So, assembling my first printer and very excited. I’ve come to the point where I have to tighten the bolts on the BED PLATE SUPPORT CARRIAGE. It states to only complete tightening once the motion of the plate is smooth. The motion of my plate is not completely smooth, even when completely loosened. It appears to slow down a little at the ends of the range of motion. Should I continue, or do I need to fix something? Any advice would be appreciated.
Make sure the rods are parallel and square to the frame. Usually if you loosen everything and move the carriage back and forth, it will align everything for smooth motion.
If that fails, a drop or two of (3-in-1) light machine oil on the rods couldn’t hurt.
Also check the alignment of your belts.
Thanks, I measured both sides of the parallel poles and there is a 0.8mm difference, so that must be it. I will have a go at resetting it all tonight. Thank again for your help.
No problem.
The easiest way I’ve found to square up the rods is to loosen the bolts holding the end brackets to the frame, then quickly slide the carriage between its extremes of motion. Once it slides smoothly, lock it back down.
Thanks. I did exactly that and it’s much better. It still seems to scrape it’s way across. But I can now get it from one side to another just using gravity.
Wash out the Chinese packing grease from the linear bearings and re-lubricate.
WD40 is nearly all solvents so works well to remove the grease.
Sewing machine oil, light machine oil, or even 3in1 will do for lubrication.
I will do that, thanks. Wow, this forum is really helpful, so thanks guys. I was worried this community would be dead as the printer has been out for some time now. I’m really enjoying slowly building my first one though!