Creality Ender-3 v3 KE, Heat Creep, Fan replacement

Last Modified: Tue, 18 Feb 2025 23:02:24 +0000 ; Created: Sat, 15 Feb 2025 18:36:20 +0000

Had an issue with the 3D printer stopping mid-print and not dispensing filament. Other times it would clog and not extrude. Turns out the hotend fan was going bad (not spinning correctly, loud noise) which caused heat creep melting the filament in the bowden tube. Contacted the OEM since it was only 6 months into the warranty, but their support did not respond.

I purchased an aftermarket replacement FAN WINSINN DC 25mm Fan 24V 2510 Hydraulic Bearing Brushless Cooling 25mmx10mm 2PIN, but the connector size was too large. The only option was a Creality brand replacement part, but if the original didn't last long I figured it wasn't worth trying again.

I decided to make an adapter cable to go from the smaller (OEM) JST-GH 1.5mm male connector to a more common JST-XH 2.54mm female connector. This did require soldering the original cable from the broken fan to the adapter cable. Now I can swap out for more common fans or even a larger fan in the future, and the extra cable length means it is easier to remove.

Photo of the OEM fan that stopped working and removal of the wire

New adapter wire

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Marking the direction the fan should turn

I wanted to ensure the red to red and black to black worked against the controller panel since I heard that sometimes Creality has the pin-out reversed. It was a straight match of red-to-red and black-to-black.