Tag Archives: 2020

3D Printing: Ashtar K Printer: Motor & Belts

Brief update of motors, belts, threaded rods and end stops mounted:

X Axis

I switched from slider based carriage to the nylon wheel (23.0mm OD, 7.3mm width) based carriage (X and Z axis), apprx. 120cm belt length.

 

Y Axis Belt

Apprx. 90cm belt length – with some considered cutting X + Y ~ 2m belt length.

This part was tricky – the parts are glued to bottom of the wooden carriage:

  1. mark the positions of the sliders (left: 65mm distance from top and bottom, left: center of top/bottom)
  2. glue 2x sliders on the left (where the Y motor is mounted)
  3. glue 1 slider on the right side
  4. put carriage on the rails, avoid any horizontal movement, push it slightly down (a slight snapping you sense from the sliders)
  5. let it rest (don’t touch or move it) for 30min – glue must dry
  6. move Y carriage gently forward & backward; if there is slight resistance then
    1. loosen all screws of the right 2020 beam so you can move it sideways
    2. then move carriage forward and backward and let the beam slightly find its new position
    3. when the carriage moves gently without resistance
    4. fasten the screws gently
    5. retest and if it’s still resitance, repeat procedure
    6. this is a bit tedious work, but worth it

This part is to do next (once I concluded those PTFE pipe chunk based sliders do their job well):

  1. drill holes and use Zip ties to fasten sliders
  2. glue Y carriage belt mount, let it dry
  3. mount GT2 belt to carriage belt mount
  4. fasten Y carriage belt mount with screws: drill holes from the bottom side

 

I will make some short videos of putting the carriage together and mounting it – it’s quite fast to attach and detach with those sliders (no screws to unfasten).

Z Axis

I extended the corner brackets so the Z stepper motors can be inserted, this weakens the part but saves quite a lot of space and hides the threaded rods nicely behind the 2020 Z beams. I might work on those brackets later to increase rigidity again.

Currently I use M6 threaded rods for the Z axis, one cycle gives 1mm height change.

X, Y, Z Motion & Homing

Flashing the Anet 1.0 board (which I currently use) with latest Marlin, this was required:

  • using Arduino Uno R3 (clone), installing Arduino ISP on it
  • cabling Uno R3 with Anet board (Uno powers Anet board with 5V, all stepper motors or power detached)
  • installing Bootloader (“Burning Bootloader”) with “Arduino as ISP” as writer
  • downloading latest Marlin, copying Anet Configuration.h and starting to change it

Finally, after hours fiddling around (bad install of Arduino failed to compile and/or upload anything to my Uno R3) the LCD display greeted with “Marlin 1.1.8” 🙂

Moving X, Y and Z axis briefly, 380 x 300 x 320 build volume with the current V carriage with 23mm OD, 7.3mm width nylon wheels – no extruder and no bed heating and leveling yet.

3D Printing: Ashtar K Printer: Carriages (X, Y, Z)

State: Work in progress

As I finished the frame, I focused on the carriages:

  • X carriage: moving left to right with the hotend with Bowden setup to keep it light: Wheel-based Carriage
  • Y carriage: moving bed forward and backward, relatively heavy with 400×300 bed with a mirror to ensure flatness: leaning toward Sliding Carriage
  • Z carriage: moving up and down with X carriage: Wheel-based Carriage

XZ Frame with X- and Z-Carriages

I made some tests with sliding carriage (composed with PTFE tubes), and finally the Nylon wheels arrived and I began to review two kinds of wheels:

  • 23mm OD, 7.3mm width: even it’s wider it sits better in the T slot 2020 alu extrusion
  • 23mm OD, 7.0mm width: is bit more narrow, but doesn’t sit well on the extrusion

So, I put the 23/7.3 nylon wheel on the V plate to compose a V carriage, and applied to X and Z axis:

Y Carriage

The nylon wheels work very well, given the fine-tuning capability, whereas the sliding approach with 2 axis support (PTFE tubes in sliding direction plus vertical to stay in line) doesn’t give tuning capability.

