D-Bot X/Y motor covers by robertwallace

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

3D printers are very attractive to young and old - core x/y printers, like the D-Bot even more-so. One of those very attractive parts is the open-motor-pulley-belt on each of the front top corners. Dangly bits (both young and old) can easily get grabbed by one of these dangly bits grabbers. Of course, there's not enough force to really hurt most bits, but it will mess up your print should it happen.
In addition, in a D-bot build (and most core x/y printers) 4 of the 5 stepper motors have the shafts pointing up and lots of cruft can build up.in that area.
To keep all sorts of bits off the working ends of the x/y motors, I made this set of motor covers.
They were specifically designed for the printed corner motor mounts of spauda01's very popular D-Bot build: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1001065 which I, too, am in the process of building. The dimensions and the top profile of my motor covers matches those mounts and there are two little clips that fit into specific spots on those brackets. But even if these won't work for your specific printer, perhaps they'll make you want to sit down and design your own.
In use, these slide over the bracket from the front and two clips on the cover will clip it into place on the bottom of the bracket near the corners of the stepper motor. The first time you put it in place, hold it firmly against the motor mount and squeeze the sides gently so the clips will seat and know where to clip on.
You may notice that, as in most core x/y printers, the two x/y motors are at different heights and my motor covers are not. I debated making one tall enough to be flush to the top of the taller motor mount, but it looked a little silly - like a clock tower or something, so i decided against it.
OK. Now just because I wanted to cover up and protect the motors, that doesn't mean I want to crush the spirits of the bystanders, young and old. And besides, the end of the stepper motor shaft is just a few millimeters and one hole away. So I have a second version of the covers that has a small hole positioned directly above the motor shaft. I've included a small platform with a shaft that friction-fits the 5mm D-shaft of the stepper motor. A little bit of hot glue will attach lots of interesting things that can twirl back and forth while you're printing. Beware: the motors can spin very quickly and can reverse direction almost instantly. Use very low mass, low cross-section items - not so much for your own safety, since I know you are all reasonable folk, but you can easily mess up a print if you get too enthusiastic.
I've included pictures of examples - paper cutouts hot-glued to the included platform. I also included a picture of something that makes me laugh out loud every time I imagine one hot-glued to the each of the included platforms. Every time.
The hole will also accommodate most modest-diameter stepper motor knobs, including my own: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2217980 . I'm not sure, yet, of the practicality of having those hanging on the left-right x/y motors, but they look nice when they spin.