All 3D Printed parts done !

Ok, i finally got time to hop back on and got cracking.

The Idlers

Alright, first of all, lemme explain what the idlers actually do, BUT YOU WOULD KNOW THIS IF YOU WOULD READ MY DEVLOGS !

Yes. I mean you.

Sitting there, scrolling through stardance.

GO READ MY DEVLOG

or ill eat you

i mean it

Sorry for getting sidetracked, lemme explain again

What the idlers do (fr this time)

Alr, so my 3d printer uses a belted gantry alr - and if you dont know what that means genuinely go read my devlog for the gantry, i swear it explains stuff.

Im not gonna explain everything again like a parrot - so basically the printhead and X axis move through turning a belt with a motor - and the belt cant levitate in midair unlike my soul when im doomscrolling at night when a floorboard creaks, so the belt needs to go around something - The idlers - and guess what - the idlers arent attached to anything, so they are idle get it. They spin freely with the belt.

My idler mount

Last devlog i had quickly designed a mount for my idlers that attaches to the frame - but i didn’t test it.

so i did that

Results

Well, first thing i did was test if the idlers fit on the thing - and , they do ! The holes line up and everything ! (See pics below)

After that, i tested if the whole thing fits on my Frame by replacing the old mount that wasnt mine (and changing the color so its stylish )

This is really the final task - i aligned it with the frame and it looked pretty good (see below)

I zoomed out, aligned my cam, and checked - and what a pretty sight it was - my idlers (2 toothed circles) and my motor pulley (ring around motor shaft aligned perfectly from this side - it took a bit to align them along the other axis too, but it was worth it, it looks amazing !

Also i forgot to unpause lapse

Whats next ?

I still have a few tiny odd jobs and very simple 3dped parts to make, but that shouldn’t take very long, its so quick its not even worth logging.

The next big thing to do before im actually done with the printer is the one ive been procrastinating and saving for last and dreading for weeks, cause its def the hardest one - ** The Toolhead**

What is the Toolhead ?

The toolheead is just a shell that holds the actual printing components - the hotend (heats stuff up), extruder (motor with gears that pushes filament into the hotend properly), probe (senses the print bed), etc. - sounds simple right ? well it isn’t

Whats the difficulty ?

The challenges

• Ow ow hot ! Im making a 3dp, so it gets hot - duh. I need to make sure that none of that filament melting heat gets to my 3dped toolhead (made out of filament 💀)
• mounting : im using a MGN12H linear rail, so i need a way to mount my toolhead on that.
• belts - i need a way to clamp the belts of my gantry down on my toolhead
• multiple parts : too many parts are needed and all of them need to be somewhere specific. The part cooling fans need to be at the top, the main fan near the hotend but not too near. The hotend needs to be low down, but also high up enough so its close to the extruder. The klicky probe needs to be near the bottom, so it can hit the print bed first, so i need to design around a clicky probe mount too 😭 .

Im cooked. See ya soon !