Currently I lean toward the more simple slider (white PLA) with 2 axis stabilization, as with the wheel-based carriage too much vertical force will be applied to the wheel in a perpendicular manner and wear the wheels rather fast.

One of the challenges is to mount three such sliders on the bed – two can mounted quite freely (with margin of 1-2mm) whereas the 3rd slider needs to be mounted very precise.

I update this post as I progress.

3D Printing: Ashtar K Printer: Frame

State: Work in progress

Building 3D Printer Ashtar K starting with the frame using 2020 T slot 6 alu extrusions, changing design slightly from 9x 500mm to 11x 500mm as early tests showed the XZ frame wasn’t stable enough toward Y bed – so two additional beams (later photos in the series) to make XZ frame sturdy toward the bed.

and the current state more or less:

20180811_152129

While waiting for wheels to arrive I thought to make some tests with sliders composed with PTFE tubes (4mm and 3mm in diameter) – I might actually use them in the X axis and Y axis:

The building volume with the 500mm beams can be stretched to 380 x 300 x 360mm, if the X carriage is short(er) – this means, the bed can be 400 x 300.

3D Printing: Sliding on Alu Extrusions

State: Early draft, work in progress and likely will receive updates.

Updates

  • 2018/08/15: Added Slider with PTFE tube inlets with 1 and 2 axis support with photos and brief test video
  • 2018/08/05: First overview with a 3 approaches

While waiting for the shipment to arrive, I thought to study some of the alternatives to wheels on alu extrusions, such as sliders.

2020 Nut 6 B - 999991_1

Nylon 2020 Slider

gleiter-glatt-b-typ-nut-6_3Commercially manufactured, apprx. cost EUR 2.50 per piece, sold in 10 pieces bag.

 

 

 

 

 

3D Printed Sliders

Simple Slider

A simple replicate of one of the simple 2020 sliders:

The sliding nose is 5.8mm wide. Ideally this would be printed in nylon; PLA might work as well but tends to stick more and grease or oil is required therefore.

TODO

  • print samples and measure friction with PLA
  • publish model

Slider (2 Sides) with PTFE tubes

Improving the simple slider with 10mm long 4mm PTFE chunks to decrease surface and use proper material for sliding:

screenshot-from-2018-08-15-06-21-23.png

and in use for the Y axis of a Prusa i3 like style:

20180813_084627

and a small improvement to take care of the 2nd axis as well (reducing 2nd axis wiggle):

Screenshot from 2018-08-15 06-21-15

20180817_102329

and then mounting them with a carriage together with M3 screws to control tightness:

and a brief test:

Slider (4 Sides) Carriage with PTFE tubes

A bit more complex using PTFE tubes on all 4 sides:

each inner side has 8 tube chunk insets, which gives you the variable option:

  • 4 chunks (a 10mm) x 4 sides = 160mm total
  • 8 chunks (a 10mm) x 4 sides = 320mm total
  • 12 chunks (a 10mm) x 4 sides = 480mm total
  • 16 chunks (a 10mm) x 4 sides = 640mm total

The OpenSCAD module takes parameters such as length of the carriage and the diameter of the PTFE tube (e.g. 3mm or 4mm), default length 60mm.

And the adjustable version with 75mm width looks like this:

which breaks the one surface apart with the mounting hole; if a plate would use all 4 holes that side would become non-adjustable that way – so this isn’t ideal, but perhaps work for single side use.

