Tuesday 16 December 2014

When bad rods happen to good print beds

Print Bed Assembly: The hex pillars I have just have a hole straight through, so I use M3x30 bolts to fasten them. A bit unclear which side of the PCB was up, but an image shows the side with MK2a turned up, I'll trust that.

It was a bit tricky to get the cable in right. Looping the cable loosely through the clamps before putting bed and dibond together would have been easier.

Again using that weird misdimensioned multicolored Conrad ribbon cable instead of polypropylene. I hope it doesn't cause weird electromagnetic effects.

Y Axis Assembly: Twisted green wires are a little short, but the manual says "about 750mm".

My microswitches have a little "blade" above the button. If it turns out to be a problem, I'm still orienting the button as indicated. Slotted screws are stupid. Throw rocks at them.

I don't see a mouse hole in the right stay (except for the one the motor is using). Around the side it is.

Great! The Y motor wires are way too short. Fix later.

Unclear which way the belt should be threaded through the idler. Does it matter? I know not yet.

Attached rods. The carriage does not slide lightly back and forth. If I don't hold against the frame, the entire machine moves along. That cannot be right. I suspect the odd matte rods I got are too rough, maybe. Could also be a side-effect of the holders not being fastened yet, but I would expect the manual to mention that. Also, the right-hand bearing was to be loose until now, but fastening it while on here is difficult.

Check out in this video how the frame moves along:



Additionally, the Y motor wires come out the top, where they would be better off coming out the side. I guess I misunderstood "downwards", but now at least I have an excuse to take off the motor and extend the wires.

I notice the right-hand rod holders were missing screws. Added, but since those rods were also of the bad kind, I didn't move further on that.

One of the first things to print would be more cable ties. I like a well-organized cable setup, and the printed parts only come with the bare minimum.

Current state of the machine (which should get a name soon):






















With that, since I won't have time to do more work the rest of the year, I will just wish you a Merry Christmas (or whichever) and a Gutes Rutsch.

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