Correct Belt Tension, resonances, and input shaping  

Correct Belt Tension, resonances, and input shaping

Once that the MK4 kit will be shipped we will surely return to speak about the correct belt tension.

I can see that the XL manual has been updated to use a PET gauge. The gauge should be 3D printed, and shows the belt tension. I found also the specific gauge for the  MK3S (may be it will work also on MK4) and Mini here. I don't know if the MK4 will still have the belt tension value displayed on the LCD panel after the belt test in firmware or we will need to use a gauge.

Looking around I have found an extremely enlightening video of a company here, where they simulated an X and Y axe of a MK3S and examined all the impact of wrong belt tension . The video was focused on the MK3S but they tested also other printer structures. They show how the wrong tensions has impact on:

• Correct object measures
• Nozzle position
• Waves from resonance effects

They showed the ideal tension for each MK3S axe, and gave a web page with a tension calculator. There is also a devoted GitHub repository.

An amazing things is that they show that under a certain limit, all the remaining disturbances are caused by the motor stepper resonance and vibrations, plus specific acceleration and velocity of the printed Gcode. Then those vibrations become amplified by the resonating printer structure. In order to solve this kind of issue, they designed and produced a KIT with high quality low vibration special motors for MK3S, to highly reduce the effect of motor vibrations on prints But the big news is that they recognize that input shaping will remove all the other remaining disturbances. They are working and testing an implementation of input shaping directly on the slicer! 😲

This means that if they will success, we will be able to have input shaping on MK3S+ directly from the slicer  without the need to upgrade the MK3S board. 😍 

Have a look at the video.