Image of a Huxley X Axis, assembled from a TechZoneCommunications Huxley Kit

General

This page and its peers should guide you through assembling a RepRap Huxley from the TechZone kit, or from parts you have printed which are the same as the TechZone parts. It is a work in progress, and needs some help, feel free to edit this document to add comments of you your own, or contact us [here] and send us messages asking us for better clarification or details.

I am starting by posting the pictures I have, and over the next few days, I will fill in the instructions and detials (24 Dec 2010)

Thanks,
Lambert (TechZone R&D/Support/Documenter)

You can access this page and it's peers (for the other parts of the Huxley assembly from the Main Huxley page or from the TechZone Huxley Page

X Carriage

On the left is a picture of the parts used to make the X axis carriage (some people call it a shuttle) It is shown assembled on the right:

- (1) X Carriage - from the printed parts set
- (1) 180 side of the X Carriage - from the printed parts set
- (1) 360 side of the X Carriage/Bushing Clamp - from the printed parts set
- (1) Graphite filled Bronze bushing
- (6) 3mmX30mm bolts
- (4) 3mmX20mm bolts
- (16) 3mm washers
- (10) 3mm nyloc nuts
- (4) 623zz bearings

Here is how I stacked the bearings for the 180 degree side of the carriage.

We start this by installing the four bearings that hold the carriage onto the 180 degree restraint bar. The bolts go through the plastic part first (with a washer under the bolt head) then through another washer - or two - followed by a bearing and then the nyloc nut. you don't need another washer between the nut and the bearing. A close-up photo of the bearing stack can be seen on the right.

Photo of the 180 and 360 degree side of the X Carriage

Here you can see the bearings installed on the printed parts, and the bushing sitting in the groove where it will spend the rest of its existence. I simply place the bearing near the center, I don't get out a measuring device and make sure it is exactly in the middle, just eyeball it to close.

Do Not over-tighten the clamp on the busing

With the bushing in place, I fasten the bushing clamp or X Carriage 360 side onto the carriage, I usually put a smooth bar through the bushing before I put ANY torque onto the bolts which hold it together. Be careful to NOT overtighten this, or it will deform the bushing and it will never slide well.

The Image here shows the 180 Degree bearing piece already installed to the Carriage, use (2) 30mm bolts with nuts and washer to do this, the head of the bolt goes to the bottom and the nut goes on top of the carriage (top of the carriage is the smooth side). These two bolts should allow you to adjust the tension with which the bearings ride on the smooth bar, but it is easiest to make this adjustment after the axis is all assembled, so leave them fairly loose for now.

Use a drill to spin the bar in the bushing to seat the bushing and allow it to move freely

While We are here, it is a convenient time to "Seat" the bushing. The bushing provided by TechZone in the kit is a graphite bronze bushing. Due to manufacturing imperfections and variations, you probably need to "Seat" the bushing. I do this by putting the smooth bar into a drill chuck and spinning it while moving the carriage up and down the bar, I do this until the carriage slides easily and freely.

There is an added bennefit of doing this in this way, as the bronze wears slightly, it lays graphite down on the stainless steel rod. You will want to make sure to use the same rod in your final assembly (I usually just set it aside the way it is and don't take the rod out of the bushing again.

I also recommend that you add a drop or two of your favorite machine oil, like sewing machine oil, or bicycle chain oil to the shaft, after you have seated the bushing.

Z180 Degree and X Axis Idler

Photo of the parts used in the Z 180 portion of the X Axis and the X Axis Idler

Photo of an assembled Z 180and X Axis Idler

Z Nut Retainers

The following parts are used to assemble and prepare the Z Nut Retainers Assembled version is shown on the right.

- (4) Z Nut Retainers
- (8) 3mm X 20mm bolts
- (16) 3mm washers
- (8) 3mm nyloc nuts
- (2) 6mm nuts

Heat a 6mm nut with a torch or something

The first thing we need to do is to make sure that the 6mm nut will fit into the space provided for it. It is usually tight and need to be carved out larger, you can do this with a knife, but I have found that it is easier to heat a nut up and then press it into the space as shown on the right. I use a standard plumbing torch to heat the nut on the end of a piece of the threaded Rod. Don't get the nut too hot, it only need to be about 130 degrees celcius to do this well.

You could also use a soldering iron, hot plate, or oven to heat the nut. Or, as stated earlier, you can use a knife to carve the space to fit.

Press the Hot Nut into the space on the Nut Retainer to make a better fit

I press the nut it while it is warm - as shown on the right, once it is in about half way (a little less really) I take it back out and perform the same operation on the other three Printed Nut Retainers.

Once they are all prepared you use the eight 20mm bolts and put two of them together with one of the nuts in between. Don't tighten it down yet, we want to be able to slip the smooth bar into the spaces there, without very much effort.

Z360 Degree portion

Photo of the parts used in the Z 360 portion of the X Carriage

On the left is a photo of the parts used to build the Z 360 portion of the X Carriage, an assembled shot is on the right. The parts used in this are:

- (2) Z 360 - printed parts
- (2) Z Nut Retainers - printed parts -Make sure you have prepared them for use with the steps above
- (6) 623zz ball bearings
- (8) 3mmX20mm bolts
- (8) 3mmX30mm bolts
- (16) 3mm Nyloc nuts
- (30) 3mm washers
- (1) 6mm nut

Photo of a Z 360 piece with the center bearing

Start by installing the center bearing. There is only one washer on each side of the bearing. The washers used here are from the smaller washers in your kit (you should have received two sizes of 3mm washers, a large number of normal washers and a smaller number of smaller washers; if you only recieved one size of washer, then they are all the smaller size).

Do this to both of the Z 360 printed parts.

Next add the two angled bearings to each of the printed parts. Note how the bolt head is against the bearing and the nut is on the outside of the part, this is important, in order to fit the motor in place later on. There are two washers between the bearings and the plastic. No washers between the nut head and the washer.

Notice that the head of the bolt fits into a small recess when attaching the Z Nut Retainer to the 360 piece

Next, we add the Z Nut retainers to the Z 360 parts, the bolt head is on the Z Nut retainer side, and fits into the small recesses provided for this pupose. Use the 30mm long bolts, There is not much extra bolt here, so I usually forgo the washers on this part. Tighten these two bolts (in two places, making 4 total), since we won't be able to get to the bolt head in a moment.

Finally, bolt the two parts together, using two 30mm bolts, and 4 20mm bolts. The finished product should look like the unit in the photo above right. Don't tighten these bolts yet, we need to slide smooth bar into them in a few minutes. (leave them REALLY loose).

Below are a few extra photos I had, which may help make the assembly more clear - or not...