Grégoire Saunier
patreon
Details on linear rail development
🕑 Added 2019-12-04 12:48:06 +0000 UTCYou have probably seen my post about the linear rail development. Here are some more details exclusively for you dear Patrons.
Florian designed a special carriage to test different rails configuration you can see on those pictures. We tested two different rails from Igus, 20x60 V-Slot and CPC (similar to Hiwin quality). We also read lots of datasheet from other manufacturers and made some pricing research. We made some calculations on lifespan and implication of belt/wagon positions. Btw, don't take too much attention to the belt path, it was taken into account during our tests and was in the limits of specifications (when there is one).
The CPC linear rail as you see in the two first pictures is by far the best solution we could test. We are currently using a 24mm wide rail and the length will be shorter than what you see on the second picture. Note that we can still change the rail dimension depending the results of the ongoing development.
Using a single centered linear rail has so much advantages over any other solutions we could see. It is even easier and quicker to assemble than dual smooth rods or 20x60 V-Slot! We are still impressed everyday how stiff and butter smooth this rail is.
We still don't know if we will use a custom Y carriage or not. The advantage of the custom carriage is that we can optimize the weight and rigidity for our setup, make assembly easier and use very stiff aluminum. The downside is obviously the price. Reusing stock carriage will require to drill some holes, so not the most ideal thing. Let's see how it goes!
We learned a lot during all this work and it is not finished! We couldn't achieve all this without the feedback of Kodi from 3D Fused. Florian made an incredible work in CAD and he also supported (and still support) all my remarks which is quite impressive :-D . Obviously, LDO offered a precious help by producing most of the parts, sourcing hardware and gave feedback on how "manufacturable" our solution is.
We are now refining the design of the belt path, the carriage and the plate that support the rail.
We hope you like this development because we are very excited about it!
Comments
Grégoire Saunier
Thanks for your comment, really happy you like it. We have improved our design and we are not going to loose any Z height. We could even be able to gain 2-3mm but it might be safer to keep some margin for future development. A custom carriage will still be needed. 5mm carriage will be fine if you use a stiff aluminum.
Marc
As the Facebook post got bumped up again thought I'd write here. Love the simplicity of the design and decision going with only 1 rail. I am working on an almost identical approach at the moment. The problem I discovered with re-using the original carriage and a rail support on top of the v-slots is a loss of around 3-4mm in Z-height. My idea was going with a 5mm aluminium carriage and a 2.5mm stainless steel rail support. Keep up the good work!
Grégoire Saunier
Thanks for your feedback. We are not ready yet to release it, hope to come with more news in January.
Alex Vasile
Can we have this yesterday? I am soo glad you are working on this. I do not think a custom Y carriage would be a hard sell though. Since we’re getting rid of the Y rods and their bearings , together with the frame and extrusions, the Y carriage gives a more complete package one could sell ore save for a future second printer
