Low Cost 3D Printer Belt Tension Adjuster
Intro: Low Cost 3D Printer Belt Tension Adjuster
Hi everyone!
This is my first instructable, i hope you find it useful and funny. Its a really simple thing, but for me was a great discover.
Im building a 3D Printer here at Fab Lab Leon (Spain), and i have to adjust the tension of the belts. The main problem is that the model im building is a Rostock Max, so the belts have about 1 meter high (3.2808 ft) and despite i really squeeze it tight before put the belt in the bearings, i use bridle to join the two parts of the belt (as you could see in the first photo, the black plastic part).
So once i put the bridle its impossible to do a fine belt tension adjustemt.
After that i though about print a plastic part with some gears, with a guide or put a piece of MDF with some kind of nut....
...BUT SUDDENLY, when i was hanging the clothes out to dry, i have in my hand a clothespin (spanish: pinza de la ropa) and i see the solution.
Here in spain (and in most part of the world, i suppose), the clothespin is composed by two pieces of wood joined with a small spring in between. Well, lets use this small spring to tension the 3d printer blet.
Well, lets start.
First we need to disassemble the clothespin, having the two parts of wood and the middle spring.
Now take the middle spring and stretch it a bit, until the two arms of the spring form a 120 or 140 degrees angle.
So put one of the finish side of the spring between two gears of the belt (watch the photo below) and, maintaining the center part of the spring in the non geared side, put the other finish side of the spring in between to gears of the belt.
Its hard to explain in words, i hope the pictures help you to get to the finish :)
After placed in the belt, you can make a fine tune of the belt tension by tighten or stretching the spring.
I hope this could help anyone, thanks for watching and see you in another chapter of "im making a 3d printer and my head will blow away" :)
This is my first instructable, i hope you find it useful and funny. Its a really simple thing, but for me was a great discover.
Im building a 3D Printer here at Fab Lab Leon (Spain), and i have to adjust the tension of the belts. The main problem is that the model im building is a Rostock Max, so the belts have about 1 meter high (3.2808 ft) and despite i really squeeze it tight before put the belt in the bearings, i use bridle to join the two parts of the belt (as you could see in the first photo, the black plastic part).
So once i put the bridle its impossible to do a fine belt tension adjustemt.
After that i though about print a plastic part with some gears, with a guide or put a piece of MDF with some kind of nut....
...BUT SUDDENLY, when i was hanging the clothes out to dry, i have in my hand a clothespin (spanish: pinza de la ropa) and i see the solution.
Here in spain (and in most part of the world, i suppose), the clothespin is composed by two pieces of wood joined with a small spring in between. Well, lets use this small spring to tension the 3d printer blet.
Well, lets start.
First we need to disassemble the clothespin, having the two parts of wood and the middle spring.
Now take the middle spring and stretch it a bit, until the two arms of the spring form a 120 or 140 degrees angle.
So put one of the finish side of the spring between two gears of the belt (watch the photo below) and, maintaining the center part of the spring in the non geared side, put the other finish side of the spring in between to gears of the belt.
Its hard to explain in words, i hope the pictures help you to get to the finish :)
After placed in the belt, you can make a fine tune of the belt tension by tighten or stretching the spring.
I hope this could help anyone, thanks for watching and see you in another chapter of "im making a 3d printer and my head will blow away" :)
6 Comments
soilwork 9 years ago
Clever!!,,, espero me puedas ayudar con unas dudas que tengo , voy a hacer una rostock la grande, ya tengo todo, incluso convertí los diseños de la misma del OpenSCAD a Solidworks para facilitarme en la etapa de diseño y modificación aunque estoy decidido a respetar todos los parámetros de la original, la duda y el problema es el siguiente: solo logre conseguir varillas o guías de acero de 8mm de 500mm en vez de 768mm que trae el diseño y ahí es donde comienzan mis dudas, si la hago con las smooth rod de 50cm me afectara mucho?? realmente también necesito saber la medida real de las barras que van de la base del hotend a las 3 guías con baleros lm8uu (medida de hoyuelo a hoyuelo ) o la duda final y decisiva si uso las guías de 50cm me afectara en el área de impresión de 200x200mm , no me importa mucho si me afecta en impresión de altura 400mm estas en España y yo en México por usos horarios estoy ahora en GTM -5 pero espero podamos comunicarnos por correo u otro medio mas rápido zavaletamauricio.88@ de gmail
eltercerlugar 9 years ago
Buenas!
Como son muchas preguntas a la vez jejeje, te dejo un enlace donde puedes ver el proceso de montaje, las partes que hemos utilizado y todo bien masticadito. Este proyecto fue parte del Fab Academy que hicimos varias personas aqui en Fab Lab Leon, donde tuvismos que diseñar en un tiempo record una maquina 3D.
http://academy.cba.mit.edu/2013/students/alvarello...
andrea biffi 10 years ago
eltercerlugar 10 years ago
rimar2000 10 years ago
Otra cosa: la verdad, viviendo en España bien podrías poner la versión castellana de tus instructables. Hay muchos hispanohablantes que siguen Instructables.
eltercerlugar 10 years ago
Efectivamente el resorte no pasa por ninguna polea, es una Rostock con una altura de casi un metro, y esa es una zona muerta de la correa. Igual para prusas o similares con correas mas cortas, habria que calcular muy bien la zona de paso por poleas.
Sobre lo de traducirlo, tienes razon. Lo hice en ingles para que fuera mas universal, pero voy a editarlo y a ponerlo en español.
Gracias por la sugerencia :)