Linear Bearing Y Axis Carriage for ToM
Description
This is really just a little project that I've been fiddling with over the last few months when I have a moment to spare.
Purely for my own enjoyment (yes, I know, I should get out more), but you are welcome to try if you wish.
I'm sure there are a whole raft of engineers ready to tell me that this is wrong in so many ways and I look forward to being enlightened by their candid observations and everyone's improvements & modifications.
For anyone who'd like to try it, it really is a work-in-progress and although it works quite happily at 50mm/s feed rate, it is not yet what I would consider finished.
This version requires an X carriage of its own because I've centred the X pulley. As it sits lower on the rods, it gives you > 126mm on the Z axis, so you'll need to place your HBP very high to stop the Z stage falling off the lead screw. (I'll make it ride higher in the next version which will give the stepper more clearance over the bed as well).
I should have moved the Y limit switch but to save any hassle I added a long arm to the centre section that operates it in its current position.
I also think the X limit switch should be moved to the side of the carriage to clear the pulley bolt.
I ended up using 4 bearings although I started out with 3. The inertia of the motor side is too great for the bearings on the right to stop the carriage twisting, I think I may try moving the motor to the right and go back to 3 in a later version.
I also intend to move the bearings closer together and remove more material from the base of the carriage to make it lighter.
I'll post some photos of it installed when I get a chance.
Instructions
o Push the bearings into place, you'll need 7 (3+4).
o Fit the HBP to the X carriage (right at the top of the bolts)
o Place the end rod supports on the ends of the left and right sections.
o Attach the motor to the left end.
o insert the 4 captive nuts into the tensioner/limit switch support.
o Attach the belt tensioner to the right end using 2 M3x30mm bolts.
o Attach the limit switch to the right end using 2 M3x12mm bolts.
o Place the X pulley belt and pulley wheel into the tensioner and drop in
an M4 bolt I need to get one the right length and add two nuts, but the
current one works at the moment.
o Insert the X rods through the X carriage bearings
o Slide the belt into the belt coupler on the X carriage
o Push the X rods into the end supports
o Hold the centre section in place and slide on the couplers.
o Place the pulley belt over the motor and tighten the belt gently
o place whole carriage into machine
o Slide the Y belt into the belt coupler on the Y carriage
o Insert the YRods from the front through the bearings.
o Attach all cables.
o Make sure the carriages activate the end stops on the X and Y axis
o calibrate as normal (taking care to see that the Z stage does not
drop off the lead screw)
If this is too confusing, let me know and I'll post some step-by-step photos.
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I finally got my LMB6UU from ebay and started my conversion. Just having 1 rod in the bed with these LMB6UUs, they are soooo noisy! Is it because I got some cheap China quality LMB6UU? Are you guys having better luck?
You say you moified the X-carriage and provided the STL. Can you provcide the SCAD file as well? I also have the x-belt tension adjustment in http://www.thingiverse.com/thi... and I also want to modify this to the Quick=Change Build Platform in http://www.thingiverse.com/thi.... I also wondedr how you are doing on the other changes you have identified. Can you post the SCAd so we can go from there?
This completely eliminated all my XY-wobble issues. Beyond awesome :)
Thanks for this!
Bearings arrived today from Marchand Dice and I've just finished printing out a calibration cube. I like your design, way easier to see what's going on than the original Y carriage.
When I dismantled the machine I found that one of the bolts on the idler was loose, which explains my recent print
ing problems...
Thanks for sharing this, my linear bearings should arrive tomorrow so thats my weekend project sorted.
I have a daft question, do these bearings need lubrication ?
Thanks
Martin
This carriage is awsome.....had to do a few tweeks...I found the center piece to be a bit short so I changed the lenght by 2.5mm. Also changed the 2 rod holders so that they are fastened better. If anyone wants the files I have them available in step
Found some bearings cheap! WIll these work? http://www.ebay.com/itm/10pcs-...
