As a machinist I've noticed in a great many comments & 3D printing videos, that there appears to be a lack of calibrating the entire machine as a complete package. When any quality machine shop buys a new piece of precision equipment, there's a rigorous "setup & calibration" procedure. Too many videos are out there of trying to simply 'bolt-on' high quality components to achieve high quality output. Unfortunately, it's not that simple or easy. Even the highest quality machines can 'twist, sag, bend' or need backlash or other adjustments to achieve ultra high accuracy & repeatability.
i am an actual real cnc machinist and authorized index machine tool repair/serviceman (i authorized myself :D). I see it too and you cant get much of a quality out of a 20$ linear rail. Its really with anything 3d printer related, they just think hey lets just add this and that and we get injection mold quality. But to be fair 3d printer and cnc machine is not comparable.
Did I miss something or did he not calibrate his machine after changing the linear guide? I dunno what he expected... and what's more is the only thing he compared pre and post change is the dimensions, which is only a small part of why someone might upgrade to linear rails. Even inexpensive ones can produce better results than linear rods IF YOU CALIBRATE the printer. This video was a waste of time...
Agreed. An Ender 3 is a popular printer but it's hardly a "precision equipment". Adding this linear rail doesn't do much to improve speed or quality of prints given the rest of the flimsy build of the gantry (like most printers of this type at that price point). Linear rails make more sense on a rigid corexy printer.
@@nathanp3366 I suppose you could get a couple precision dial indicators and sweep the x & y & z through their travel. Using a precision level to level everything first would be important. 🤷🏼♂️
For cheap linear rails you should take them apart and relube them to get the best use out of them. The amount of times I have found that it improves their performance is worth the time to clean them.
With regard to the tolerances, I think it's prob significant that your x tolerance improved (slightly) which is the axis you installed the rail on, whilst the y and z got slightly worse, which are the axes most likely to be affected by any flex in the mounting bracket.
The linear rail and guide is a fine upgrade but as it has a greater mass than the original equipment, and given the Delrin wheels are somewhat pliable, there must be measurable sagging of the X Axis extrusion as the carriage moves from X-0 to its end of travel. The end of travel is situated at what I consider to be the floating end. Certainly this sagging will be more exaggerated when you install a direct drive ass'y on there. Might as well get rid of the bowden tube of right?? you may also get into some more exotic filaments as well. All good. So, may I suggest this upgrade begs for dual Z axis lead screws to compliment the linear rails A friendly reminder that the installation of linear rails is normally done with a dial gauge mounted to a magnetic block and flex arm combo to check for parallelism between rail and the sub structure. You stick it to the guide, place the shoe of the indicator on the extrusion top side, zero the dial and watch it as you run back and forth. Start the process with screws just snugged and then when your satisfied you may tighten and measure again :) Once you are supporting the X Axis rail from both sides, this use of a gauge will actually be a valid procedure and have helped you achieve repeatable output. Fun fact: the dial gauge may be used to check all kinds of other stuff now that you have a linear rail and guide to mount it to. Have fun.
So depending on the quality of the linear rail, I would say using bolts in every location could actually warp the linear rail. This is depending on the strength of the product of course. I think I was looking at maybe E3Ds tool changer blog and they talked about doing every other hole or something along those lines to not over strain it.
Add ribs between the horizontal and vertical planes to increase rigidity for very little material usage. Love the video / overall idea. You can improve the petg design pretty easily.
second that, would be an extremely easy part to make from some sheet metal or angle plate. Just print your hole pattern on paper and gluestick it onto your stock, give it a center punch and drill away.
This is a great idea. My only space currently is my living room so its tough to do much sawing but no for a cheap solution that is going to be rigid I like that idea alot.
I will be upgrading an Ender 3 Pro with 5 linear rails (Zx2, Yx2, Xx1) by converting it to core XZ Kinimatics (Voron Switchwire). I will be using the Voron Afterburner with a dual Bowden configuration and two M4 extruders to have a dual material setup. I think one could take the original metal X carriage on the Ender 3, and drill 4 holes in it to mount it to the linear rail instead of printing an adapter. That would be rigid enough. The excess bits used to hold the could be cut off if desired, but that isn't necessary.
