You probably discovered
that mounting any accessories on the printer’s frame is a bit inconvenient. It
is a good idea with these square nuts slid in the frame but unfortunately if
you want to add something after the printer is fully assembled – it can be very
ungrateful.
Some of the areas are easy
to be modified, like the vertical aluminium profiles – it requires just
removing the top caps. However, some areas are very hard to access (like the Z
carriage arm) – you would need to tear the printer apart to get into the groove
in the aluminium profile.
I had to figure out how
to hang something on the frame without disassembling the printer or drilling
holes in the frame. The list below shows what I would like to change/add to the
printer:
- mounting
the controller board on a separate base (probably with some cable tights)
- mounting
the power supply on the side/back of the frame
- mounting
the fan properly (it is very wiggly by default)
- adding
a LED lighting (probably PWM controlled)
- adding
a RaspberryPi to control the printer remotely
- adding
a webcam to see the printing progress
- adding
an extension lead where I could insert all the plugs (printer, RPi, LEDs)
- mounting
the extension lead to the frame (the idea is to have the printer portable, with
only one cable sticking out with the rest mounted securely)
- adding
a filament cleaner
- adding
a dishwasher (or maybe not, it would be too much for the frame :))
Here is a cross-section
of the aluminium profile:
My first thought was to
design a locking pin that would slide through the slot and then lock if rotated
90°.
After some measurements
I came up with this bracket and pin:
I have created rectangular
holes on the sides of the clip to allow the pin slide through.
Below are the printed objects.
A flat M3 bolt + washer or flat M4 bolt (like the one below) can be used.
To download the files - visit my profile on Thingiverse (http://www.thingiverse.com/ljwinkler/designs) or use direct links below:
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