&
amp;hash=item43ab6dfca2#ht_2389wt_1141
Done! It is much quieter than the original Y-stage. It does give you more X,Y and Z space (needed to raise the build platform a bit so the Z-stage does not come out of the lead screw).
There is a noticeable bend in the body of the Y-stage as it can be seen below, but the rods keep everything in place. The right side plate is barely inserted on the tab - I would suggest that you also create a open slot on the right side plate and elongate the tab on the bottom so the plate will a
lways have full support on both the bottom and rods. There is enough space before the tab would hit the side and you could still take it out without dismantling everything.
My X-stage needed some filing (it has been modified from your original design to be able to use the clip on build surface setu
p I have ) but ultimately worked just fine.
Beautiful work in the tensioner - the distances are precise and helpful (the nuts are held in place and it just works so well).
Thank you for creating it. We are on the way of a full plastic TOM!
;)
It looks (from the photo) like the right hand end isn't fully inserted onto the base. This could be causing the bend in the base.
The bend may also be caused by a smaller distance between the bearings that forces them outwards when in place on the rods.
I printed it completely and replaced my stock-carriage with your one. It works really, really good! But I have some problems, though, that I wanted to share with you.
- First of all as I'm using the ABP-Platform, which is longer than the HBP, I have problems with the Y-Endstop. Your "arm" did not reach it without crushing the platform into the z-rods. I had to extend the "arm" (as you can see in the picture). Maybe there need to be two different versions - one
for ABP and one for HBP.
- The same is with the X-endstop. As I needed to heighten the ABP (it would otherwise crash into the front of my makerbot) the endstop could not be triggered by the platform. This could be helped out by putting the x-endstop higher.
- The piece to hold the belt (I think yo
u call it "pulley"? - I'm not a native english speaker) is a bit shaky. And I unfortunately did not have such long bolts. I used a kind of a cable clip which works but is suboptimal. ;)
How did you manage to attach your platform to your X-carriage? Can you post some picture of that?
Nevertheless t
hank you very, very much for this thing! It works well and I would like to help you improve it! So if you need any information from me, feel free to ask. ;)
Thanks!
Hi TopperDEL, nice work. I completely forgot about the ABP, you're right; I need to add some components for that as well as the HBP. The X-carriage is just connected with 6 screws just as before, I'll see if I can find/take a photo.
I'll see if I can make time to adjust these things over the weekend and Iâll send you a message if I update anything. Thanks for the offer of help, Iâll certainly take you up on the offer when I make the changes.
I've been waiting very long for a design like this! Thanks for the great work! It looks very good and promising.
As I'm from germany, I have trouble finding the right bearings. Do you have any international (metric) data or know which bearings I need to search here?
The bearings must fit the ToM 3/8" or 9.525mm rods,
<
b
>
LMB06UU
<
/b
>
.
I'm sure this company (Marchant Dice) in the UK will ship to Germany
http://www.worldofcnc.com/line...
I know they also sell on eBay, so I'd search there:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/x4pc...
&
amp;hash=item4841821d91
Hope that helps :)
I'm actually surprised it took so long for someone to make a rider for T-O-M.
Good job!
Are you able to move the X endstop out a little more with this to increase the X beyond what you'd need for a single extruder? Because this looks like just the thing I need to reclaim some of the lost X that you lose with dual extruders. :)
Yes, in fact, I was going to move it down under the platform and trigger it off the X carriage instead of the build platform which would increase the X travel to somewhere like 155mm - offset to the right by about 10mm. As it is, I can get 130mm of X travel, but in my case this does not give me any benefit as my platform is 120. One of the changes I make when I next look at it will be to maximise to both X and Y travel and I will probably move both sensors.
License
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Would these work, for linear bearings.
They look fine to me, you may need to adjust the length of the slot. You'll need the U-LMU0.38 i.e. 3/8" internal diameter to match the 3/8" rods.