If you have access to a cnc machine, this part is really easy to make. Just redesign it in fusion in the sheet metal environment and use 4mm 5052 aluminum and a simple vise break can make the 90 degree bend. Then you can just tap the holes, no need for locknuts. I know you have a nomad, I've made similar parts on the nomad, very easy. You just use appropriate length m3 bolts so they engage the thread and don't hit the linear rail block. Also, consider garbage in, garbage out. I've had some very sketch linear rails from China. Sometimes reassembling the block with new lubricant works, sometimes, nothing helps.
This actually crossed my mind with how simple the part is that it does look like a great job for a CNC machine. I do like making it printable though since anyone doing this upgrade at least has a 3d printer while I feel like there are lots less that have CNC machines. Also, since I am in a small condo I cant use the CNC for anything other than softwoods or acrylics during the day or my neighbor will lose their mind. I do appreciate the tips though I think they are all valid and definitely would lead to a much better part.
I use Lots of linear rails/Sliders here and using a SINGLE one is nuts! they are designed to be used in Pairs at a min, and onside of the block marks the DIRECTION of accuracy, the Blocks are designed for Vertical Loading and have a problem checking Torsion, Just because one block works the very next one can rock like a rocking horse. COnsistency is the problem. Sure you can get away with it but you may also find yor self chassing your tail, To nail it down you need 2 rails and 2 Blocks and the ref edge needs to face towards the Bed so all references line up.
Thanks for the feedback. What machines are you using with two rails? I know most of the more expensive 3d printers that use them only use one. (Not that they are correct in doing so) Usually it is Cnc machines that I have seen that use two.
Also with a budget linear rail, you probably should have cleaned and repacked the bearing block with new grease. I've seen them come very dirty from the factory depending on the quality of product.
This is crucial. Grease it up and run the carriage back and forth rapidly for 30 seconds. Then, pushing the carriage down slightly keep sliding it across the whole rail trying to find spots where it isn't smooth. It can feel a bit like sand when the balls are grinding.. If this happens just grease some more! Super Lube with PTFE or White Lithium Grease works great for this
I'd love to see a follow-up with a more substantial mounting plate. I've got most of the parts I need to upgrade my E3V2 - Ender Extender 400 XL, dual Z steppers (each on it's own 2209), E3D Hemera, 500 W bed heater, 75 W hotend heater, PT-100 temp sensor, Creality Ultrabase build plate (I love this plate!). This should let me to work with any material I'd like, but I want to eliminate any problems caused by my current wheeled carriages. Linear rails seem a logical choice, and I could dig up couple hundred more for linear rails on all 3 axes if they made a real difference in speed and/or quality (especially dimensional accuracy). Therein lies the rub; I haven't seen a review that's produced anything close to significant improvements, which really surprises me. Is the problem $30 linear rails or something else? I've got a month or two before I'll have space to install my updated printer - I hope to have a definitive answer before then. Failing that, what replacement wheels would you favor?
For replacement wheels if you stick with V-Slot I primarily use cheapo ones on amazon since swapping them out doesnt take to long and they last for a while. However, I have heard great things about the polycarbonate ones that you can get from Open Builds. Might be worth looking into those. I am looking forward to how this shapes up with an aluminum carriage on it.
Re: Polycarbonate wheels - I've heard the same; I guess, other alternatives failing, that's my best option. What I most dislike about wheels is you have to find a balance between a rigid platform and resistance to motion/wheel wear. With the stock wheels I can't eliminate all 'wiggle & jiggle' before rolling resistance starts to rise - perhaps polycarbonate will provide less rolling resistance. @@ModBotArmy > I am looking forward to how this shapes up with an aluminum carriage on it. I am as well. Once you've got things tuned I'd like your opinion of your rails vs the ExoSlide. I want to end up with a machine with no mechanical issues (or as few as I can afford to eliminate) so I can concentrate on the software side.
I converted 4 of my printers to linear rails, an Ender 5 Plus and three Ender 5s, now have three running on the Exoslide system. The linear rails worked well, but the plastic printed mounts were the problem, along with no good design for the belt clips. I think for about the same cost the Exoslide is better.
Before this, I did not even think of that. The rail itself is really only half the battle. The real struggle lies in a mounting solution for different hotends/fans.
Love all the videos of people using linear rails with printed parts. The whole point of using linear rails or rods is that they are rigid. Plastic has zero rigidity when compared to even soft alloys like aluminum. You are effectively no better off in those terms than the original design with wheels.
Somewhat surprising that the Y-axis measurement results are so different, given you didn't (or shouldn't) have touched that for this install of the X-axis.