A possible application as X carriage and two Z carriages in a Prusa i3 use case:

printer-ak-with-sliders

TODO

  • print model and make actual physical tests, measure friction of the possible options
  • publish model

 

 

End of Page

3D Printer Ashtar K

Status: fully functional and fine-tuned, two printers in use, my working horses

Ashtar K
Ashtar K IDEX – Draft

Updates:

  • 2021/02/11: Multiple Switching Extrusion (MSE), Rotating Tilted Nozzle (RTN) and Penta Axis (PAX) Option added (drafts)
  • 2021/01/14: Option for IDEX (Independent Dual Extrusion), early draft (not yet tested)
  • 2019/09/02: Modification of routing belt within 2020 alu profile
  • 2019/03/04: Updated photos and removed outdated parts
  • 2018/12/10: Added Bowden extruder photos and BOM
  • 2018/11/15: 2nd build of “Ashtar K #2” also 380x330x300 with 500mm alu extrusions
  • 2018/10/31: Z axis modules assembly detailed photos.
  • 2018/10/28: More details on BOM (Bill of Materials): printed and non-printed parts
  • 2018/09/30: More details on Y carriage / bed, short video of mounting bed.
  • 2018/08/27: It’s alive – means it prints . . .
  • 2018/08/26: Partial functional, X, Y and Z motors and belts and threaded rods mounted with end stopper, board been flashed with Marlin 1.1.8
  • 2018/08/24: More photos about XZ frame bracket with integrated Z motor mount, Y belt mount and sliders
  • 2018/08/20: Short video testing X and Z axis with nylon wheel based carriages
  • 2018/08/15: Added photos of composing the frame (XZ + Y) and changing design slightly to add 2 more beams so XZ frame is more sturdy, early tests with sliders, as alternative with wheel based carriages
  • 2018/08/01: More details, extruder motor on the right side with belt idler mount, short video showing some details.
  • 2018/07/30: Updated images, more examples of prototyping V modules
  • 2018/07/21: Published with few drawings, short part list.

Introduction

In summer 2018 I pondered on a parametric Prusa i3 3d printer designs, composed with 2020, 2040 aluminium extrusions / profile, hereby I document the development here.

The Ashtar W Series and Ashtar T Series are fully parametric, from 200mm^3 to 500mm^3 build volume, whereas this Ashtar K Series focuses on single beam length construction with 2020 alu extrusions.

20181126_124156
Ashtar K #1 (right, white) and #2 (left, pink), both 380x300x330 build volune, but having different build plates

Parametric Designing

Unlike traditional CAD (Computed Aided Design) sketched constructions, a coded parametric design is actually textual coded a design, defining which parts depend on which, and align according some variables, which can be changed. In this case, the input is the building volume X, Y and Z, and all parts are calculated accordingly, using OpenSCAD as programming language.

Following notion has been introduced:

  • X, Y and Z are the starting point, the printable volume
  • IX, IY, and IZ are the inner dimension of the construction needed to make X, Y and Z build volume work, hence, IX, IY and IZ are greater than X, Y and Z
  • all constructions depends on IX, IY and IZ
  • XE, YE and ZE are the position of hotend ranging between 0..X, 0..Y and 0..Z
  • XP, YP and ZP is the calculated position of the hotend in physical space

These notions, in retrospect, allowed me to code all the different printer types: Ashtar K (Prusa i3), Ashtar C (CoreXY), Ashtar M (Prusa i3 MG), Ashtar D (Classic XY) coherently.

Ashtar K: 500mm 2020 Extrusions as Rails

This is a single size design optimized: 300(-380) x 300 x 360mm build volume, composed by 11x 2020 500mm B-type or V-slot beams:

Backside:

Bottom view:

AK-30.30.30-bottom

The rollers on the Y axis can be likely reduced to minimum of 3 total, instead of 9 (3×3), it really depends how well the rollers have a grip on the extrusions. Majority of the printed parts are custom. I settled with DIY sliders with small PTFE tubes instead, they were simpler and turned out reliable enough for my use case, see below “Y Carriage Slider”.

