After several months of not printing I finally have a working 3D printer again - Yay! I can only blame myself for this; since I in my eagerness to improve the printer tore it apart before printing the new parts I needed. Even though my J-Head arrived swiftly I had nothing to mount it on...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdh2r1UElhBgSYBmsiF2h_udo3EPqETOmVCHCwgsaPQkcGiN-ozsT_y1Z7EEX7q4J0mtdXlzHAWXWBT_7Yat2ghV7TbLpOzq-Sq4sD-nsEZqYKGYUcUybz-wkP68Ak-oWE_mRna9jrotPH/s320/01078EB0-F1E9-4189-91DC-142F94E7E4D4.JPG) |
J-Head Mk V-BV. Excellent build quality! |
The aluminum plate mounted on top of the slide-bearings did not have enough stability using zip ties alone. I tried replacing the zip ties with brass wire (the sort used to hang paintings with), but that turned out even worse since you can't get the wire tight enough.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH3JqzJv6HjJt0EDAwA4pQD56T2bR6ufs49NZjUGT4c5I096up6DJ8aoI71KbKcx1HTIcp3L1nYCPZKVlWDbpuzz5uqCbgcWAq4bcM8a25avdKKXEXk_Q8p3XY2FDWnAq1NUDoGIah5M4O/s320/F78D84BB-4F52-4869-A260-5964BBB974B3.JPG) |
My best friend Sugru at work again. |
Enter
Sugru. I had a batch in the fridge that was nearing it's use-by date so why not try that. I made sure to protect the bearings with scotch tape so the sugru wouldn't stick - only support. Apply healthy amount of sugru and wait 24 hours. Worked like a charm!
Next I needed a new mechanism to feed the plastic. The easiest would have been to print something, but without a working printer that proved ... difficult.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRaYlfCxC4jJyL-S7Oid6JnLPm4rAoOcl7Ifz5P787RKAZMNtbLtHODgQAVBNwi1oPpfDOs8kc9SLAgCdamzuJSVhcYtQizxydhg8SC3VYPim2IlclB5r1C6hpy6LqsmxMVUoqzzz52XoU/s320/B676C980-A787-42C0-9E14-CC200129C9BF.JPG) |
Initial setup with the spring mechanism. |
After a lot of thought and a fair number of iterations I came up with a design that let me have a spring as tension mechanism on the filament feeder.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIAqbXc_MKAxkSsj7vHHFUFLAwzrjVAAvLKNYLQWMsJvkXsY1KAjDee9ByX-lbA6HyH4Jrwk5TY7i7KE2izoNAFftZk6qQjzMCbqr3OZ-GVyf3ZcB50SAwHor4DQFVT2qnT0pUn9Q-QkEZ/s320/2E316207-BEE8-4B67-9B8C-476AACA9001A.JPG) |
Need more springs Scotty! |
When calibrating the feed rate I quickly discovered that the original spring didn't have nearly enough force to keep the flow of plastic consistent - especially when the filament spool needed to be unreeled by the printer as well. Adding three more springs fixed that issue neatly - although it doesn't look as pretty any more.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjR6n9szybiYmENoG5MxdpLVl31g1thE3h7z9BKhjod-HceKnqtvkUYJZDAt9Z9DBo-v-Y8LvELTQQTDEJKASODvk8Ckw1UOMyVVnqpd8oShYpxdg6iuYRWDGaH_AO6RnxWLpUCtiaYJ7Gt/s320/C0B75A30-69B0-4BAD-9ED1-462FDCD70003.JPG) |
First print: new tension lever. |
As for now the feeder seems to hold up pretty good as well as consistent results. I think I'll keep it for a while. The J-Head I'm really impressed with; great build quality and excellent print result!
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