I am looking for information on the degree of cooling the control electronics need. I am assuming that the breakout board will not heat up much (that could be naive) but I am wondering about the three stepper drivers. Do these need to be actively cooled. The same site also sells AC fans rated at 28 cfm. If I ere to use these fans, how many do you reckon I would need to keep everything running happily. Will I need to add external heat sinks to the drivers or breakout board, or will a little bit of airflow over them keep them running reasonably cool.
For reference, I probably wont be doing too many extensively long runs with the machine, but on the other hand I really don't want to cook those expensive electronics, and I am willing to pay a little extra to buy some extra fans.
I always install fans and filters in my control boxes. They are installed at the bottom and blow air into the enclosure to pressurize it. The air exhaust is at the top on the opposite side. CFM is a complicated calculation and most just install a fan and see what happens. Make sure you pick a large enough frame size so you can easily upgrade to a higher flow if needed. Keep all heat emitting electronics at the top of the enclosure. If things get above certain temps, you must derate all components and wires for the higher temps which usually means specifying components with a higher current carrig capacity.
Cooling Fans for Control Electronics
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