The Y axis is quite short to match 500mm beam length, and the Y bed fits barely as you can see in this bottom view, but it should work:

AK-30.30.30-back-close

Moveable V Modules

The V modules, composed by 2x V plates, which holds the wheels running on the alu extrusion, I document separately at 3D Printing: Wheels on Alu Extrusions and is used:

  • 2x Z axis motion
  • 1x X axis motion
  • 3x Y axis motion (perhaps a dedicated module to reduce amount of wheels) or
  • 3x or 4x Y axis sliders

printer-ak-hotend-closeup

V Module X Axis

As first I mounted existing direct drive extruder piece to the module, although due the thin 2020 profile I likely have to run it with Bowden setup to make sure the moving extruder is light enough.

Small belt mount, 1st version is one sided, 2nd version goes both ways to be more flexible:

V Module Z Axis

Z Axis V module is a bit more complex, it takes the X axis beam and the Z axis leadscrew or threaded rod, and the X motor mount:

Slider-based Carriages

Aside of wheel-based carriage, I thought of trying and playing with some slider-based carriages as well:

for more details see my blog post on 3D Printing: Sliding on Alu Extrusions. It eventually didn’t work that well, with time it became wobbling, and the friction increased – so I switched to wheel-based V modules.

Frame

Some photos of early tests with building the frame. I changed the frame design an add two more beams to stabilize the XZ frame with the Y bed more; using 11x 500mm beams now – and some strong bracket at the bottom:

20180811_152129

X Axis Module

Two options are available:

  • 2020 T-Slot 6 (B-Type): using 3x Nylon wheels 23.0 OD / 7.3 wide
  • 2020 V-Slot 6: using 3 or 4x OpenBuild 24.4 OD / 11 wide V wheels

The V-Slot beam is more suitable as the X carriage will be more stable and sturdy when printing – yet, V-Slot 2020 beams aren’t easily available or with high shipment costs.

Four options I tried: the 1st with a slider worked only briefly, then 2nd I switched to white Nylon wheels which wasn’t stable enough but wobbled in Z a bit on T-Slot beam, the 3rd was 3x wheel V module, or the 4x wheel H module on V-Slot which worked best.

Z Axis Modules

Two V modules (each with 2 plates) assembly for 2020 T slot 6 B-Type beams, per module:

  • 3 x M5 x 30
  • 3 x M5 nuts
  • 4 + 2 + 2 M3 nuts (4 front insets, 2 back insets, and 2 for adjustment screws)
  • 2 x M3 x 14 or x 16 (adjustment screws)
  • 3 x Nylon wheels 23.0 OD / 7.3 wide (do not use 23.0/7.0 wheels, but 23.0/7.3)

X, Y and Z Axis Motors

All motors mounted with belts and threaded rods:

and all 3 axis in motion (without extruder and without bed heating/leveling):

and early tests show with the nylon wheel (23.0mm OD, 7.3mm width) based carriage a build volume of 380 x 300 (+10mm outside of bed) x 320mm.

Other carriage, e.g. the slider based, might result in smaller or bigger build volume.

Controller Board

For now I use an Anet 1.0 controller board (as part of a “CTC DIY Kit”), and it required some preparation:

  1. using Arduino Uno R3 (clone) and upload “Arduino ISP”
  2. attach Anet 1.0 board (detach all other cables) to Uno R3 bootloader-burning
  3. run “Burning Bootloader” with “Arduino as ISP” as writer
  4. downloading Marlin and edit main Configuration.h to match my specifications
  5. upload new firmware Marlin to Anet 1.0 via USB upload

I mounted the board first in the farther left corner (in the photo), but the Z stepper motor new mount required to move the board in front of the XZ frame on the left side.  The position and casing for the LCD display I haven’t decided yet.

