A BIG thank you to @Kelly_S for the design of the bed and @Andy_Shilling for being lazy! (he found the drawings in his computer trash!)
I printed up the parts and mounted them to the old clamp plate that comes with the K40. This makes it rock solid and easily removeable. The only issue seems to be that not all ball chains are created equal. There can be a little slip on the gear heads. I find the chain slips when using the manual adjuster. If I pull on the chain, it works like a champ.
Bottom line, it is a great adjustable bed for the price of parts. I think I have less than $10.00 USD in it.
PS If you look to the left of the bed, those are parts for making an adjustable laser mount. Pics to come!
I have those same laser mounts in my K40-S as we speak, tight fit but they work well. Make sure you put something to pad where the screws thread into the tube holder it can poke the tube otherwise.
@HalfNormal I can only take credit for not deleting +Kelly S remix of the original but it seems your having the same problem i had with the balls slipping.
That is why I went back to the original with the gt2 6mm belt, mine now doesn’t slip and i can adjust it one handed with the printable handle. I don’t know what you use for a bed but I’m happy with this and the extra little orange washer things I printed hold the bed level and reduce friction when adjusting it.
Busy making planes buddy. I went for a wire reinforced belt going that would make it easier, let say it took me all day to get a semi flexible join in it. Just hope I don’t need to make another one any time soon.
@Andy_Shilling Excellent! I have a 3D printer and think I already have all the parts needed to make this. I’ve been pondering how to make a single point/manual adjustable platform and this looks like current favorite* design.
@Andy_Shilling I intend to use either GT2 or T2. I have some of the latter lying around from my first Printrbot LC Plus. Not sure if I have enough though. And it looks like I might need it to be a closed loop.
@SirGeekALot yes it needs to be a loop. It may not be the best table or there but it works, I’ve made mine so I can remove the bed if I need to put bigger items in.
I think the biggest draw back on this design is the threaded rods reduce your overall bed size of you want to engrave on a thicker peice of wood as they protrude as you do the bed down.
@Andy_Shilling I noticed that. I’m going to think about what might be a better way; perhaps having the threaded rods outside the print area and having some kind of bed supports that reach under it from the periphery? Just a thought; I’m not done thinking about it yet.