Ultimaker rev.3 assembly: Material feed mechanism
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| Mechanical assembly of the Ultimaker revision 3 (click for an overview) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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6. Material feed mechanism |
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Contents |
Click here for a detailed photo series of the construction on our flickr account.
The finished assembly should look like this (but with the motor wires twisted):
Step 1: What you'll need
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Time needed: 30-40 minutes (please also report how long it took in the comments) |
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Tools needed:
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| Qty. | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1x | Stepper motor | Use the one with the flat part for the small black gear |
| 1x | Quick fit coupling | The grey part, used to fit the Bowden tube |
| 2x | Bearings | Sealed ball bearings with 8mm inner diameter |
| 1x | Small gear | A black gear made of Delrin, find it on one of your stepper motors |
| 1x | Large gear | The large wooden gear |
| 1x | Hobbed bolt | This is a bolt with grooves that is used for driving the filament |
| 3x | 8mm bushing/washer | Bushings (or "washers" if you're in the US) used as spacers |
| 12x | M3x20 bolts | These are grouped in a bag |
| 1x | M3x25 bolts | For the tensioner. These are grouped in a bag |
| 9x | Locking M3 nuts | These are special nuts that do not loosen themselves (see picture) |
| 1 | Wooden part 10A | Grouped in a bag |
| 1 | Wooden part 10b | Grouped in a bag |
| 1 | Wooden part 10C | Grouped in a bag |
| 1 | Wooden Gear | Named extruder |
| Laser cut parts (Delrin) | These are grouped in a bag |
Preparations
Take the contents out of the Extruder drive pack.
Assembly of the main body of the drive mechanism
| Qty. | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1x | Stepper motor | Use the one with the flat part for the small black gear |
| 1 | Wooden part 10A | Grouped in a bag |
| 1 | Wooden part 10b | Grouped in a bag |
| 1 | Wooden part 10C | Grouped in a bag |
| 1 | Wooden Gear | Named extruder |
1. First take part 10A, 10B, 10C and the motor.
2. Put part 10A on top of the motor, with the inscription (10A) facing towards the motor.
3. Take part 10B and place it on top of 10A, and put the quick fit coupling in its T-slot.
4. Place part 10C on top of 10B.
5. Now the 2 bearings can be put in parts 10A and 10C. The bearings are thinner than the 6mm plywood, later you can adjust their depth in the plywood to make sure that the bolt that drives the filament is in the right place. We'll get back to that later...
6. Take 6 20mm bolts and 2 nuts. Use 4 bolts to mount the motor to the parts, but don't bolt them tight. The motor needs to be adjusted later. Use the other 2 bolts and nuts to bolt the parts together. These can be tightened normally. Push the small gear on the motor axis, just until the axis is on the same level as the front of the small gear. Dont push it further.
Drive bolt assambly
This section is written for the new drive bolt ('version 3'), for the old assambly instructions see Drive_bolt_v2_assambly
| Qty. | Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Big Gear | |
| 1 | M8 nut | |
| 1 | Hobbed bolt | |
| 5 | Washers | Could be more or less than 5 |
| 1 | Delrin clip | Black, but might be white |
| 1 | M8 (cap) nut | This could be either a cap nut or a normal nut, depending on your version. Early Ultimakers were shipped with a bolt that was 'too long' and a normal M8 nut. |
1. Take the drive bolt and click the delrin clip on the groove. Slide it from the motor side in the bearings, so it protrudes on the other side. The 'good' gripping part -nearest to the end - should be straight between the two housing plates. If it isn't, check if you bolted the mounting plates tight enough (but not too tight!).
2. Take the big gear and put an M8 nut inside.
3. place two 8mm washers on the hobbed bolt and then screw on the big gear (with the 'extrude' text on the outside). The last few turns are easier done by turning the bolt instead of the gear, because otherwise you are turning the motor as well. The washers prevent the gear from touching the bolts on the extruder drive housing. It should not be too tight, the entire bolt and gear should be able to turn freely in the bearings. Only one washer is shown on the picture.
4. Place a washer next to the gear and then loosely put the (cap) nut on the bolt
5. Tighten the gear and (cap) nut on each other (with the washer in between) If it is still possible to rotate the gear while the bolt is still, you might need to put another washer between the (cap) nut and the gear. Tighten the two NUTS together, do not put the nuts tight onto the hobbed bolt. Withouth filament, the only friction you should feel is the motor. It is important that the bearings are not clamped together. There should be a little void/play between the gear-nut and the washers.
The final assambly should have the following order:
- Turquoise = delrin clip
- Dark grey = bearing (in extruder housing);
- Blue = m8 washer;
- Purple = M8 hex nut;
- Yellow = wooden extruder gear;
- Green = Cap Nut.
Assembling the clamp
1. Start by peeling off the foil that has burn marks from the lasered parts:
2. Take the small parts of 10A and 10C and the 2 plastic parts (made from white or black Delrin). This is the adjusting mechanism for putting the right pressure on the material that needs ot be extruded.
3. Take 4 20mm bolts and 4 nuts. Push the bolts from the front into part 10A
4. Place the Delrin parts on the bolts.
 Use Nylock nuts only! |
5.Take a Nylock M3 nut like in the picture and place it in between the Delrin parts.
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Put it EXACTLY as in the picture (otherwise it is very difficult to get the screw in later (see below)) |
6. Take part 10C and place it on the backside and bolt it together.
7. Take the white plastic screw and a 25mm bolt and put them together. This becomes the adjusting screw to put the right pressure on the plastic so it will be transported by the groove in the M8 bolt. The white screw is for easy adjusting by hand, so it should be tight on the bolt.
8. Put the adjusting screw in the adjusting mechanism.
Putting it together
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1. Bolt the extruder mechanism to the extruder mechanism. Use a 20mm bolt with a locking M3 nut. Don't make it too tight, you should be able to open and close the clamp.
2. Place the closing lever into the sliding holes by a bolt and a locking M3 nut. Don't make it too tight, so it can slide up and down. With this lever, the clamp can be locked tightly or released for easy access and changing of material.
The final assembly should look like this:
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Make sure the wires of the extruder motor are twisted. Make sure the black & green wire pair and red & blue wire pair are twisted. |
Mounting it to the machine
You can mount it to the frame by sliding it into the slots at the back of the machine (top left when viewed from the back of the machine). The slots in the middle of the back plate are for the reel holder.
Put the wires through the hole and through the kite fabric.
Guide the cables from the extrusion head through the hole at the back and through the cable duct on the inside. Also wrap the wires from the extruder motor or use a separate piece of coil wrapping.
(if the image above fails to display, click it to view it directly on Flickr)
On to the next section:
| Mechanical assembly of the Ultimaker revision 3 (click for an overview) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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6. Material feed mechanism |
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If you'd like to read older comments for troubleshooting, most of them are at the bottom of the previous revision's page.