Y Carriage

Current bed setup (top to bottom):

  • 400x300mm black sticker (“frosted sticker”), apprx. 0.6mm thick
  • 400x300mm 3mm thick mirror
  • 210x210mm 12V alu heat bed (optional)
  • various cork patches under heat bed
  • 10mm light black foam material
  • bed-corner-detail420x320mm 6mm OSB (white painted) as Y carriage
    • 4x printed corner mounts holding 3.7mm thick sticker/mirror combo
    • M3 x 35
    • M3 washer (below printed corner mount)
    • Spring (20mm long, ~10mm OD, 1mm wire), compressed to 10mm
    • M3 washer
    • printed knob (below plywood/OSB), 30mm OD, 8mm thick, M3 nut inserted

I currently use the white PU steel enhanced GT2 belts, and it produces hard edges, some ghosting, but more precise prints than the black rubber GT2 belts which just stretch too much – I have to research this more closely – about the type of reinforcement and the use with more heavy beds (Y carriage).

420×320 carriage:

  • 4mm plywood flexes, but has been quite flat – not recommended
  • 6mm plywood hardly flexes, but has been hard to buy truly flat – and so far my attempt to flatten it did not work well – not recommend unless it’s flat
  • 6mm OSB quite flat, does not flex much (3 or 4 sliders) – recommended

320×320 carriage (for 300×300 bed):

  • 4mm plywood works (3 sliders, 4 sliders recommended)
  • 6mm plywood works (3 sliders, 4 sliders possible if plywood is truly flat <0.2mm difference)
  • 6mm OSB quite flat, doesn’t flex (not yet tested)

Just to explain my thought or decision process for my setup:

  • the mirror should not be bend (of course)
  • the support structure should not be the edge mounts, but the foam in between
  • the carriage can be bent, but not flex
  • revelation: already bent means the springs with screws might extend the bent further with a flexing carriage, and not counter act – as the mirror should stay flat

Sliders & Belt Mount Positions

Top view with see-through (best mark “0,0” on both sides so you keep proper reference) – if your carriage is truly flat, choose 4 sliders, otherwise 3 sliders.

bed-layouts

Bowden Extruder

After few weeks I decided to do my own extruder, adapting the design of the “Compact Extruder” which has low complexity and low amount of parts to achieve simple extruder functionality; here my redesign:

sampleExtruder

and in a functional state:

It’s published at thing:3265864, it’s based on 625ZZ bearing:

  • 625ZZ bearing (16mm OD, 5mm ID)
  • M5x14: mounting bearing
  • 2x M3x25: one to attach handle, another to hold spring
  • 2x M3x8: mounting to stepper motor
  • M3 nut: insert into slot
  • M3 washer: to hold spring
  • 3-8mm OD 20mm long spring
  • hobbed gear OD 11mm
  • 4mm OD / 2mm ID PTFE for filament guides
  • PC4-M6 for outgoing Bowden tube

Gallery

In Action

After 3 months (2018/06 – 2018/08), since I started to code the first OpenSCAD lines, the “K” prototype happen to print the 20mm XYZ Calibration Cube:

And roughly 2 months later Ashtar K #2 (with RAMPS 1.4 board) was printing as well, on a smaller 300x300mm unheated bed:

TODO

  • proper bed mounting and leveling: done
  • bed heating: running without heat bed
  • better cable management (in particular heatbed / Y carriage)
  • release sources
  • complete instructions
    • complete part list (printed / non-printed)

Parts

This is a preliminary part list (no files yet published):

