12 mm Rod Upgrade for TAZ

Has anyone yet attempted a 12 mm rod upgrade for the x and/or y axis of the TAZ 4 or 5? Am I correct in understanding the x axis on the TAZ 6 are 12 mm rods? If there are some modded files out there for this upgrade please share.

The taz 6 x rods are 12mm, I have a 12mm rod modification set to swap out the y axis ones. It is here www.thingiverse.com/thing:1549505

Piercet, you up for tackling a 12mm update to the x axis too? You are quite adept at upgrading the TAZ, and this mod might be a less expensive alternative to your awesome Openbuilds update. Or are the TAZ 6 parts available and will they work on the TAZ 4/5?

Someone already beat me to that. Billyd has a mod that will fit a stock Taz 4/5 on X, though you will have to drill out the rod holes in the end plate to fit it (not a big deal) http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1392011

As an added bonus, my anti-wobble will fit that design.

The Taz 6 axis and carriage is also usable, and the part files or even the parts themselves are open source and available. The trick with them is that you are basically committed to going with auto bed leveling if you go that route, since there is no Z endstop target mount on the Taz 6 parts. You can get a bed plate and the parts needed to convert for around $70 or so from Itworks3d.com though. That also includes the need to swap out the idler mount to get the front Y axis limit switch mount location.

I’ve done the 12mm rod X axis upgrade using the Billyd mod. Drilling the plates was no big deal especially if you have a drill press. I’m very happy with the results and WAY less sag when using the dual extruder.

Shameless showoff pic with my other latest mod (holders for my toolheads) and my Lulzbot logo. :slight_smile:

That work station looks great. We may have a spare tool head or two that could use some storage around here… Any chance you can share your tool head holder hooks?

Absolutely Brent.I. Thanks for noticing.

I went ahead and posted it under the user gallery topic here.

And here’s the Thingiverse link.

And licensed openly as well! Thank you very much!

Thank you gentlemen for sharing! This is what I was looking for!

I haven’t priced it but surely the open builds conversion is less expensive than buying new linear rods.

It really depends on where you get the rods, what hardness you go with, and which linear bearings you use. The Rods are going to be much more expensive than a set of rails ($25 ea for a decent set compared to $5.00 for the Openbuilds rail), but the bearings can be found for about $4 each, the openbuilds wheel kits run around $6.75 and you need 4 of them to 3 of the other bearings for X, for X axis you need a $12 plate, so it’s basically $62 for X rods vs $49 for the Openbuilds setup, which takes another $7 or so in hardware to finish. the plastic cost between the two is essentially a wash. Those $25 rods are not going to be as good as the Openbuillds rails at decreasing deflection, and there are more expensive options that can improve performance. You also don’t get a belt tensioner with the rod setup, which i feel is very important (Well technically i suppose they could add my retrofit belt tensioner, but that doesn’t count!) . The Openbuilds parts have dropped about $30 since I first put the design out there, which i think is the main reason people see it as being much more expensive, because at one time it was. Now it’s pretty much a wash. Except for the Z axis which is more expensive since it takes 8 wheels instead of 4.

I have a set of hardened 12mm rods and linear bearing for my Taz 5 X axis. I plan on installing them soon (almost done with my “Overkill Enclosure”). I would also like to upgrade all of the other bushings to linear bearings. I have a few questions about the other 10mm rods on the Taz (Z and Y axis). Do these need to be “hardened” or are the stock 10mm rods OK for use with linear bearings? I looked over at Misumi for hardened 10mm rods and they are only available with different tolerance designations than the 12mm which I have on hand -

  • The 12mm rods I have are H5 tolerance
  • The 10mm are only available in G6 tolerance

Does this matter? Is there something else I should be looking at? What is the difference between PSFJ (available in 10mm) and PSFU (not available).
https://us.misumi-ec.com/vona2/detail/110302634310/?HissuCode=PSFJ10-[20-800%2F1]&PNSearch=PSFJ10-500&CategorySpec=00000028943%3A%3A500&KWSearch=PSFJ10-500&Keyword=PSFJ10-500&searchFlow=results2products&Keyword=PSFJ10-500
Any advice or an alternate source would be appreciated.



Best regards,
PCH

The bed has some potential deflection in stock configuration. There is a 12mm rod bed conversion in existance, but you would likely literally be the first person to ever test it. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1549505

Thanks - it looks promising. What about the Stock 10mm rods? Is it OK to use the Linear bearings on them?
My question is more general - are the stock rods hardened?
What rods are required for linear bearings?
I’ve read through the forums and picked up tid-bits of information, but I’m not sure about this.


Best regards,
PCH

None of the stock rods are hardened. At least on the Taz 6 they are not. I’d imagine given the price difference, same would hold true for the other models

http://devel.lulzbot.com/TAZ/Olive/production_parts/machined_parts/10_12_mm_smooth_rods/

Bump the topic. I just did 12mm upgrade to TAZ5 recently. I started with models published up in the thread, but double bearing slider was bit too loose. So I redesigned it and added way of bolting x cable chain. So if anyone going for the same upgrade, here is the option.

https://www.printables.com/model/775909-taz-5-x-axis-slider