Belt tensioners for Printrbot.
As much as I love the idea of zip tie/laser cut and 3D printed belt tensioners, I would prefer something that works over time and is easily adjustable. Is there such a thing and where do I order?
Take a look at @Brook_Drumm 's latest posts. They’re working on a long lasting solution that’s easy to adjust.
My 3d printed belt tensioner works reliably (so far) and is easily adjustable. It was designed for the printrbot GO, but may work on others. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:135634
Anthony: that’s for the Simple, which uses Spectra braided fishing line instead of belts… I’ve not needed to re-tension the belts on my Jr., but I’ve only had it for a couple of months (and upgraded to GT2 belts/20-tooth pulleys).
There is a printed belt tensioner on thingiverse that is triangular shaped. It uses one nut and screw. Its my favorite belt tensioner so far.
This was a very fun part of my 3d printing experience so far. So I used the zip ties to get it to print as best I could. I then printed this:
and with that printed good enough, I then printed a better version of it!
Once that was all good, I proceeded to print this:
Now it’s printing nicely! Still more tweaking I can do I think. (extruder temps, hotbed temp, fans etc.)
Loving it so far though.
I imagine some sort of metal ratcheting gear that would trap the belt.
I’m shopping for belt & pulley too. Where did you buy. I was looking at Adafruit.
I just use the springs out of old clothespins. Self-adjusting AND cheap.
I did a refit on my Printrbot Jr this weekend. Reprinted the belt tensioner with a different filament that prints sharper corners. Doing an OK job holding the filament but it isn’t that stable side to side. I frequently use this as a demo unit so in and out of a crate quite a bit. I think the CNC guys would have a rock solid aluminum belt tensioner though…
Also replaced the broken printed extruder gears with injection molded. Very smooth now. Print quality is back up.