A few people have done this modification and posted very similar results with an ABS printed carriage plate in that the V wheels produced the more accurate print, I think the rails would produce better results on higher-quality extrusions. Vector 3D and Tom Salanderer are the ones I have seen, I think Chris Riley did it also
Interesting. I have not watched much on linear rails for 3d printers. I know I have seen a few recommended videos come up. I believe Teaching Tech did one as well. Would be interested to compare and contrast notes. In a lot of instances if I am going to be doing something I sort of like to go in a bit blind to come to my own conclusions without having some sort of preconceived notion. However, afterwards seeing how my results match up or differ from others I do enjoy seeing. I also am curious if higher quality rails would have had much affect on this.
If you're getting better results with delrin Wheels then over linear rails then you're definitely doing something wrong As even the worst Chinese linear rails are going to be several orders of magnitude better than v slot wheels. Were you noticed the improvement the most is when you start cranking up the print speed and acceleration. But I mean seriously mounting a printhead to a 3D printed plastic part and expecting good results has got to be the epitome of ignorance. I mean you're buying linear rails for their rigidity and then mounting a flimsley plastic adapter plate to that rail. This is where you want machined aluminum. I'm ashamed aluminum adapter plate between the linear rail carriage and the hot end is the only proper solution, using anything else and you might as well just stick to plastic wheels
@@dannelson8556 They did not get worse results they just could not see any quailty increase with linear rails, one of the videos I saw did get worse results though and I dont think they had a printed mount, if I remember correctly the kit came with a machined plate, the degradation in quality was put down to the accuracy of the rails, I think the conclusion was that POM wheels with their slight slop absorb some of the vibrations whereas the rails might have been getting a resonant frequency that was transferred to the print, maybe a printed plate would absorb that frequency and stop it being transferred to the print?
Great tutorial. Just got the Ender 3 Pro. Used the link in the description and it directed me to the 400mm rail. Is that correct size for the 3 Pro, or should I purchase the 300mm rail? Does this mod add weight to the X axis? Does printed stand off for the hot end come with the other part file? Cheers
You need to recalibrate X axe stepper motor after replacing that. I'm sure the tension of the belt is not the same as it was before. This is why it's off.
I’m English too and it bugged me that Americans say this all the time at first, but you learn to live with it after a while. Most of the internet is American as there’s far more of them, but we’re all the same under the skin and I’m sure there are things we say that make them roll their eyes 😊
Your bracket was long enough to have used two slides. That would have improved tolerances way more. Original slide had a longer base of contact. Just having one slide magnified slop with the head extended beyond the slide. Wear in will increase that also.
A fantastic video! Accuracy is important, but I think in this instance repeatability is more important. It dosnt really matter much, as you said the petg is likely the weak point in this and you are changing it soon regardless. You can tweak the firmware to make it more accurate, the rail determines if it behaves the same every time.
There are definitely variables here. I am curious to see how it changes when I have an aluminum bracket on here that will not have any slop. I also would be curious to see if the low cost linear rail versus an expensive one would affect this or if it is more relative to the longevity of the rail versus initial performance. That is very valid though repeatability is at least equaly important.
I bought 4 of these rails from Amazon and I had problems with three of them, even after cleaning and regreasing. They weren't smooth they were crunchy and had dead spots. I was lucky with one, and apparently you were lucky as well. I was able to make 2 good rails out of the 4 that I purchased. Buyer beware!
The crunch means there's probably something wrong with the carriage blocks internally. Try replacing the bearing balls in the carriage blocks with a higher grade, as this is one of the largest issues with knockoff HIWIN linear motion systems. While doing this you can also see if the feed tube on the blocks was drilled from two directions - you'll likely notice a burr in the middle of the feed tube. You can ream it in order to remove a lot of resistance.
Whats the point of a linier rail system if the movement still depends on a belt? If you replaced a belt with a threaded rod, you would get a lot more accuracy, less lashback, and more precision. I think the belt is whats holding this mod back.
