X Carriage failure, advice needed please

Hiya, so ive been printing on my prusa mendel (calibration printing) and i noticed the printer wasnt printing squarely anymore, after taking a closer look i saw that the X carriage had totally deformed (the carriage that uses 3 bearings) so my questions are, if im having to get another carriage then which design should i go for? and how can i help prevent this from happening again?

What hotend and extruder are you using?

I'm assuming your carriage is pla. Make sure you get an abs one next.

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- akhlut

Just remember - Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

[myhomelessmind.blogspot.com]

Hi, thanks for your reply, sorry i forget to say, im using the standard extruder (not sure what its called) that came from the reprap site and im using the J-Head MK-V hotend. i bought the parts from ebay and was told it was abs but having seen how much its warped i doubt this is the case, ive seen multiple variations of the extruder / carriage and im not sure which to go for, i have access to a 3d printer at work so making the parts shouldnt be an issue, i plan to print using abs only so the hotend will reach higher temperatures. Ive also seen cooling fans to cool the hotend itself, but im not sure if this would hinder the abs prints

The fan for the hotend should be angled up slightly toward the cool part of the hotend (insulator) and should not effect the print below.

For a J-head you don't need a fan if you intend to print ABS. I'd estimate I have about 1000 machine hours printing ABS and have experienced zero jams with a J-head. Just doesn't happen (for me at least).

As far as carriages, I'm partial to Richraps Quick-fit carriage. [www.thingiverse.com] but you need to print a mounting plate and some additional hardware to get it up and running.

Tommyc's carriage is also nice and minimalistic. [www.thingiverse.com] you just need some zip-ties

[www.thingiverse.com]

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- akhlut

Just remember - Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

[myhomelessmind.blogspot.com]

Hi all, thanks for your replies. i decided to print the reinforced X-carriage that i found on thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:18657), its printed very well, the only problem i have now is my hotend clamp wont fit this carriage, anyone know of a clamp i could use? im using the standard wades extruder and a J-Head hotend, regards

How do you mean?

A pic or vid would be good.

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- akhlut

Just remember - Iterate, Iterate, Iterate!

[myhomelessmind.blogspot.com]