Hi guys, I'm currently in the process of designing my own Y-carriage.
Before I've made the same kind of thing by hand, but the machines I use (plate cutter etc) tend to deform the aluminum slightly so now I'm going to make a design in Illustrator and have it cut out by a laser cutter somewhere later this week.
I am very open to any comments, and advice on the design.
The carriage is made with two plates of aluminum, the bottom one has holes in it to lower the total weight, in respect to it's flexibility/strength. The small holes are 3mm holes, in which spring-loaded M3 bolts are placed (maybe I'll make it 4mm and M4 bolts, still not decided on that one yet).
The top plate is the exact same outer shape, and only has the four holes in the corners and the heated plate will be pushed against the top plate by the springs. So the springs have a double function.
The springs give:
- Easy leveling (only need to do this once and every time I replace the Kapton!)
- Nozzle-crash-protection (however I am also using the Prusa i3's vertical X-construction, so it's already pretty safe)
- The springs push the heatbed onto the bottom of the top aluminum plate, the plate that functions as the print-surface
Included in this post is a screenshot of the bed with measurements.
The thickness of the aluminum will be 6mm for the bottom plate and 4mm for the top plate (or maybe even 4mm for the bottom one and 3mm for the top one).
The heated bed that will be used in this setup is:
[gadgets3d.com]
Now note that this carriage is specifically designed for a MendelMax 1.5 where the smooth rods for the Y-carriage are 100mm apart from eachother heart-to-heart.
With love,
Marinus
![PNjvZJM.png]( "PNjvZJM.png")
Before I've made the same kind of thing by hand, but the machines I use (plate cutter etc) tend to deform the aluminum slightly so now I'm going to make a design in Illustrator and have it cut out by a laser cutter somewhere later this week.
I am very open to any comments, and advice on the design.
The carriage is made with two plates of aluminum, the bottom one has holes in it to lower the total weight, in respect to it's flexibility/strength. The small holes are 3mm holes, in which spring-loaded M3 bolts are placed (maybe I'll make it 4mm and M4 bolts, still not decided on that one yet).
The top plate is the exact same outer shape, and only has the four holes in the corners and the heated plate will be pushed against the top plate by the springs. So the springs have a double function.
The springs give:
- Easy leveling (only need to do this once and every time I replace the Kapton!)
- Nozzle-crash-protection (however I am also using the Prusa i3's vertical X-construction, so it's already pretty safe)
- The springs push the heatbed onto the bottom of the top aluminum plate, the plate that functions as the print-surface
Included in this post is a screenshot of the bed with measurements.
The thickness of the aluminum will be 6mm for the bottom plate and 4mm for the top plate (or maybe even 4mm for the bottom one and 3mm for the top one).
The heated bed that will be used in this setup is:
[gadgets3d.com]
Now note that this carriage is specifically designed for a MendelMax 1.5 where the smooth rods for the Y-carriage are 100mm apart from eachother heart-to-heart.
With love,
Marinus
