I know this is an old idea, but in order to use all toothless idlers, I have twisted belt between the motor and the first outer idler. [attachment 111141 IMG_0592_sml.jpg] I did this on the large printer (600x450) which uses 10mm belts. It did improve print quality by getting rid of repeating artifacts on the surface. [attachment 111142 IMG_0603_ba.jpg] At the same time twist in the belt have increased the elasticity of the belt and added to ringing/ghosting especially on X. https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,852176#msg-852176 Fri, 09 Oct 2026 13:04:28 -0400 Phorum 5.2.23 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,853583#msg-853583 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,853583#msg-853583 [www.robotdigg.com]

They have never let me down, no artifacts and no ringing. Using them since 2015 now! Just replaced them btw, but not because they ran out, just because I replaced the Y-axis idler on my MendelMax with a beefier one.]]> Ohmarinus CoreXY Machines Sun, 19 May 2019 14:43:12 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,853236#msg-853236 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,853236#msg-853236 imqqmi CoreXY Machines Wed, 15 May 2019 10:51:51 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,852187#msg-852187 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,852187#msg-852187 piper3d CoreXY Machines Mon, 29 Apr 2019 20:28:19 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,852183#msg-852183 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,852183#msg-852183
If you think about it, the twist is supposed to allow the smooth back side of the belt to contact the pulley instead of the teeth. But the belt isn't uniformly flexible- it flexes between the teeth. So when the smooth side of the belt wraps around the pulley, it's still going to flex between the teeth and form a polygon on the pulley, not a smooth curve.

This is one of those 3D printing mysteries that seems to have no definitive answer...]]> the_digital_dentist CoreXY Machines Mon, 29 Apr 2019 17:33:19 -0400 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,852176#msg-852176 https://reprap.org/forum/read.php?397,852176,852176#msg-852176 [attachment 111141 IMG_0592_sml.jpg]
I did this on the large printer (600x450) which uses 10mm belts. It did improve print quality by getting rid of repeating artifacts on the surface.
[attachment 111142 IMG_0603_ba.jpg]
At the same time twist in the belt have increased the elasticity of the belt and added to ringing/ghosting especially on X.]]> piper3d CoreXY Machines Mon, 29 Apr 2019 15:30:49 -0400