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Friday, January 24, 2020

3D printer updates

Tried printing something on the i3. The X axis was reversed because I had the belt tensioner flipped over. I can't flip it the other way because the extruder motor's connector interferes because I rotated it so it wouldn't rub on the top frame on tall prints. So I can't use the belt tensioner. That's the third or fourth x axis belt tensioner I've tried...may just have to design my own. I went back to screws + zip ties.

Did some more work on the CubeX, mainly taking it apart. I found more examples of decent engineering and terrible engineering.

Nice little rubber + plastic grommets around the screws to protect the acrylic. 

Many of the corner holes were cracked like this. 

Shell off

Feet screw off. Didn't end up needing to remove these.

Some parts are fancy expensive CNC milled, some, like these
belt clamps, are just pieces of laser cut acrylic stacked. 

Removed those dumb stainless steel cylinders. 

These acrylic clips were nice. Removed the filament tubes.

Why are these shaped like that? $$

These were the little filament tube ends. Turned and threaded. $$ 

Got the X-Y portion off


Getting there... 

The single linear bearing on one of the X axis rails was shot. The wider one is ok, but it's far too wide for a single extruder. I'll replace both with nicer bearings + holders. The Y-axis bearings seem ok. 

To do: 
  • Replace X axis bearing blocks with more standard ones with new, nicer bearings
  • Design and make a new single extruder X axis carriage plate.
  • Select extruder + hot end. Might use stock extruder + e3d v6 hot end
  • Replace bed plate with a square one (still aluminum). May not need this depending on how I mount the build surface.
  • Add a large AC heated bed + glass build surface.
  • Replace the flimsy lexan Z axis plate thing
  • Replace the reed switches with mechanical switches.
  • Add a standard control board. Put the screen/control interface where the old one was. Will need a relay for the AC bed. May need something fancy to drive the big Z axis stepper.
  • New x axis belt tensioner
  • Design and laser cut top cover and side covers. Maybe use magnets to hold them on


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