And then it’s time for the eccentric wheels. A 10mm wrench is needed now. I found it to be really helpful to hold the whole structure on the side and slide it to a point where it balances. Naturally this is close to the heavy motor! And then use my fingers to test the pressure the eccentric spacers apply on the rail. Ideally, when counter-rotating the wheels, the feel on the fingers should be the same. Use the 10mm wrench to rotate the spacers and try to feel the same resistance/friction from the wheels.
I don’t know what the exact total pressure should feel like. But, in my opinion, it is somewhere between the point where the bed plate feels solid but also moves easily and freely. That said, after I tightened the eccentric spacers, I tilted the set in both directions (about 15-20 degrees and the bed was sliding towards both the Idler and the Motor sides, even with the belt attached and tightened onto it.
My calculations don’t change that picture much. At my first and second picture I just find the middle section, not the drill marks. I mark the drill holes on that middle line after I do the math, where the only variable is the gap. And that gap can be different for anybody.
As for the cam offset, I checked the gantry plate and all the hole centers are treated the same, regardless of their size, 5mm or 7.2mm. For instance, for the 60mm rail, the holes on the gantry plate are drilled at a 80mm distance, center to center. For the 40mm rail, the respective distance is 60mm and so on. That leaves 10mm clearance between the rail and any hole for wheels, whether it is an eccentric 7.2mm or fixed 5mm.
Thanks.
But most of all, thank you for the whole V-rail project/idea. It is one of the best upgrades anyone can do for the TAZ. The size of the printer is quite big and the more you use it and the more familiar you become with it, then the more “delicate” it looks with the guide rods. But most importantly, you can see it on the prints with all the wobbling and the warping. Now, with these rails, it looks and feels so firm and steady and smooth. I can see the nozzle going from corner to corner all around on a straight flat plane!
The other day I forgot to show the dimensions on the bed plate. I described them in the context but not in the picture.
However, what is really important to notice, is that these numbers can be totally different for somebody else. Before you drill, measure the gap (the distance in between the rails) and do the simple math. Use that picture as a sample only and everything should go fine.
Thanks for the all the pics and instructions mikronano! I was able to get through the X-axis build due to the sheer size of the thread and people putting out their builds. With this Y-axis build thread being much smaller, it was a little daunting. All of your posts will help a ton when I get mine built! It is amazing to see how sturdy this the taz becomes after installing these mods. I noticed on piercet’s videos right away when the head was moving and printing, how you could see it was moving strictly planar, and nothing was giving. It’s weird to describe but as a Taz owner, you can definitely pick it up in the video.
If i can find time this weekend I’m going to combine these endplates and the oem ones into one file and cut them on my cnc router out of either aluminum or g10. If someone wants to do the design work of combining the two for me I’ll make you a set out of whatever I make mine out of caveat if i can get it to cut properly.
I can put those together for you, do you have a stock 3 or a stock 4 or 5? Look for the modified plates tomorrow. Ill pay material cost and shipping if you want to cut me a set.
First batch of the Taz 5’s. I have some Alum on hand but I don’t think it’s going to be thick enough once the two car combined. I have some phenolic that should work though. I’ll do some experiments and see how it works out.
Still waiting on the file, btw. I was going to combine them myself but couldn’t find a model of the taz 5 y endplates, and couldn’t be bothered to model it.
I haven’t forgotten about this, I ran into some weirdness with importing the backplate STEP files. I have the Taz 3 and Taz 5 endplates and the common frontplates, but they also imported an unselectable, undeletable weird shadow copy of themselves at the same time, which is making export of the final model problematic. It’s behaving like file corruption, which is bad, so I may have to re-import into a backup copy. I got mad at it though so I haven’t been back in it yet to do so.
Here’s the Taz 3 motor endplate combined. I haven’t finished the others yet, but a few questions before I work on them next:
Does one of those attachment file formats work for you?
I extruded the face of that middle section of the stock bracket out to the face of the Openbuilds plastic optional reinforcement bracket part to make it easier to machine. does that work better, or would you prefer the origional recess remain?
Since these will be milled out of something other than extruded plastic, the thickness of the part is probably a bit overkill now. Do you want it thinner, and if so, how thick overall? Stock bracket is about 5mm thick, combined assembly is about 12mm right now
Would the “spacer tab” piece be easier to make as a separate piece and then bolt to the faceplate?
See if that one looks like it will work, let me know what you would like to see on the others, and I’ll get the other two made. i finally found a copy of the #$%^&*()ing Taz 4/5 plate that will import without destroying all mankind, so that should work a bit better heh. Taz 3 motor Combined.stp (1.35 MB) Taz 3 motor Combined.dwg (399 KB) Taz 3 Motor Combined.stl (163 KB)
I’m having trouble generating toolpaths from the stl. Can you get me a dxf or 2d vector and just let me know heights and hole sizes? Keep the bracket the same thickness as stocker and then let me know the distance the openrails brace is extruded out.
I started printing parts with Cura (High Detail) with my own gcode and at 90% infill, which is turning out great, just taking forever.
Layer Hight: .16mm
Anyways, my question is. Can I / Should I print the parts at any less quality? What about the Drill guide plates?
You mean just an export with everything sitting spatially where it would be on the machine? Kind of. i never drew in the rails or bolts. Rails would be easy enough to add, and bolt caps. The model lacks all the other connecting features though, like the bed to main frame connectors, motor and idler mounts, motors, belts, belt anchor, bed plate, bed corners, bed fingers, etc. It could be done, but it would take a while.
Besides, i haven’t finished the merged endplate things yet so I have to do that first heh.
Always glad I could give something back.