Since this was only an X-axis upgrade, the Y-axis change should not have been affected, which is strange. The biggest issue is the plastic part itself, as it is replacing a metal part, and will stretch when tensioned by the belt. The Micro Swiss will fix all that, which I'm sure you've already completed. Unfortunately for me, I can't use that specific plate, as the Ender 5 Plus runs its belt on the sides of the X-axis. One thing you might want to warn people about though, is that if the carriage moves to far off the end of the linear rail, the bearings will fall out and go everywhere. So, you want it to be as close as possible to the limit switch, and you'll probably want to place an end stop on the other end. I haven't had this happen to me, but I've seen videos of people making this mistake. Again, GREAT video! I'm putting up shelves as I've run out of storage space...lol. BTW, I'm going to create 3D printed earthquake shields for the edges of the shelves. As you know, things like to slide off of shelves during a quake, here in SoCal. :)
I mean you improved the tolerance of the X Axis with the rail. The worst tolerances on the Y Axis has to be in correlation with the printed Adapterplate.
When you replace X you should also replace Y to get consistent circles. The wheels and rails wont have the same amount of drag and a circle will look more like a elipse with straight sides.
Late to the table, but I'm wondering if you've considered the fact that belts transfer vibration and tension/velocity/springback all are quite variable with belts... What if you modified the x axis with a ballscrew?
not really surprised its not good, the carriage rail is crap being made of plastic and is not dimensionally accurate which means its not parallel to the X rail Extrusion and the major issue is the hot end which of course does all the work is even worse , one small piece of plastic to hold a 6 cms lump of metal holding only at the top which is not where the pressure is, its needs to be held top and bottom and needs again to be parallel to the X rail profile. If none of those are parallel it will never print dimensionally correct again. You dont need to waste plastic printing the alignment spacers just use the depth gauge on your verniers and use that to make sure that you check as you do the screws up, thats another issue those should be started in the centre and you should use all 12 but treat it as if it is a cylinder head and tighten in a sequence which is not 1, 2, 3, 4 it needs to be something like 6, 4, 8 and so on . Washers finally need to be used where a screw travel's through plastic to spread the load.. If your going to use these parts to upgrade your Ender then perhaps you should make sure that main carriage plate is double the thickness or better still have one made in metal or find one made in metal, They are bound to exist now... Finally toss the bearings out of the linear rail carriage bearing, wash it out with a solvent and repack with high quality new ball bearings and pack with the correct grease for them. That will make a difference but unless you do the lower axis and bed it will not benefit your printing, it just makes it look prettier... 😄
Someone needs to do this for the V2. That is one of my last upgrades is for the X-Axis as I just finished the Y but I don't want to use the metal plate for the head because it has holes for a BL Touch without any modifications.
Embedded heat set nut inserts are good candidates for use in this design as well, especially for that can shroud short screw. Also tolerances between different belt tensions are hard to compare. Plus with a different amount of backlash, you may need different X Step calibration.
@@ModBotArmy totally fair, but the whole bracket wouldn't need to be thicker, just a cylinder area where the insert goes. Also, build the hotend standoff into the bracket itself and use inserts there as well. You can even build the overhang supports into the design.
@@underourrock that is a great idea. I know the original design removed the bracket from the model to prevent needing support but it’s such a simple geometry that supports would have been no big deal to have on this.
@@ModBotArmy In things that don't matter "looks" wise, I like to draw a 45 degree ramp underneath them, so that when they are printed they already have support built into the model itself. I guess it would be self-supporting model design... Or designing parts with printing in mind.
Print in ASA instead of ABS. It has the same mechanical properties but is easier to print and doesn't require an enclosure. I don't know if you didn't record it or left it out, but didn't you fully calibrate your printer after the mod? 🤔
After I install linear rail on x axis and z axis my hot end point off to much from the center of the bed. . So how do I center my hot end to the center of the bed.. Please help
with linear rails the xy are closer to each other. but i wish you did a tolerance test as in the ones with the knobs you rotate. did you calibrate flow? also you're almost the only one doing tolerance tests thanks :D also I wish you checked layer consistency
This completely unrelated but figured I'd ask. Is there a way to make vases without having to use vase mode. A friend saw a vase she wanted and said I'd make it for her. But when I went to the slicer I notice that it was completely solid. So I downloaded a few others and they're all the same, solid. Read the comments and they say you need to use vase mode. So I did. After it finished I see that it's only 1 layer thin and weak as hell. I messed with the slicer settings and tried again and got the same results. All the settings I fixed weren't recognized and yet another flimsy useless vase. I tried an abs and petg to see if it was stronger but it isn't. Its just a waste of filament. My question is is there a way to make a vase without vase mode for a strong usable vase?
I can definitely see the appeal. Perhaps a future video. I did this mod because I am going to make a video on the linear rail direct drive from microswiss. I will keep this in mind.
