D300VS Barbell Carriage and Effector Set by Velocitasfortis

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This is a ball-cup arm upgrade set for the Ultibots D300VS, for use with Trick Laser/SeeMeCNC fixed-width barbells and Trick Laser Ball-Cup Arms, as well as the stock Ultibots micro extruder. It should be possible to use this set with other Kossel Delta printers using standard 2020 or 2040 extrusions for the towers (aligned edge-on to the build surface), as long as the Ultibots micro extruder is being used for the hotend. For the D300VS, use of Ultibots 375mm ball-cup arms is standard, but any arms 340-400mm should work. For other deltas, you will need to determine your own best rod length. YMMV
Carriages are designed to make use of Open Builds eccentric spacers on the single tensioning axle. This requires the use of an Open Builds standard 3mm wheel spacer stacked on top of the eccentric spacer, and standard 9mm axle spacers for the other two wheels on each carriage. Also, the pocket for the eccentric spacer is quite tight to the spacer, for rigidity and reliability purposes. You will want to thread the M5 axle bolt through the hole, slip on the eccentric spacer, 3mm spacer, wheel assembly, and then use the M5 nut to tighten everything down and force the eccentric into the pocket.
Effector platform should fit without modification to the extruder body, but if you do notice any clearance issues where one barbell comes into contact with the top of one corner, simply file the corner of the extruder body for clearance - the section of the extruder where the barbell might impinge is a non-critical area (just above and forward of the idler bearings). On one of my extruder bodies, everything fit flush and good, while on another I had to run a couple passes of a file across the corner to make a very shallow pocket. This could be alleviated by either making the effector thicker, moving the bolt holes for the barbells up a smidge, or making the effector platform a bit wider, but none of these changes are ideal for the overall geometry. EDIT: I have uploaded the original FreeCAD .FCStd and exported STEP file for the effector block, so that people can make adjustments for non-Ultibots extruders in the CAD program of their choice. The FCStd file will obviously only work in FreeCAD, but will give you the original annotated workflow for editing (keep an eye out for wandering sketches, as tends to happen in FreeCAD). The STEP file will give you a solid to rework. This is all mostly for absolute measurement purposes.
Belts should be wrapped snugly around the belt locking grooves, as pictured. Wrapping the first turn fairly tightly helps support the belt tension (I only left three exposed teeth around the first bend on both the top block and the bottom, as pictured although it can be difficult to see due to Thingiverse image scaling). Slots in effector are sized for 2mm GT2 belts.
Bottom tensioner block requires the use of a 30mm M3 cap screw. Shorter screws can be used, but you will lose adjustment range.
Each carriage needs the following hardware:
1x M3x30 cap screw
2x M3x10 cap screw
3x M3 washer
3x M3 nut
3x M5x35 low-profile cap screw
2x M5x9 spacer(Open Builds link below)
1x M5x6 eccentric spacer (Open Builds link below)
1x M5x3 spacer (Open Builds link below)
3x V-Slot wheel (Open Builds link below)
3x M5 nut (nylock nuts preferred, or the use of thread locker is suggested)
1x Trick Laser/SeeMeCNC 50mm barbell (either should work, but these are made specifically for the TL billet barbells - link below)
Effector requires the following hardware:
6x M3x10 cap screw
6x M3 nut
8x M3 washer
2x M3x15 cap screw (due to printing variation and setup, slightly longer screws might be needed)
3x Trick Laser/SeeMeCNC 50mm barbell (same caveat as before)
And of course, you'll need an appropriate-length set of ball-cup arms... (Ultibots link below for people with a D300VS)
Assembly tip: The belt does need to be threaded behind the barbell on each carriage, so it's best to hook the belt through the top catch block, run it over the top pulley, then run the free end through the belt channel prior to hooking it through the bottom adjustment block. This should be fairly self-explanatory with the provided pictures.
When all is completed, be sure to adjust your delta arm length, delta radius/effector offset, reset the bed zero point (paper snag test), and give the machine some extra headroom in the firmware prior to running calibration - nobody likes head crashes.
Parts as pictured printed in Proto-Pasta HTPLA V3 as prototypes. PLA is functional for non-heated printers (can be enclosed, just not heated - build plate itself can be heated), but will warp badly if exposed to heat, as the carriages are under quite a bit of tension. Suggest using ABS-PC alloy, CF-ABS composite, or CF-Nylon composite for final parts.
Links to parts used in this build:
Trick Laser billet barbells - https://www.seemecnc.com/collections/parts-accessories/products/cnc-machined-ball-joint-kit
V-Slot Wheels - https://openbuildspartstore.com/solid-v-wheel-kit/
Eccentric spacer - https://openbuildspartstore.com/eccentric-spacer/ (be sure to select 6mm)
Aluminum spacers - https://openbuildspartstore.com/aluminum-spacers-10-pack/ (be sure to select both 3mm and 9mm)
Ball-cup arms - https://www.ultibots.com/trick-laser-ball-cup-arm-set-375mm/
OPTIONAL: I use 2mm metal grommets as filament chases, as CF-filled filaments can erode printed parts as they are pulled through. This grommet can be seen in the top-down picture of the effector platform. If you'd like to add some durability and improved finish to parts, I use these (I am not in any way affiliated with this product - I just like it), https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B071L8HJNW/