No problem I will have to work something out myself. Thanks for the help you did provide.by Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg Are these the plates you cant change? If its all 3D printed apart from the 20*40 why cant you change?Not those being the ones I can't change it is the ones with the wheels. Those you circled would be swapped out but I am not sure how I would design those that I circled in red to not be funky.by Dark Alchemist - General
The parts I circled in red are where I am having an issue with designing and making fit. The other is I can't change the plates and they can't change how they are printed so I am trying to come up with a way to get the belt around it since those big honker wheels are there.by Dark Alchemist - General
Harder to attach those to the 20x20 extrusion whereas the ones I showed I can print a minimal tower then 3 holes but that one (the one I always think of when I hear the word pillow block) I would have to have a column that is attached to the 20x20 then go up and have two opposing holes from the first set to attach the block. So, two sets of holes 90 degrees opposite the first set at the bottom oby Dark Alchemist - General
QuoteMechaBits Yeah been there, but 5mm rod goes nice into 5-8mm couplers, and 8mm rod goes easy into the 8mm pillow/self aligning bearings. So much neater than a plastic part.This tells me (thanks to the grub screws) it would be dead easy sliding the rod through it.by Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg I cant say that they will be perfectly straight (something you would need to ask the suppler) but they will have some flex, so as long as the bearings are aligned this shouldn't be a problem (you might need to add one in the middle depending on the distance between bearings). Its not going to deform when spinning and should take the tightening of the gt2 belt, depending on your supby Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg I said it a few times but may have been glossed over, Have you looked at carbon fibre rods? They are used in RC plane building because they are light, strong and offer a small amount of flex. It sounds like you are dead set on the shaft idea so you dont have to do too much re design, so maybe its time to look at different materials that will give you the shaft you want. It waby Dark Alchemist - General
No idea but having the support along it was even worse because none of the four rods were straight. I have to give up on this 5mm rod as I just can't get a length that is straight as even the ends are slightly bent. If I had a way to do it the axle method gives me the most printing area.by Dark Alchemist - General
Heck, if you look at the design I have this will be hell to implement and I will lose a lot of print space which this design was 300x300x370. I did the paper arrow bit and yeah, one side on the outside and the other on the inside because of the way the belt will move. Interesting concept but I can't see how to do this (due to using wheels mainly) without losing a lot of space in X and Y.by Dark Alchemist - General
"Also be reminded, you'd have to clamp the carriers to the same side of the belt. Either both on left side or both on the right side. ( Not both sides on the inner belt )" I don't get that part even with graphic.by Dark Alchemist - General
Quoteo_lampe Only the motor pulley needs to be 16T, the rest can be anything as long as they are equal. You could even increase accuracy by using higher tooth count for the other pulleys. ( I'm referring to the closed belt scenario )Motor 16t to first 16t pulley to the next 16t pulley and all other pulleys 20t so 3 16t and 4 20t? How would that help?by Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg I think you would pay more for a double pulley then just buying 2 and placing them together on the shaft (or glue them if you wanted to) So do you see this idea as a better solution to your design problem?It looks like it will work but I will have to re design how the belts work and print the new design up plus I have to print up the pulley holders.by Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg its paint mate, not a scale drawing. The red is belt As for the smooth rod, well whats the length of the pulley say 16mm (just measured one of mine) and a bearing width say 5mm. So the shaft lenght of the doubble pulleys (the longest you need) only needs to be about 37mm call it an even 40mm. If you cant find 5mm smooth rod that is dead straight over 40mm, then no one here canby Dark Alchemist - General
Yes, but how would all of those pulleys connect with each other as I am seeing a ton of smooth rods.by Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg well, it could be done with one closed loop belt to drive the 2 pulleysThe only thing I could find doing anything like that was a Core XY though not closed belts. I really don't care if closed is required as long as something could be done that would eliminate the smooth rod axle.by Dark Alchemist - General
Well, not even that as everything in that picture can be printed including the pillow block 608zz holders so everything would line up precisely but I wish there was some other way to do this that didn't need that axle or the use of smooth rods.by Dark Alchemist - General
Limits? I have a 500mm 20x20 extrusion in all directions (a cube) so if I can print it then I can make it fit on that so no problems there.by Dark Alchemist - General
If I only had an 800 dollar metal lathe, lol. I could buy anything, even from HD/Lowes, and turn a bigger down to what I needed I think and turning it down yourself it would be a lot truer than what you could buy.by Dark Alchemist - General
Yeah, flex couplers is what I use for Z on my Prusa and this has some merit only I can't figure out how I would implement it.by Dark Alchemist - General
QuoteLoboCNC What McMaster part number were you ordering for 5mm rods? Did you look at the linear shafting (6112K13) which has a 0.03mm/300mm straightness tolerance? 88625K64 and twice it came with rust on it to the point it was pitted over a 1/3 of it. First order from them and not all that happy with them. I would be afraid to pay about 40 dollars (that is with the shipping) to them for anotby Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg This was the first idea I was talking about, or did you want info on a flex system? (EDIT: My numbers for the length of the 5mm rod might be a bit off, you could almost half them) Also have you looked at carbon fibber rod? It has a bit of play so as long as your pillow blocks where aligned correctly you could force it to be straightInfo on a flex system would be nice as well andby Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg I also find it hard to believe that you can t find 2 sections of 30mm to 40mm 5mm straight rod, or maybe I have been blessed with my suppliers of smooth rod (usually use 8mm or 10mm) The only other thing i can suggest is to use flex couplers to take some of the miss alignment of the shaft. Or as there is only radial load, use a flexable shaft that is constrained by the pillow blocby Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg So my thinking is you only need 5mm where the pulleys are needed, and what you are trying to make is just one big drive axial, so use 5mm for where the pulleys need to be placed and then use a coupler to join it to a rod of another diameter that is straight. Using pillow blocks ( bearings) to help align the shaft. See bad paint drawing for referenceYep, I was thinking the same butby Dark Alchemist - General
Quotescottybfg If you only need it to be 5mm so the pulley will fit on the end why not get a bigger diameter and turn down the ends? I know not easy with a long rod but can be done. Or use small bits of 5mm for the pulley and then use a coupler to step up to the diameter of the straightest rod you can find, a pillow block each side of the coupler should keep it alignedIf I had a lathe you bet Iby Dark Alchemist - General
QuoteMechaBits I got quite a few 8mm's from cheap ebay listings...not had one reject...but I have with 12mm rods, why you wanting 16t?Interesting on the 12mm being crappier than 8mm but I haven't had luck with eBay or even worse Aliexpress or even worse yet Banggood. As far as the 16t I have been using them since I got into 3d printing 4 years ago as there are no round off errors with them andby Dark Alchemist - General
QuoteMechaBits Dual shaft motor, in the middle of 2 300mm rods...go for 8mm thicker/shorter less chance of bends in the post but still possible, or join two pieces with a coupler, or step back down to 5mm up to you.Ahhh, the piece I forgot to mention is that I cannot find an 8mm 16t pulley. Besides, that would be 21 dollars a piece per smooth rod but they would be dead straight as Mitsumi doesn'by Dark Alchemist - General
I have an extrusion frame and everything was fitting together nicely when I stumbled into Hades trying to find a 5mm smooth rod (~600mm long) that was dead straight. After a lot of attempts I have given up on ever finding this so my entire printer build is dead just because of this. Here is the issue and that is I have X that moves from side to side using 500mm extrusion. One side has the motoby Dark Alchemist - General
Tinkercad is on the web (as in there is no real program) and Fusion360 is free until you earn money with it (I think, but could be wrong, 100k USD).by Dark Alchemist - Prusa i3 and variants