An Upgrade Idea for my CR-10 or any other Bowden with the X axis bar.
I have a CR-10 S5 being delivered today. (hopefully) These printers are like OFF-ROAD vehicles in that there is a whole world full of aftermarket parts for improving this or that. That said, I have an idea that I wish to share.
So many good ideas for so many cheap printers. :p
So the story goes--- Print head extruder, very accurate in some ways, but also a lot of inertia weight that can distort the print on certain movements. Bowden removes the weight factor but introduces less filament extrusion accuracy/performance in both push and retraction modes. Take your pic, name your poison. Sure you can just about cure everything up in in your slicer of choice, but the discussion goes on and hardware parts are made to help improve the situations.
On my CR-10 S5 there are now two Z axis motorized screws. Twice the vertical lifting power, but that really wasnt the intended result. It was having a more accurate/aligned, x axis to print from. Which is a good thing, a better thing. So the Bowden sits on the left side of the frame x axis bar with a Loooong tube running to the print head. My first bright idea was to move the Extruder off the left side to a more central position behind the print head. This would be accomplished by adding an additional 20x20 alum bar on the backside of the screw attachments. Easy enough to do with a few printed parts. Now we have the extruder centralized and moving up and down with the print head on the Z axis. This would now reduce the distance traveled by the filament by half (read more accurate extrude and retract performance). I have been sitting on this astounding revelation for ummm, the last 24 hours. It would be an easy task to relocate the filament spool and feed, and hey more parts to be printed for improvements. ;)
Now, this morning, I am mulling over my brilliant new idea and realize that i could take it another step further. Looking at a 3 pack of Nema 17 stepper motors on Ebay, it hit me! If i can put another 20x20 bar behind the x axis bar, then why not another stepper motor, belt, pulleys, and V track set-up and just mount up that extruder directly behind the Hot-end. Of course, for those of you not quite visualizing the concept, the new, second bar would be on the other side of the vertical tower. On the side of the Z axis screws. So there will be some distance between the two bars and the extruder and the Hot end. NOW, we have the new stepper motor hooked up in parallel to the X axis motor, virtually mimicking the hot end. Now the filament distance traveled between extruder and hot end becomes basically 20mm. Not a lot of distance to get in trouble with. You could mount the extruder a bit higher so the actual angle into the hot end would be more direct. But, distance traveled and hence all the Bowden problems, GONE GONE GONE!! The extruder (heavy mass) will be traveling on a completely seperate channel from the hot-end printer, which should buffer the Hot end as if the extruder were still sitting on one side like normal. All the best of everything! Finally!! This will be my first major project once i get it built and moving along.
Oh, and what about rotating the V pully wheels into a vertical position under the print bed. I dont have my machine in front of me yet, but this too seems a very easy engineering fix and one that would be cheap. I believe the S5 comes with a dual track, unlike other models so this may only be a quick fix on that model. That wouldnt stop anyone from making a 20x20 rail purchase and putting in two slide supports for the Y axis. I may have a serious look at this as well.
Ok, two topics in one day. My fingers are panting from the strain.
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