Mysteries of the tall print

There’s a new Tall Print record holder in town.  Brian J. Pierce aka Chooch printed a 154mm tall Chicago’s Willis Tower.  Brian reveals the secret: “My bot is hacked, but using mostly original parts that came with the kit and printed parts to achieve the new record.”

What’s the hack?  Well, Brian says in the comments, “I’ll be releasing the Pfierce Z-axis extender kit in a couple of weeks.  It comes with 6 spacers and a new and improved z axis crank.”  Below is a crop of picture of Brian’s setup.

Chooch's Vertical Hack

Chooch's Vertical Hack

I think there’s a lot of interesting stuff in this setup:

  1. It looks like Brian’s got a Z axis wobble arrester.  I can’t tell if it is NateTrue’s Wobble Arresting Z bracket or TwoTimes’ Wobble Arrester.  If I had to guess, I’d think it’s NateTrue’s – since there are no visible straight rods.
  2. Check out the build quality on the Z axis wobble arrester – it’s terrible!!!
  3. Now, check out the build quality on the print – it’s pretty good!  Nice job!  I guess that arrester is working.
  4. If you look at the place where the top panel meets the sides, you can see printed bits.  It looks like he’s used a series of “spacers” (perhaps 6?) to raise the top panel above the sides.