The carriage you designed is not as stiff as the original carriage. I believe it deforms when the belt pulls, and that it is the main reason for the difference in dimensions. Why not using the original carriage and design and 3Dprint a guide to help drilling the 4 holes needed to secure it?
I did not use the original carriage because of the hole placement. The holes needed to be spaced further out which brought the hotend closer to the edge of the bracket. It took me a few times reading this to understand but you are saying why not drill out the original aluminum bracket right? That is an interesting idea. I may have to look into that to see if there is anything else in the original bracket that would prevent it from working.
To be honest this would have been made better with a piece of aluminium (Australian aluminum) angle, a drill, a hacksaw and a file. Fairly basic tools I would think. You could even mirror your print and use it as a template for the holes.
I am upgrading my NIB Ender 3 Pro so I'm unable to print the centering blocks you show when aligning the rail. Do you know of a source where I may purchase several? I can use my micrometer but I prefer to have the rail "locked" into place by these neat alignment blocks! I appreciate any help you might be able to afford. Thanks!
Very interesting vid and comments. I have a modified AM8 (All Metal Anet A8) that still uses round rod linear bearings (Drylin). Been trying to decide if I should upgrade to V-slot or flat linear rails. Currently if you push and pull on the nozzle its possible to move it quite a bit due to play in the x axis Drylin bearings. I'm leaning towards v-slot simply because they are adjustable where as linear rails aren't. Interested to know what the play is like in your linear bearings?
honestly how could you expect closer tolerances between the Axis's yet only replace 1 Axis with a linear rail?? and honestly when doing a linear rail upgrade why do so many skip the Z axis it's honestly the most important Axis to put your focus on for upgrades it takes all the weight, which causes it to always push on one side of the thread face, which account's for Z Axis in printers to never seem to reach that perfect 20mm notice its always under!!?
can you guys do the voron switch wire build? nobody has how to convert an ender 3 to voron switchwire. theres plenty of comparisons but no full mod video.
Im just not sure if this is a good idea with the extra weight of tool steel added to each axis. How is the machine running today? Have you printed much with it?
do you happen to know of any available stl files for 1515 extrusion gantry plates/ x/y-axis linear motion (not using linear rails, just using the extrusion itself), that I could access at all, please....? it was only AFTER buying all of the 1515 extrusion id need to make a printer with that i came to realise that everyone seems to have used 2020+.... doh...
Hi thanks for using my model from thingiverse but it would have been nice for you to provide credit and the link to my original design, it just shows a bit of courtesy.
Hey Gareth, thanks for reaching out. I did give credit for the design in the beginning of the video and my remix is directly tied to you original model on the link. I am happy to link to the original model as well.
hi, did u clean with ipa and lubrecate before mounting rails ? and compare with vslot vs linear rails u need to replace all axes i think, will u replace y and z future videos ?
I did not clean the rail. It seems very smooth to me so unless something changes I am not sure that it is necessary. I may end up doing the y axis as well! I doubt I will do the z though
Just cut an aluminum L shaped profile and dril holes on it. if precision is needed use ridgid material and subtractive method. using linear rail and screwing 3dprinted plastic doesnt make sense.
Hmm, is that because of how I exported it? or is that because you have a limited license? I am curious if you have like a hobbyist free license if that would work. I didnt see an option for read only when I exported.
It uses extrusions so I would say yes. I think the main issue or hurtle you will run into again is with the actual mounts/brackets that need to be designed and either printed or milled.
I had two lowe cost prizes terms. They sucked . They where cheap only because they needed 300 plus in upgrades just to print the test models. New I print with a sainsmart 300 core x.y. best thing I ever did. No upgrading at all , comes with all available upgrades . Trouble free printing every time . Dont pull the hair out of your head spend a bit more and be fine . Oh . And use cura 4.8.0 for your slicer and get a 5 gig flash drive . Dont network your printer ever
Dude, all you did was slap a different linear guide on your printer without calibrating anything, and all you compared was the dimensions of a calibration print (not actually used to calibrate anything, mind you) without looking at ghosting, overall quality, or anything. I dunno what you expected....
I only did the cube because something similar was requested in a previous video I did. I would have just installed the rail and ended it otherwise. An all metal hotend and aluminum bracket is going on which was the main reason for the swap.
That’s interesting. I did some digging and found even in the guide from printer mods they recommend a space if I believe 3mm or so. Between the rail and end stop. I am not sure there is enough of a gap for the balls to fall out.