Printed

20181031_155015
Most of the printed parts
  • V plates (2 plates = 1 module) with 3 x or 4 x M5 x 30:
    Note: for each axis the plates must be printed with the same print settings to be symmetric when assembled, recommended setting: 1.5mm top and bottom thickness and wall thickness, layer height ~60% or less of nozzle diameter
    • X module (with 3 or 4 x black OpenWheels 24.4/11):
      • short 3 wheel carriage:
        • 1x v_plate-2020-double-v-244-110-48w-a 
        • 1x v_plate-2020-double-v-244-110-48w-b
      • short 4 wheel carriage:
        • 1x h_plate-2020-double-v-244-110-48w-a
        • 1x h_plate-2020-double-v-244-110-48w-b
    • 2 x Z modules (with 3 x white Nylon 23/7.3 wheels) each
      • 3 wheel carriage:
        • 1x v_plate-2020-delrin-230-73-10-a
        • 1x v_plate-2020-delrin-230-73-10-b
    • 3 or 4 x Y modules (1 module = 1 slider, per slider 4 x 10mm long x 4mm PTFE + 3x 8mm long x 3mm PTFE)
      • 3 or 4 x slider_2020-ptfe=true,td=4,td2=3,axis=2,closed=true,hplus=5,hole=true
  • X carriage:
    • 1x xcarriage_short_hmount_motor-endstop-left
      Note:
      minimum 1.5mm top and bottom thickness, and 1.5mm wall thickness, 30% infill, layer height ~60% or less of nozzle diameter
    • 1x xcarriage_short_hmount_motor-right
      Note:
      minimum 1.5mm top and bottom thickness, and 1.5mm wall thickness, 30% infill, layer height ~60% or less of nozzle diameter
    • 2x xcarriage_short_hmount
    • 1x xcarriage_beltmount-y=7,w=25
    • 1x pulley_holder
    • 1x endstop_mount
  • Printhead/Hotend:
    • 1x e3d_mount
      • 2x M3x12 (mounting to x carriage), 2x M3 nuts for insets for clamp (use M3x12 to draw nuts into inset)
    • 1x e3d_mount-type=clamp
      • 2x M3x16 (clamp E3D v6)
  • Y carriage:
    • 4x knob_30,8,6 (bed level wheels)
    • 1x ymotor_mount
    • 1x ycarriage_mount-h=15
    • 1x yendstop_bumper
    • 1x yendstop_mount
    • 1x pulley_holder
    • 1x ybelt_mount
  • Z carriage:
    • 2x zcarriage_short_mount-6,30 (for M6 threaded Z rods)
    • 1x ztop_bracket-left
    • 1x ztop_bracket-right
    • 1x zendstop_mount
  • Frame
    • 8x c_2020 (simple 2020 corners)
    • 2x l_2020-a (short L bracket)
    • 2x l_2020-b
    • 1x ll_2020-a, 3 perimeters/wall line count
    • 1x ll_2020-b, 3 perimeters/wall line count
    • 1x ll_2020-type=nema17-a (X/Z bracket + Z motor mount)
      Note: 3 perimeters/wall line count with layer height ~60% of nozzle diameter (e.g. 0.25mm @ 0.4mm nozzle or 0.3mm @0.5mm nozzle)
    • 1x ll_2020-type=nema17-b (same notes as above)
    • 2x c2_2020-a (strong L for bottom frame)
    • 2x c2_2020-b
    • 12x e_2020 (end caps)

Non-Printed (Vitamins)

  • 11x 500mm 2020 alu extrusions (T slot 6 B-type or V-slot 6)
  • Double or single V slot wheels (OpenWheel 24.4/11) and/or 18x (6 x 3) x Delrin R nylon (23/7.3) wheels (see printed parts above which are needed)
  • Screws & Nuts:
    • 200x M3 nuts
    • 100x M3 8mm
    • 20x M3 10mm
    • 20x M3 15mm
    • 150x M3 Hammer Nuts for T slot/V slot 6
    • 20x M5 x 30
    • 20x M5 nuts
  • Y carriage / bed:
    • 420 x 320 or 320 x 320 OSB 6mm as Y carriage
    • 400 x 300 or 300 x 300 3mm thick mirror
    • 400 x 300 or 300 x 300 frosted bed sticker
    • 4 x springs 20mm long, compressed 10mm
  • Belts:
    • 2x GT2 pulleys (ID 3, OD 16, 6 wide with teeths)
    • ~220cm GT2 6mm belt (200cm might be sufficient but without any cutting margins)
  • Printhead:
    • E3D V6 original / clone with 0.4mm or 0.5mm (recommended) nozzle
    • 100cm PTFE 4mm OD / 2mm ID (60cm for Bowden tube, reuse rest for sliders)
    • 1x Pneumatic Connector PC4-01
    • 1x Pneumatic Fittings PC4-M6 Bore 4.3mm for 4mm PTFE
  • Electronics:
    • 5x stepper motors Nema17 42-45NM (40mm height) with 1m wires
    • 1x control board (with Marlin support), e.g. Anet V1.0 or Makerbase MKS Gen L board
    • 2 x endstops with 1m wires

