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Glare Shield Fan Grill

S

skelrad

Well Known Member
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The RV7/9 tip-ups leave very little room for "defrost" fans. I chose to use 50x50x20mm computer fans to fit into the small space available (much more airflow with the 20mm deep fans vs 10mm deep). I didn't like any of the off-the-shelf fan covers, so printed my own instead. These are made for the standard 40mm square screw hole pattern. They're pretty thin with the grill portion itself a little thicker (the thickness of the glare shield) to nest into the large hole. I attached these using black button head screws with the grill on the top of the glare shield, but you could also easily put them on the underside if you prefer. My only oops in the design is the center solid circle - I intended it to be the same size as the fan motor to cover it up, but I mistakenly used the dimensions for the diameter vs radius. I don't care enough to re-print.

Cost to print two was less than 20 cents. Make sure you use a material that can take at least a little heat, otherwise they'll likely warp in the sun - I used PETG, which I think will be fine.

Uploaded here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7143361

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In the sun, those will melt in PETG. You need to use something much more temperature proof. Aluminum would be the preferred, maybe get those cut by one of the online water jet places in thin AL
 
aadamson said:
In the sun, those will melt in PETG. You need to use something much more temperature proof. Aluminum would be the preferred, maybe get those cut by one of the online water jet places in thin AL
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They may very well not stand up to the heat. The deformation temp of PETG is around 160 F, which is probably on the edge for this use. If they can't take the heat, I'll just reprint in a higher temp resistant filament. These were my prototype prints (I usually just use PLA or PETG for initial prints that I'm testing), and they looked good enough that I just decided not to print them again. I do like the idea of just getting them cut in aluminum. I've used sendcutsend for a lot of designs in the past.
 
Looks like they'd be about $5 each to cut in aluminum at sendcutsend. Once I have a few more items to cut to get rid of the $20 in shipping, I think I'll go that route. Great idea. Learning to use CAD software for 3D printing has in itself opened up a whole new world for me in terms of fabrication, even well beyond building the RV.
 
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