3-wheeled or Linear Railed Modular X-carriage (D-Bot Core_XY 3D Printer) by printingSome

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

Edit 12-01-19) ATTENTION: A new version which is much simpler and offers the same features: X-Carriage, Linear, Modular, 20x20 V-Slot by printingSome, www.thingiverse.com/thing:3350550
Edit 09-10-18 Cooling is replaced, see below. Now V2 (01/11/18.
A print-carriage on 3 wheels or on a Linear Rail, to use with 3D-printers which use V Slot Extrusion rails, like D-Bot, J-Bot, etc.
3-Wheeled: The usual lower 2 wheels are replaced with 1 wheel, which also has an easy way of adjustment of the pressure with which the 3 wheels are in contact with the rail, to prevent unwanted movements of the carriage. Works nicely, but:
Linear Rail: Now the 2 upper wheels are replaced with a 400mm MGN9 rail + MGN9H block, just to know whether that gives just that bit improvement.
Just replacing the wheels etc. with it and the "Linear Rail MGN9 Mount" should do the trick, without any other changes.
I think it is a good idea to keep the Lower Bridge with the original "3rd Wheel" in place, to check eventual sideways movement (Y-direction) of the lower parts. But I provide a "Lower Bridge without Wheel" for those who think that's too much. ;-)
The whole thing was inspired by and remixed from the famous and incredibly documented D-Bot of spauda01.
But check: the plates are still 12mm wider and 7mm higher than the original of spauda01, because that gives somewhat easier access for (mounts of) accessories.
State of affairs on october 13th, 2017:
The basic components haven't changed since march/april, most mounts have.(that has changed as of 12-02-18, see below.
I could not get the Direct Drives Mount to perform as I wished. I thought it looked nice
and I felt sorry etc., but when I saw the Zesty Nimbles I decided to chuck it.
I felt that I never could get a bit of speed with enough accuracy with all that mass on
top, even with lighter steppers (which again didn't have enough power to drive the filament
securely without some gear box, adding more mass).
I prefer printing parts above buying them, but this time I decided to go for this concept which combines the best of 2 worlds: stepper on the frame and a light gearbox on the X-carriage, hopefully tightly enough connected in both directions with that cable.
So you'll find modules for 2 ways of using the E3Dv6, the Cyclops, the Chimera: with bowden tubes and with Nimbles. The diamond mount for bowden tubes only.
There is a different fanduct for each setup, mounted on a common vertically adjustable slider. I chose for this solution to get as close as possible to the various hot ends. (When too close: easy to clip them a bit). These ducts are leaner then a previous version.
At the moment I don't use the cable chain any more. It looks nice perhaps, but I still doubt whether it gives real advantage above other ways of conducting cables etc.
With the nimbles there are 8 less wires to bring to the carriage, that convinced me to skip it, but I could easily imagine it still being of use in other configurations.
For mounting the E3Dv6 with a nimble I used the "Adapter for Single Nimble and V6 on a D-Bot" by ZestyTech, published Sep 13, 2017,https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2531767.
For mounting the Chimera/Cyclops with 2 single nimbles I made the "Cyclops-Chimera Mount for 2 Nimbles on an original D-Bot and the 3-Wheeled X-Carriage" by printingSome, published Oct 8, 2017, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2574741.
I preferred to buy 2 single nimbles in stead of the Dual Nimble in order to be more flexible for future endeavors.
But of course you can use the "D-Bot Chimera/Cyclops adapter for the Dual Nimble using the printingSome carriage" by ZestyTech, published Jul 30, 2017, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2459458 too.
The corresponding fan ducts fit here also.
N.B. The above sounds like I have commercial links with Zesty, but I don't. I am experimenting with those nimbles, have not even got really satisfactory results at the moment, without knowing what I do wrong, but I think they form a good proposition.
For the pictures of the various setups I used "mockups" from "Diamond Hotend parts" by kharar, published Mar 24, 2015, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:720520,
"E3D V6 HotEnd CAD Models (Includes all 3 versions)" by lXGaimMasterXl, published May 24, 2014, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:341689, "Mockup of the Zesty Nimble: Lightweight direct drive extruder" by ZestyTech, published Oct 22, 2016, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1843195 and a mockup of a 20x40mm V-slot of Openbuilds which I can't find at the moment. Thanks.
I replaced all history from this page with this overview, it was too much, and also somewhat rewrote the "Notes" (where you can find tips about the assembly etc.)
Edit (10/21/17): added some parts for a Linear Rail, changed this text and the Notes accordingly.
Edit (10/29/17: V2 of Linear Rail Mount (V1 did agree with the nimbles) and added a M3-Nut_mount, to adapt to the new situation. Notes V6a explain it all.
Edit (11/10/17): V6c even better ;-) Added a Nimble_Stepper_Mount, to create more mounting possibilities for the stepper motor without losing any printing space. Tweaked the M3-Nut_mount a bit for easier placing ->v1
Edit (11/27/17): I saw I forgot to remove a warning in the Notes about the linear guide I did build in -> V6d. I works nice and I am going for the same in the Y-direction. ;-)
Edit (12/13/17): I replaced M3-nut_mount-v1.stl with M3-nut_mount-v3.stl, because it was too big, i.e. too little tolerance towards the rail. I flattened it at the side. See to it that you keep that flattened place down, parallel to the 20x40 rail, when fastening. When you have already printed the things I advise you to file 1-1.5mm from the side, when you experience some resistance here and there, whilst riding the X-carriage
Edit (13/02/18) I added a new Rear Plate: "CarriageRear(Belt_Tensioner_Version)", inspired on "D-Bot Carriage Rear Plate with Adjustable Belt Tensioner" by 1sPiRe, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2376442 and Separate GT2 belt tensioner" by MrArrow1961, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:910725. The most important feature would be that one can adjust the angle between the X-axis and the Y-axis by adjusting the belt-tensions with bolts. While the effect on that angle in practice is less then I expected it makes it also easier to (un)mount and adjust the tension on the belts. With it come the "Belt_Tensioner" and a new Part 2 of the fan mounts the "Fan_Mount_Pt2-Belt_Tensioner_Version" because the other one didn't fit any more. That has become better to mount in the process. All fan mounts Pt1 fit on this, with only a 4mm bigger distance from the hot end.
I suppose that in time I will remove the older rear plate, because I consider this one far better, despite the fact that it needs a bit of t.l.c. after printing without support to get a nice and easy fit of the tensioner into its house. See also the Notes.
Edit (02/04/18) moved fan reduction files from the complete printer here. To use, together with a moulded fan housing guard, for the E3D V6 HotEnd.
Edit (07/04/18) updated some pictures.
Edit (20/06/18) added a Berd-Air-pipe_Mount, to use with my nimbles mount, see Notes.
Edit (09-10-18) replaced the fan at the rear with a blower fan underneath: more compact and stronger air jets. Made mounts for this for the usual suspects (E3Dv6 and Chimera/Cyclops with/without Nimbles, Diamond). See the renewed Notes_on_Assembly_and_such_v7.pdf
Edit (01/11/18) Directed the air flow from the blower fans downward -> V2 of Pt1 and stiffened Pt2 a bit ->V2. Adapted the Notes ->V8.
Edit (23/12/18) Lengthened mounting legs at the back of Blower_Mnt_Pt2-(E3Dv6,chimera,cyclops)w.Nimble for easier positioning -> V3
Edit (30/12/18) Little improvements -> Blower_Mnt_Pt2-(E3Dv6,chimera,cyclops)w.Nimble-V4.stl and Blower_Mnt_Pt2-(diamond)-V3.stl