembly required for PassiveBaseLong and PassiveBaseShort. However be warned, that there is some sacrificial bridging present (on HDD retention cones), you will have to break it after printing. Inserting your first drive into the Base, could do that, but if that fails, or you want to be carefull, you can carefully push on the cones with a pen, until the thin bridging breaks and you are left with springy retention cones.
• If you chose ActiveBasePrintInPlace, you will have to make an PC fan sandwich. First you put standard 120 mm pc fan on the long vertical connectors, then you crown your sandwich with ActiveBaseHDDMount. (Then you will need to break of some sacrificial bridging in the same way as you would for the passive bases.) This part is symmetrical, so you can put it on either way, however I would recommend, that you align align HDD mount with the connectors in a such way, that you can then push on the sides of connectors to disassemble the parts. 
• For the ActiveBaseAssemblyBase, you will need four ActiveIntakeAssemblyConnector, that you will simply insert into holes in the base and twist them 90 degrees, to lock them in place. Then you continue in the same way as if you had “ActiveBasePrintInPlace”.
• Now for the Adapters. The “ActiveBaseHDDMount” and "PassiveBases" are not symmetrical, therefore when you want to clip them on, you will have to align them correctly. To do that, I have put the word “SATA” on “ActiveBaseHDDMount” and a small bump on one of the corners for “PassiveBases”. You will have to align them to small bumps on the Adapters. 
• Optional PC fan upgrade. If you want, you can solder USB connector to the 120mm fan and you can then power it with significantly more convenient connector. You can also use DC step-up module (for example MT3608), to get more power from your USB, by raising the voltage to your fan.

It is based on idea from DNA Computerworks LLC, however all parts are designed by me from scratch, to be more 3D printer friendly and to not require any screws.