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Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S  

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Fred
 Fred
(@fred)
New Member
Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S

I am working through removing all the bearings to grease for the first time since the build. I am looking for something that would outline the process without just reversing the build. Ideas?, youtube videos?

Prusa with a huge print farm must have an effective process to do this...

Any ideas most appreciated.

Posted : 07/12/2019 1:16 am
Martin_au
(@martin_au)
Reputable Member
RE: Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S

I would link this up with some upgrades to make it easy to do this in the future. In particular, Z-motor mounts that allow you to drop and remove the Z-motors without much effort. Then, drop the Z-motors out. Wiggle the X-axis rods out. Then you have the X and Z bearings available. Just snip the zipties on the bed and slide the rods out to get to the Y bearings.

Posted : 08/12/2019 11:50 am
Fred
 Fred
(@fred)
New Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S

I suspect the majority of MK3 owners never tear down their printers to grease the bearings. I cannot figure any way to safely remove the X axis bearings without tearing apart the print head (due to to wires). If I had known, would have greased them during the build...

 

Posted : 09/12/2019 1:20 pm
featherz
(@featherz)
Eminent Member
RE: Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S

@fred

I have done it, didn't grease on install. It's not that bad - raise the X axis to the top. Remove the X motor and cut the zip ties holding the wire bundle plus remove the strain relief. You can keep the wires all bundled up just need to remove that strain protector. I believe I had to remove the trapezoidal nuts as well.  You should then be able to lift the X over and out. Be careful when putting it back - I lost some balls on the Z bearings when I put it back, just haven't gotten to replacing those bearings too. 🙂

I took a pic of the strain relief so I could remember where the ties were without having to refer back to the manual. 🙂 

 

Posted : 09/12/2019 4:44 pm
Mike Daneman
(@mike-daneman)
Estimable Member
RE: Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S

@fred

I did this recently.  Following a suggestion from another user (I think it may have been tim), I was able to remove the X-axis rods from the mounts.

I first removed the extruder from the X bearings, then removed the X-axis carriage off the z-axis rails by unwrapping a little of the cables bunch which let me raise the X-axis carriage high enough to take it off the Z rods. (Another option here is to unscrew the Z-axis motors and drop the Z rods down).  Then, once the X carriage was free, I slowly twisted the X mounts back and forth until the X rods popped out.  You have to do it slowly and have patience, but it didn't take too long.  Once the rods are out on one side, you can grab them with something non-slippery (rubber jar opening thing I had worked great) and twist them until they come out completely.

Posted : 20/12/2019 8:44 pm
holmes4
(@holmes4)
Estimable Member
RE: Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S

The X and Z axes aren't difficult to reveal the bearings. Y axis is much harder.

Posted : 22/12/2019 10:37 pm
Mike Daneman
(@mike-daneman)
Estimable Member
RE: Good procedure to remove all the bearings on MK3S
Posted by: @holmes4

The X and Z axes aren't difficult to reveal the bearings. Y axis is much harder.

Really?  I found Y and Z pretty easy to remove, but X was tough since it requires removing the entire z-carriage and pulling the rods from the x-axis mounts, which is not easy. 

Posted : 22/12/2019 11:46 pm
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