1 Topic by Stevos758

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Topic: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Ok. So I am in the process of upgrading my X and Y carriages and I have a few questions.. Actually a lot.... I was going to post in the sticky thread but it seems to get no love since it's been stickied.

-My X carriage is slightly larger than it should be or at least I am assuming it is because when I move the carriage to the ends the rods are too close together and I cant move the assembly all the way to the ends. In the middle the slide ok. Is their an easy fix or am I going to have to request a kind member to print new parts for me? Are the holes in the X carriage for the M3 bolts supposed to be loose and held on with nuts? Mine are tight and had to be threaded through, no need for nuts.

-My bearings are all loose in their mounts. I wrapped the Y and X  carriage in 3 layers of blue painters tape to solve the problem. I ended up removing the tape on the X Carriage to combat the problem above with no luck.

-My bearings slide pretty smooth but there is more resistance than I expected. I only had two extra bearings and they all seemed to have the same resistance.

-8mm rod holes are very tight. Tight to the point I had to tap them together with a hammer. Is this to tight or just right?

- Belt removal and attachment. This is not fun with a regular Allen. I am assuming some of you have a special hex wrench for this job? If so point me in the direction.

-The X axis stepper has 4 long phillips screws on the non drive side of the stepper. When I mounted my stepper all of these became loose and 2 fell out? What gives?

In other news I think my M5 rod upgrade went well after 3 trips to the hardware store and discovering there and two different pitch m5 nuts : )

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2 Reply by 2n2r5 (edited by 2n2r5 2013-09-25 14:20:03)

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Stevos758 wrote:

Ok. So I am in the process of upgrading my X and Y carriages and I have a few questions.. Actually a lot.... I was going to post in the sticky thread but it seems to get no love since it's been stickied.

-My X carriage is slightly larger than it should be or at least I am assuming it is because when I move the carriage to the ends the rods are too close together and I cant move the assembly all the way to the ends. In the middle the slide ok. Is their an easy fix or am I going to have to request a kind member to print new parts for me? Are the holes in the X carriage for the M3 bolts supposed to be loose and held on with nuts? Mine are tight and had to be threaded through, no need for nuts.

You can try to take a dremel grinding wheel or sanding wheel and remove some material from the bearing holders to make the carriage fit better. Take your time doing it so you don't break them. The carriage platform should rest nicely over the bearing holders and screw down without the aid of the m3 nuts. Those holes that use the M3 nuts are for under carriage mounted accessories.   




-My bearings are all loose in their mounts. I wrapped the Y and X  carriage in 3 layers of blue painters tape to solve the problem. I ended up removing the tape on the X Carriage to combat the problem above with no luck.

This seems to be common for everyone that has done the upgrade. I got some U-Mold from radioshack and packed it around the bearings after I had everything where I wanted it. U-Mold is a hand form-able plastic with a melting temp around 160F. Sparkfun also sells a form of it. I tried to use tape around mine originally and ran into the problem that you described in the first post. 

-My bearings slide pretty smooth but there is more resistance than I expected. I only had two extra bearings and they all seemed to have the same resistance.

They might loosen up for you with use. Try using a light weight oil like 3-1 oil or silicone based Teflon oil.

-8mm rod holes are very tight. Tight to the point I had to tap them together with a hammer. Is this to tight or just right?

This is normal. I wish they were a little looser myself so that it would be easier to modify in the future but it works like this just fine.

- Belt removal and attachment. This is not fun with a regular Allen. I am assuming some of you have a special hex wrench for this job? If so point me in the direction.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-Precisio … /203436713  I use this set. It's cheap and comes with a flexible extension. 

-The X axis stepper has 4 long phillips screws on the non drive side of the stepper. When I mounted my stepper all of these became loose and 2 fell out? What gives?

The threads for these screws are in the drive side of the stepper. They share space with the 4 mounting screws in the front. I don't know why they would randomly fallout but make sure they are all SNUG not overly tight before you mount the extruder pieces.

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

2n2r5's Website

3 Reply by Stevos758

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

I'll try some sanding.

As for those stepper screws there doesn't seem to be enough room for both the phillips head and the mounting screws.

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4 Reply by Stevos758

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

I think I have it. Going to run a circle print right now. Those screws in the X stepper... There one one left in it. It was binding it up. I loosened it up. Seems ok and moves great now. I will order a new x stepper. Any suggestions? Or can I use my extruder stepper and upgrade my extruder?

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5 Reply by 2n2r5 (edited by 2n2r5 2013-09-25 22:37:02)

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Stevos758 wrote:

I think I have it. Going to run a circle print right now. Those screws in the X stepper... There one one left in it. It was binding it up. I loosened it up. Seems ok and moves great now. I will order a new x stepper. Any suggestions? Or can I use my extruder stepper and upgrade my extruder?


sorry, I replied in a hurry to that and thought that you were talking about the extruder. I ended up putting a spacer or 2 on the M3 screws to take up that slack. How does everything fit now? Did you fix the problem of it feeling too tight?

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

2n2r5's Website

6 Reply by Stevos758 (edited by Stevos758 2013-09-25 23:10:39)

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Yes. Those screws that were on the X stepper that I said were falling out. The philips heads. there was only one still able to thread in. It was too tight and binding the stepper? I loosened it and its fine now. I only have 1 screw holding my stepper in. I think it stripped the rest our when I inserted the mounting screws. I will need a new stepper. See above.

I have a weird thing going on now with stuff going on. the layers all look very nice otherwise. it appears to be where the perimeter ends. What setting will help?

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7 Reply by 2n2r5

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Check your retract settings for that. A little less retract on layer change.

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

2n2r5's Website

8 Reply by Stevos758

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Ok. I took it down to .5 from 1

I need a new X stepper. Mine is binding again. What should I get? I mentioned before about upgrading to a 9degree extruder and using my old extruder as my x?

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9 Reply by 2n2r5

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

is the stepper binding because the carriage is binding somewhere? can you easily move the carriage side to side?

If you do get a replacement. It should be a nema14. Nema 17 would require a new carriage. They are not a direct swap. The bolt pattern is larger on the nema 17. I have a version of the carriage that is 2 pieces and is made for the nema 17 but largely untested. Nema 14 should be fine.

SD3 w/ mods:
Glass bed with QU-BD heat pad upgrade, threadless ballscrew w/ 8mm smooth rod, spectra line belt replacement, lawsy MK5 extruder, Lawsy replacement carriage, E3D hotend, Ramps 1.4 w/ reprap discount controller, DRV8825 drivers, 12v 30A PS, Acrylic case, Overkill Y-idlers, Filament alarm, Extruder fan + more.

2n2r5's Website

10 Reply by Stevos758

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Yes, when I unhook the stepper its fine. There is something causing the stepper to bind inside due to those screws holing it together. I'll get some pics up when I remove it. Any recommendations on a certain stepper brand?

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11 Reply by Stevos758

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Re: Need help with lawsy's X and Y carriage replacement. Printer Down!

Ok. So Those screws that hold the stepper together must be tight. I found that if they loosen up the stepper will bind. I have 2 screws holding my stepper together and two mounting screws for now. Seems to not be a problem. I think when I put the mounting screws in they pushed out the screws holding the stepper together. At least now I have a spare on the way!

Website - http://rippsgaragetech.com/
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E3D V6 Bulldog XL mounts! http://www.filastruder.com/products/e3dv6-bulldog-mount