LaserCutXAxis

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Revision as of 16:43, 12 July 2011 by Smurf (talk | contribs) (X Carriage)
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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 Lasercut Mendel from the TechZone kit, or from parts you have laser cut 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 (6 April 2011)

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


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


Whene assembling the X Axis, assemble the parts just finger tight, and into aproximate areas. When it is all together, we will fix things by measurements, and tighten them up.



X Carriage

Photo of the parts used in X Carriage
Photo of an assembled 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:





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.




Z180 and Z360 Degree X Axis Idler and Motor Mount

Photo of the parts used in the Z 180 and Z 360 portions of the X Axis and the X Axis Idler and Motor Mount
Photo of an assembled Z 180 and Z 360 X Axis Idler and Motor Mount
Photo of the parts used in the Z 180 and Z 360 portions of the X Axis and the X Axis Idler and Motor Mount
We use the parts shown on the left to make the assembly shown on the right. The parts are:



Photo of the bearing stack for the belt idler bearings
I start by putting the idler bearings onto the printed Idler part, You adjust the width between the fender washers with 3mm washers, you want enough in there so that the belt fits with a small amount of extra room. For my assembly this was 2 washers on one side and 3 washers on the other side.


Photo of the bearing stack for the belt idler bearings
I then put the bearings onto the Z 180 printed parts, the parts are identical, but not symetrical, this is normal. I have two washers between the printed part and the bearing and no washer between the bearing and the nyloc nut.

To assemble them, place the X Axis smooth bar clamp onto the same side of the Idler as where the belt idler bearings are sitting. This clamp is not symetrical and will fit differently if turned aroud 180 degrees. I cannot tell that it makes any structural difference which way you put it, but in one directions it seems to fit in a more asthetic manner. Then place one of the Z 180 parts on each side and use the three 3mm X 30mm bolts to hold them together. Do not tighten them yet, you will need space to fit the smooth bars under the clamp.

Your assembly should now look like the photo at the top right of this section.


Put them together

Photo of the parts used finish the Assembly of the X Axis
Photo of an assembled Frame
We use the parts we assembled above (shown on left) to complete the unit as shown on the right.





Squaring, and truing the size/shape

The squaring and truing of this axis is fairly simple. We want to make sure that the X Carriage 180 side has good contact between the bearings and the smooth bar. We want to make sure that the Z smooth bar will fit and ride in the 360 and the 180 sides without too much tension.

The X Carriage 180 is adjusted by means of the two bolts that hold the bottom bearing portion onto the main carriage. Simply loosen or tighten them as needed. There should be just enough tension for the bearings to make contact with the bar.

The Z 180 side is the easiest of the three, we don't check to make sure there is enough tension at this time, but we want to make sure ther is not TOO MUCH tension. The bar should fit between the bearings on the 180 end and should not rub on the plastic parts when it is "nearly" centered in the bearings.

The Z 360 side is the most temperamental. I often have to trim the shoulder between the straight bearing and the angled bearings. I trim it with a knife. The amount I have had to trim is very small when I have everything else adjusted well. The bar should go down through both sets of bearings and not rub on anything. If it is rubbing, I would first check to see that the parts are all fitting together as they should and the two 360 bearing clamps are parallel to each other. A common mistake here is to have the nut end of the bolts holding the 360 bearing and the Z nut retainer turned towards each other, rather than the heads of the bolts (take a close look at the pictures above, the nuts are on the outsides of the assembly, not the inside).

I have not posted pictures with this explainations, since I am not sure what to take pictures of to better describe the adjustments (other than the pictures in the steps above). If you have some please add them to this gallery... or send them to me and I will add them (see how to contact me above, I will send you my email address).