Prusa i3 E3d Bowden Mount with servo v3 by stratop80

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This is the latest version of my E3D mount for the Prusa i3 X-carriage, featuring an autolevel probe.
This one superceeds the v2 (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:246726) and it's now compatible with E3D v6.
It improved dramatically the autolevel function, as my 9G cheap chinese servo tends to swing a different angle every time, ruining the consistency of probings. This linkage gearing lets the arm take a precise position EVERY time it swings up and down. Just tell it to go from max to min angle, as only the central travel of the arm wil be used to swing the probe an exact 90 degree angle, because of the gearing design.
Start and end positions of the probe are secured by tiny cylindrical d3x1mm neodymium magnets (6 needed) that fits (superglued) in the provided sockets.
The probe arm sports a tiny channel for the endstop wire. Once cleaned, you will need to choose the lightest and most flexible wire you can find to connect (I used earphones cable) to limit the force
it can do against the arm movement.
I found that the air coming from the fan (by the way, theres an interesting fan size adapter you can use elsewhere) didnt any good to the prints, (or at least I think so). So, in case it happens to you as well, I designed a little swinging port that is opened when the probe extends, and closed by the means of a tiny rubber band (magnet closing implemented,but in beta stage:-) when it retracts, keeping the airflow out during the print. Its up to you using it or not, its a bit difficult to make, but quite funny a mechanism, like a cuckoo clock door :-)
Well, you will need too a couple of sockethead M3x35 screws, to fix the rig to the Prusa x-carriage, and a M2.5 and double nut for the pivot pin of the hinge. Maybe a couple of M3 more if you wish to secure the back with the main body, but not really needed.
I provide a single stl (you can split it in parts in repetier, of course) as a hint of which I think is the better print orientataion for every part.
Most generic use is the bowden version, but I tend to use it with a minimal compact direct MK7 extruder I designed, that fits with the mount (as per the photo). Its not uploaded, I would do it should someone asked for it.
I suppose I have left things unexplained, so please accept excuses for that and I'll try to answer any question or update this text as needed. And, I think there are not external credits to give in this part, but please, tell me if I miss something, I'll be quick to do it.
Hope it helps someone!