Ok, so here’s the deal. My exhaust fan quit in my pro today. I followed the directions here and I removed the left side glass and the heat sink. I cleaned the fan and all that good stuff and it just won’t run, I’m guessing it’s just dead. Anyway, I have only had this machine like 5 weeks but I don’t have time to be sending it back and waiting on getting it back again. I have orders I need to fill and I need this thing running. So my question to you guys is what should I do. Just leave the exhaust fan out and order an external fan from Amazon I can have Wednesday? I did try an engrave this evening before I took the thing apart and it engraved even though the fan wasn’t running. I feel like I’m so stuck between a rock and a hard place. My warranty versus trying to start a business and can’t just put it on hold. Anyway, if I should go with an external, what size and model and all that? I don’t have a ton of room.
If there isn’t a problem with the exhaust fan not being there, you could just get an external booster fan. That’ll give you more control over when the fan runs, as well as ease of access for cleaning. Are you venting outside or filtering? Last I heard the GF exhaust moved about 200CFM, so whatever fan fits that bill should work fine 
I exhaust out a window. I overnighted an exact same fan today from Mouser that should be here tomorrow I can install to get me going. Seem like the external may be the way to go though. I hate this because I am only 5 weeks into my warranty. The problem is I have customers and I can’t wait to send this whole thing to GF and wait on getting it back. I like the idea of an external fan but I don’t have tons of space and people on FB were recommending a 8" fan and then I have to reduce on each side and all that. I wish I knew a better solution.
External fan for the win. The only concern* will be if they update the firmware to halt the unit if it doesn’t detect the exhaust fan tachometer signal (which it seems they do not do now).
*Other than (possibly) your warranty. There is some debate about this, and you might not actually void your warranty by repairing it yourself.
Scott, thank you for replying. Do you have any input on a specific size and model of actual in line fan to go with? I see a lot of people saying go with one of the 8" fans but I don’t have a ton of room so that is a consideration.
Oh, also, I still have to comment on another thread here but I “thought” I had the same fan ordered but somehow I screwed that up to and I got an a99 instead of an s99. Do you know the difference in the two fans? I’m currently on Sunon website trying to figure that out. I am having an extremely bad day and ready to be done with this situation.
As I posted in the other thread, the A99 does not have PWM control and as such, it will run at full speed as soon as the unit is powered up. As you may have noticed when yours was working, it’s quite loud.
I am running with just an external / in-line duct fan, and it’s working just fine.
You are correct, somehow I got the wrong one, and I was careful to get the right one. Just adds to the bad 2 days I’m having. $50 including overnight shipping down the drain. Anyway, what inline fan are you using? A lot of people are saying get the 8" and run it half speed. I don’t have a ton of space and all so that is a concern of mine. Thank you in advance for any help you can give.
I use a 4" inline duct fan:
Due to the nature of my work space, I have to run a 25" flexible duct, so I bought this fan early on to help ensure fumes were extracted without issue. I’m happy to find that since my GF exhaust fan died, this fan alone is capable of keeping up with smoke and fumes. It’s also very quiet.
I ordered a 390cfm fan tonight on Amazon for like $55 should be here Thursday.
Ok, so I got my external in line 6" fan today. I hooked it up and all and even on high I’m getting a lot of smoke smell in the room. Any thoughts on this anybody?
Nope. I’m running the same 4" 190cfm fan I shared earlier (without the internal fan) and I get no smoke/odor in my work space…
Yeah, disregard my previous post lol. Pretend I didn’t post that, nothing to see her, move on along lol.
My dumbass in all the trying to get everything done had the fan the wrong direction lol. At least I can laugh at myself lol.
Hey eflyguy did you put yours on compact filter mode or do you still let the intake fan run?
I haven’t touched that setting. The original fan that came with mine is in the trash after I tested it to determine it was dead. I cut off and saved the wire harness in case I need to hook into the GF PWM/Tach sensor at some later date.
So you’re just running it like normal, you just don’t have a exhaust fan in it? GF contacted me today and said they are going to go ahead and send out a replacement for me, and I just have to send mine back.
Been there, done that.
Funny story: When I was designing the first version of the OpenGlow board, I reversed the transmit and receive lines for the serial port. Didnt realize it until the boards came back from fab. When I was working on version 2, I forgot I already fixed it in the design file, and I reversed them again. Both versions of the boards have ugly rework to fix it. Oops.
Did the same thing for the head board, though only once.
Nothing ever works out easy, even with this 390CFM fan running on high I’m getting a lot of smoke smell in the room. I have tried it with the intake fan running and I have also tried it with turning on compact filter mode so the intake fan doesn’t run. Anybody have any constructive thoughts?
Intake fan runs whether or not the CF switch is set.
I am only using the fan I mentioned above, I get no smoke smell.
The intake fan on mine does not run if I turn it to compact filter. Even before my exhaust fan quit, when I turn it to compact filter the exhaust and intake fans both did not run. The assist fan on the gantry runs, and I assume the little fan on the print head board runs. Not the intake fan though.