Tag Archives: end

Printing a MakerBot

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I’ve already pontificated on the idea that if you’ve purchased a MakerBot Cupcake CNC Deluxe kit, you basically get a second MakerBot for half off.  (Spoiler: it’s because you can print a ton of the most expensive parts that go into building a new one).  I don’t know why, but the idea of replacing wooden parts on my ‘bot with printed parts just fascinates me. 1

So, let’s have a list of potentially (and actually!) printable parts:

  • Electronics spacers
  • 3 large pulleys, 1 small pulley
  • Y stage, the entire thing, as a single print
  • X stage, in three large prints (there would be no need for the end caps if the three pieces were designed properly)
  • Insulating retainer ring
  • Printruder
  • Dinos
  • X stage end caps
  • Z stage captive nut guides
  • Z axis rod bearing brackets

Having more printed components for the MakerBot would reduce a lot of work in it’s assembly.  There’s a lot of tiny fiddly bits in the X and Y stages that would become obsolete.

Heck, it might even be possible to replace some of the bolts with some kind of printable fastener system.

  1. Cue Johnny Cash singin’ One Piece At A Time [↩]

One step forward, two steps back

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As I mentioned, I had installed the Z-axis threaded rods without actually cleaning them first.  It wasn’t that bad to undo the caps, pull them out, and clean them.  In fact, it was kinda fun.

The process involves covering one end of the threaded rod with electrical tape to protect the threads and your drill, inserting that end into an electrical drill, adding 3-in-1 oil to the rod, and running the drill while holding a paper towel to the threads with a thumbnail.  It worked great and went much easier than I thought it would be.  I also used this opportunity to lower the threaded rods into the lower section of the MakerBot.  I’ll need to make sure they don’t get caught on any wires, but that will be all part of the process of zip tying all of the wires down anyhow.

Since I was going over things I had already done, I went ahead and also tightened up the Y-axis pulley.  It’s kind of a pain to adjust once the XY stage is installed, but I happen to have a very small adjustable wrench that was able to reach underneath the XY stage.