ZD-915 Fan mount

The ZD-915 is a great desoldering station, dispite it's few design flaws. This printable piece tries to solve one of them. Allowing the fan to move more air by providing an opening that isn't just a few tiny holes stamped into the metal casing.

The fan is also installed “backwards”, sucking outside air into the device. This is a little odd, usually fans are installed to rather blow out air out, which is more effective. But I might be wrong here, perhaps the designers did this for a reason? Additionally the fan is massively overloaded by the applied voltage. It's rated for 12V, but supplied around 18V, leading to much faster spinning, loud noise and most likely negative impact on it's live expetency.

How to install:

• Cut out the opening by using e.g. sturdy side cutters. The sheet metal is very soft, work your way around the perforation that the “vent holes” form.
• Don't forget to debur the sharp edges!
• Install the fan together with this printed piece. (optional: reverse its direction. This makes the fan push air out instead of sucking it in, makeing cooling more efficient I believe)
• Install the step-down (buck) converter module between power supply and fan. Adjust it's output to roughly 12V. Mount it somewhere and make sure it can not cause any shorts in the future! Heat shrink is a good method, don't stick it somewhere via hot glue! These module generate heat that could potentially melt the glue.
• Close everything back up. Note that those screws connecting to the plastic front have slightly longer threads!
• Enjoy the much more silent operation :)