From the "SUCCESS!!!" Comes in Many Flavors Dept... 1) So... after some small amount of misery and self-mutilation, I finally got a semi-successful print after pretty much completely rebuilding the hotend and performing open-heart
molestation surgery on my 3DP. Looks a little fuzzy around the edges, but it did at least complete the print.
2) For a change, removing the supports did not fight me at all; they pulled out easily and in one piece. I was quite surprised by this, given how deep inside the piece they extend.
C) Print quality is
"Ehhhh..." at best; calling it a successful print is probably pushing it. Most of the fuzzies will go away with a little fire tho...
4) Okay... make that a lot of fire. And a zip-tie.
But still... good enough for Proof-of-Concept on my muffler tailpiece.
5) Money shot...? Taking measurements. Qa-plahh! Okay...
6) Side By Side with stock unit. Well, it did work as intended; I was able to fit the tailpiece on the PSU, and overall appearance is as intended. A successful print would tidy up the look of the PSU without adding appreciable length with a stock IEC cord; however 90° cords are right out. And left out. They're just... OUT.
The data: (SMH made a complete dog's breakfast of the
"Tables" function, so just a quick screencap from an online generator
)
Installed, the tailpiece does make a noticeable reduction in the perceived noise level with it sitting on the desktop. The higher-pitched elements are reduced quite a bit; but it is still somewhat distracting in a quiet workspace.
It took several runs to get any meaningful data; I was starting just as the city was waking up and even with the kids sent back upstairs for half an hour, ambient noise varied 5-7dB as the noise of traffic and devices running in the house varied. Eventually I got a good run with muffler both on and off; measured at back of unit, front of unit, and 1 meter level with unit; then out of curiosity, again at 1 meter with a cloth dropped over the front of the PSU to muffle the inlet area.
And the takeaway...
While my tailpiece does tidy up the look of the unit (and I do have plans to make a similar front piece) and makes a 3-5dB difference in noise measured at the back of the unit, the single most effective noise abatement attack was to throw the thing under my desk. We'll see what difference, if any, adding the frontpiece makes; as muffling the inlet area did make a noticeable and measurable difference with the unit on the desktop.
mnem
*back into the suck*