IDEX Option

In order to run two independent printheads aka IDEX (Independent Dual Extrusion) see this blog-post on Ashtar K IDEX with the details and those new pieces are needed:

Printable

  • 1x xcarriage_short_hmount_motor_2020-endstop-idex-left
  • 1x xcarriage_short_hmount_motor_2020-idex-right
  • 1x xcarriage_beltmount_2020-idex
  • 1x pulley_holder
  • 1x xcarriage_nose-idex-left
  • 1x xcarriage_nose-idex-right

Non-Printable

  • 1x Nema17 42-45Nm (39-40mm height) with 1m wires
  • belt ~110cm GT2 6mm
  • 1x pulley
  • 1x idler

As soon I tested this option I will document it in more details, like electronics, changes in firmware, slicer settings etc.

Other Options

Related Projects

3D Printing: Wheels on Alu Extrusions

Status: This is a work in progress – and will likely will receive more updates, files not yet released.

Updates

  • 2018/09/14: Added H Plate (4 wheels) and h_plate() reference.
  • 2018/09/01: Added v_plate() variables and numbers for common wheels
  • 2018/07/28: Adding another example with Z axis X gantry adapter & X gantry horizontal beam mount.
  • 2018/07/21: Supporting Delrin R 21.5 or 23mm/7mm wheel as well.
  • 2018/07/20: Version 0.6 added, with ordered mounting holes and nut insets, screw which controls distance inside the plate to reduce overhead
  • 2018/07/19: New version 0.2 with M3 has controlling distance of the 3rd wheel
  • 2018/07/17: First basic design (Version 0.1), few tests made

Introduction

As part of developing various designs around Aluminium extrusions, a few tests. Early tests I printed the wheels in PLA just for sake of testing the dynamics, once the wheels arrived real applications were sought:

20180831_134539

The possible parts are 2020 alu extrusions and Dual V wheel by OpenRail:

and the “Delrin R” V type nylon wheel (21.5/23mm diameter, 7/7.3mm thickness and 5mm hole):

nylon-weels-s-l1600

Later in the research the difference between 7.0mm and 7.3mm thickness nylon wheels were significantly, as the shape of the wheel differ, and the ticker one (7.3mm) actually sat better in the T slot groove.

2020 V-Slot with Double V Wheels

The V-Slot alu extrusions usage test.

VS_20x20

V Plate (Version 0.6)

Ordered mounting holes (2x 30mm apart horizontally x 2 20mm vertically apart) plus 24mm apart near center, all with M3 nut insets so both surfaces (inside and outside) are nearly flat and mounts easily attached.

Hole-to-hole distance: 40.5mm (20.5 + 20)

2020 T-Slot Diagonal with Double V Wheel

Using the traditional T-slot Aluminium extrusion without proper wheel groove but rotating so the edges are used as rail and the 90 degree inner groove of the Dual V wheel.

2020 Nut 6 B - 999991_1

Version 0.6

Moving the adjuster into the plate to save some space, and adding some insets for the M3 mount holes (2x 30mm apart and 20mm height distance, 2x 24mm apart (Prusa i3 extruder).

