New User - Upgrading Parts  

Re: New User - Upgrading Parts

well you are limiting yourself to low melting temperature plastic with the plastic bearings I understand... so if all you print is PLA give them a try

Re: New User - Upgrading Parts

Will the bearing temp change when printing say PETG as its only the nozzle heating up?

Do you have any other recommendations?

Re: New User - Upgrading Parts

I would worry about the bearings under the bed with bed temp around 80 to 100c just getting soft... the same for the bearings behind the extruder they don't have to melt just softena bit to affect accuracy. what I have read is that folks who just do low temp stuff are ok but I want the flexibility of going with exotic filaments if the need arises

the next time I need to disassemble the printer for maintenance( after 10 kilos of plastic has got through it ) I plan to grease the bearings with a gadget like this
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1128781

until then I am putting a drop or 2 of singer sewing machine oil on the rods each week

Re: New User - Upgrading Parts

Hi,

I have just finished building the Mk3 and running some tests later.

I was looking at potential upgrades and ordered the following:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GT2-Idler-Pu ... 2749.l2649
https://emvioeng.com/shop/3d-printing/3d-printer-components/drylin-bearings-for-8mm-shaft-15mm-od/

So I understand the pulley's I can just replace the existing ones. They should, in theory, stop any issues around tensions and the belt drifting?

Regarding the bearings has anyone had an experience with them? I understand they give near friction-less movement and are silent?

Also with both of the above. Does this affect any of the "magic" that happens with auto calibration ..etc?

Thanks

Don't buy the Igus bearings for your MK3. The bearings in the link above are designed to be fully captured to get the correct pre-load. They won't work with the u-bolt mounts used in the MK3 y axis. You can get a metal enclosed version but they have a lot of lateral movement unless you buy the matching Igus rods. The amount of improvement you will get isn't worth the cost.

Re: New User - Upgrading Parts

In my (not really qualified) opinion, the supplied linear bearings aren't that bad. And there are printable parts on Thingiverse which will hold the Igus bearings in place for the y axis. they will cost you a few mm in z height, though.
On the other hand, if you're going to print bearing holders anyway, you might as well print holders for bronze bushings. There are some designs on Thingiverse which print an adapter to replace the LM8U's with bronze bushings, e.g. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2437855 - but why stop there when you can just remodel your printer's parts to take bushings instead of LM8U's? Ok, for the y-axis, you'd need something like this https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2993300

Re: New User - Upgrading Parts

Thanks for the info all.

What about the idlers. Worth replacing them as a direct swap?

I have done my first prints and tbh they are very good with little additional calibration.