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Carriage spacers for the R2

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by Lance Weston, Mar 9, 2020.

  1. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    I purchased an R2 from eBay. It was obvious it had never been taken apart but the rod wear was terrible. I ordered new hardened rods and put in new bearings, but the wear was still terrible on the rods. I examined the spacers and found that the belting was not perfectly placed. The R2 spacers had many different lengths and no combination gave me perfect belting placement. Not having the carriage drawings I made some assumptions an printed out spacers. I only needed three different lengths.

    The first spacers I posted were impossible to read and I have changed what is printed on the spacers themselves. U: top, D: bottom, R: right, L: left, F: front, B: back. Makes it real easy to re-assemble and everything lines up perfectly, to my eye. The print head now moves very freely. I have trimmed the lengths slightly.

    I had to repair a carriage assembly as the screw holes for the steppers were to cracking. Carriage pictured has the repair spacers glued in. I will post the repair when it is finished along with pictures including the spacers.
     

    Attached Files:

    #1 Lance Weston, Mar 9, 2020
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2020
  2. tkoco

    tkoco - -.- --- -.-. ---
    Staff Member

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    Images, please.
     
  3. Lights

    Lights New Member

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    Hi

    Can you say more about that brackets holding smaller rods? It is better thean the original?
     
  4. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    My original brackets broke, the replacements broke. I bought a used R2 and it's brackets were broken. These brackets will not break. They do not use springs on the belting which stretch during acceleration and give inaccuracies. My brackets use open loop belting which you can make as tight as you like. My brackets secure the 6mm rods so they are unable to drift.

    The disadvantages: They are not an easy install. They require a hole to be put in on either side of the carriage for the 6 mm rods insertion. If the print is not well done then the sleeve bearings holding the rods need to be adjusted. If the rod does not slide directly into it's mating bracket a 6mm reamer ( or "A" drill bit ) has to be used to adjust the sleeve bearing. The rod must be inserted from each side to verify lineup. You loose 2mm of bed width because the brackets are wider.

    The advantages: They will never break, there are no springs, and it will let the 6mm rods move slightly to compensate for the 8mm rods not being perfectly parallel, because the 6mm rods are only fixed on one side. The rods are now not held by just a point on each side. They run through a 10 mm long bearing on each side so are stiffer holding the head.
     
    mark tomlinson and tkoco like this.
  5. Lights

    Lights New Member

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    Hi again

    Can you post files with brackets and steppers carriage?
     
  6. Lance Weston

    Lance Weston Active Member

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    These brackets are very strong. I use a 8x11x30 sleeve bearings for the 8mm rods. I use 6x7x10 sleeve bearings for the 6mm rods. It is screwed together with m2.6x16 self tapping screws. The belts can be tensionsed by hand. After you get the length right, all of the belts are identical in length. Take a small blade screwdriver and seat the belt as far as it will go into the plastic block. I have found that If I over tension new belting it will loosen a bit over time. You have to make a 4 holes in the carriage for the 8 mm rods to slip through on either end. You do not need tools to align, just slide the rods to one end and lock them in place. They are now aligned. Verifiy that the rods all move easily after assembly and alignment. If they do not your print was not perfect, but can be fixed. If the rod does not slide to the other hole, but is instead out of line you can heat just to the point of softening the plastic, now just bend it until it aligns with the opposing block hole. When this has happened to me, I printed out a new block. Unlike the old system where the 6mm rods are held by a point, the rods are now held by a 10 mm long bearing to add rigidity to the system.

    Carriage spacers drive me nuts. I have included new spacers that I use with cheap Chinese gears. They put me pretty much in the center of the gears, but the tolerances required are +/- 0.4 mm. Different brands of gears give different results. They should not, but they do. In the end it is all so close that even if running at the end of the spacer it is fine. Make sure not to lose the two 0.1mm shim washers that go on where the gears directly touch the flange bearings.

    The bearing should all be a friction fit if not stiff enough just use a drop of super glue on the outside of the bearing.

    All of the parts are available from many sources, these are just ones that I have purchased from in the past.


    https://www.amazon.com/LANIAKEA-Pri...t2+belt&qid=1595173203&s=instant-video&sr=1-9

    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32800305850.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.50964c4dcVwXjC

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/10Pcs-SF-1...e=STRK:MEBIDX:IT&_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649

    https://www.ebay.com/itm/M2-M2-6-M3...766862?hash=item2ae131d90e:g:qzMAAOSwcuNeODis
     

    Attached Files:

  7. Lights

    Lights New Member

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    I just printed old versions of spacers.

    i will print new one now.
     

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