Hole-to-hole distance: 47.1mm (27.1 + 20)

2020 T-Slot with Delrin R Wheels

Since the V plate is parametric designed (controlling thickness, distances etc) I thought to support also the “Delrin R” nylon wheels:

V Plate (Version 0.6)

Hole-to-hole distance:

  • 21.5mm diameter wheel: 37.4mm (17.4 + 20)
  • 23.0mm diameter wheel: 38.9mm (18.9 + 20)

V-Slot vs Diagonal

20180720_175909

20180720_175933

20180721_194709

Mounting Holes

Since the V plate, either used with V Slot alu profile or diagonal, has 6 fixed holes with nut insets to attach adapters:

  • 2x 30mm apart horizontally, 2nd row 20mm apart vertically
  • 2x 24mm apart horizontally centered vertically on the plate

An adapter plate or area of 40 x 35mm is guaranteed to be flat, and 5mm thick, with the given mounting holes as mentioned.

v-plate-holes

v-plate-inside

Usage

2x V plates (top/bottom) with its 3x wheels each are made so I can use it as a “V module”:

Prusa i3 Style

  • X extruder: 1x V module with extruder adapter
  • X gantry: 2x V module with Z axis threaded rod adapter
  • Y gantry: 3x V module without adapter, but mounting top V plates direct to Y carriage

OpenSCAD v_plate()

v_plate() takes multiple arguments:

  1. d: distance of holes (-20mm)
  2. h: height/distance of the wheel to plate
  3. orientation: -1 or 1 (back / front)
  4. f: multiplier horizontal distance gap (default: 1)
  5. g: multiplier vertical distance gap  (default: 1)

Here for 2020 T Slot B-Type in groove usage:

  • Nylon wheel 23.0mm OD / 7.3mm width: d=17.2, h=9.0
  • Nylon wheel 23.00mm OD / 7.0mm width: d=18.3, h=9.0
  • OpenRail Double V 24.4mm OD / 11mm width: d=22.0, h=5.85

Use

  • 1x screw M3 x 16 with M3 nut (push it carefully yet forcefully so it aligns top/bottom flat) for distance control, put a drop of oil on the tip of the M3 screw before you screw the first time.
  • 3x screw M5 x 30mm with cylinder head with hex inset, and 3 M5 nuts to mount the wheels per double V plate to make up a V module

20180831_134523

Four Wheels: H Plate

For the X carriage with the hotend I thought to add another wheel to improve tilt rigidity (e.g. when overruning bumpy unclean or over-extrusions) – ideally triangle like with V plate/module it’s easy to adjust, four wheels means two wheels need to be adjustable, and those are harder to align properly.

H Plate (Version 0.1)

First version I decided to use a simple solution, have some larger vertical extended 5mm holes and M3 screw which carves its own thread to control the distance – this means the H plate should be used in double to make up a H module, this is the short/narrow 48mm wide H plate:

The plate contains a set of 30mm and 20mm spaced mounting holes, all M3 – requires support from bed only (not “everywhere”) so the M5 nut and screw heads insets are printed nicely for the wheels:

h_plate() settings – same as for v_plate():

  • Nylon wheel 23.0mm OD / 7.3mm width: d=17.2, h=9.0
  • Nylon wheel 23.00mm OD / 7.0mm width: d=18.3, h=9.0
  • OpenRail Double V 24.4mm OD / 11mm width: d=22, h=5.85

For the short version, width=48 (less won’t work).

Examples

Extruder/Hotend Adapter

Attaching E3D V6 hotend on a pair of 30mm holes with M3x8 (M3x10 might work as well) with M3 nuts (in this example printed in purple PLA):

Z Axis Adapter

A simple Z axis adapter, here with M6 threaded rod with M6 nut:

The adapter is 4mm thick, and M3 x 10 should work (in this example I used M3 x 16 which are too long, but still work).

X Gantry Horizontal Beam Mount

A small simple piece to mount the 2020 horizontal X axis on Z axis V module:

Additional holes to fasten beam with T nuts as well (top and bottom of the bridge).

V and H modules used as part of the Ashtar K 3D Printer:

printer-ak-vplate-closeup

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Related Projects

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