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Just a quick note guys, I was able to get all of the hardware from Lowe's EXCEPT the thumbscrews. After looking at the spade type thumbscrews, it MIGHT be better to use a knurled thumbscrew similar to this https://www.unicorpinc.com/images/WEB%2 ... l-%20B.jpg. Really any thumbscrew would probably work if the size and thread is the same. The spade type might allow you to tighten/loosen it easier, but I think overtime it could "eat" into the ABS plastic. Probably nothing to worry about though, as I don't see myself adjusting it constantly.

I would rummage through the hardware bins and see if any of the home improvement stores have something similar.

Good Luck!

Yeah, I'm actually looking through Lowes right now. I think i'm going to go with 8-32 allen socket cap screws. Although it won't be as convenient as a thumb screw, it's cheap and readily available.

Yup. You might have to cut off an Allen wrench to be able to fit it but that should work fine.

For some reason the supports didn't print, came back to a tangled mess of black ABS. :/

Btw- I truly hate ABS. Can't wait to get the E3D's working so I can print Nylon.

Bummer. What temp were you using for the nozzle and bed? I usually run it around 220C for the nozzle and 90-95C on the bed. My inclination is that you had it going too fast? The supports had a little stringing for me, but overall they printed great.

Yeah, I mean there were NO supports. lol It didn't even attempt to print them. I see them in Cura and Slic3r, you've included them, and they're there. It just ignored them.

But my temps anyway were 230c for the nozzle and 90c for the bed. I just switched to ABS for the first time since printing my fan shrouds initially. Had a hell of a time getting temps to reach 230. I printed the fan shrouds at 225, but this time the nozzle temp wouldn't hold, so I had to kick it up to 240, which gave me 230.

Ahhhh. Gotcha. Are you using Repetier? I assume so. When I click on the Slic3r button it takes a while and then I see the path visualization in Repetier which shows all the supports as though they will be printed.

I read somewhere that Slic3r will not recognize anything smaller than .39mm. I have my printer settings in Slic3r set to .5mm for the nozzle. The other thing is that I always use the button inside Repetier to slice the models, instead of using the standalone version of Slic3r. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Printed one to try. I had 8-32 Socket Heads and used them.

V26 adjusts positively and easily. I LIKE IT!

Banging away on 2 more now.


nitewatchman

esbowman wrote:Ahhhh. Gotcha. Are you using Repetier? I assume so. When I click on the Slic3r button it takes a while and then I see the path visualization in Repetier which shows all the supports as though they will be printed.

I read somewhere that Slic3r will not recognize anything smaller than .39mm. I have my printer settings in Slic3r set to .5mm for the nozzle. The other thing is that I always use the button inside Repetier to slice the models, instead of using the standalone version of Slic3r. Not sure if that makes a difference.

Yeah, I was rushing and didn't check the G-Code visually. It showed your supports in the model preview, so I disabled adding supports in Cura, not sure how that worked out that it didn't print them, but after re-enabling supports in Cura, all looked normal. I'll have to try printing tomorrow, as I want to take a break from the ABS smell. Modeling a bracket for dual EZStruders at the moment, it's a mess. lol

nitewatchman wrote:Printed one to try. I had 8-32 Socket Heads and used them.

V26 adjusts positively and easily. I LIKE IT!

Banging away on 2 more now.


nitewatchman

Awesome. Good to hear!

atoff wrote:Yeah, I mean there were NO supports. lol It didn't even attempt to print them. I see them in Cura and Slic3r, you've included them, and they're there. It just ignored them.

Same problem over here (no support after CURA). Stopped the print about 5 layers in (once I woke up to the fact that an issue was going to happen eventually). I am using Cura 14.03 and I can't seem to find a setting that will allow your built in supports to work. So I'm trying again with the Support Type enabled for 'touching buildplate'.

Looking forward to trying this out though. And I've got the entire week off. So time to tweek...

Hmmm. If you guys can find what Curas minimum wall thickness is, I could make a version with slightly fatter walls. Or you could just try Slic3r?

Alternatively, would it help you if I posted the Gcode I used?

I just added my own supports... enabling supports in Cura works just fine. I'm getting really ugly prints under the supports though, I need to figure out what's going on, Maybe I need to increase the amount of fill on the supports, but they looks awful. I haven't tested yet, but the design looks solid. I think I'll switch to PLA and do the 3 sets tomorrow. No reason ABS must be used on this.

Cool...I'm printing these now. The first one came out really nice! Just need to wait for the screws/nuts to turn up in the mail so I can try it out, but a quick test fit shows it should work out just fine:)

forrie wrote:Cool...I'm printing these now. The first one came out really nice! Just need to wait for the screws/nuts to turn up in the mail so I can try it out, but a quick test fit shows it should work out just fine:)

Awesome. Hope it works out well for you.

Atoff, I thought PLA was more brittle but this is my first printer and I've ONLY printed in ABS so far. Admittedly a newbie.

If anyone wants to give it a try, here's the gcode that I'm using successfully.

I gotta admit, I don't know if there's any risk in you guys trying this on your printers. I assume not though. I imagine if you load it into Repetier and it looks good...you're good right? You should notice that it has the supports setup fine. Good luck.
Finally, I have an idea on tweaking the smaller bearing brackets to make them a bit more beefy and less susceptible to breaking/warping/bending. Basically, I'm thinking about adding some extra material to the front of them to stiffen them up a bit. I don't think it's needed, but I'd rather them be as strong as possible. I'll update the STL sometime soon-ish.

esbowman wrote:If anyone wants to give it a try, here's the gcode that I'm using successfully.

I gotta admit, I don't know if there's any risk in you guys trying this on your printers. I assume not though. I imagine if you load it into Repetier and it looks good...you're good right? You should notice that it has the supports setup fine. Good luck.

Rostock Max V2 Belt Tensioner by Eric Bowman v26.gcode

Finally, I have an idea on tweaking the smaller bearing brackets to make them a bit more beefy and less susceptible to breaking/warping/bending. Basically, I'm thinking about adding some extra material to the front of them to stiffen them up a bit. I don't think it's needed, but I'd rather them be as strong as possible. I'll update the STL sometime soon-ish.

I wanted to personally thank you for developing these and then sharing with us. Great job and I wanted you to know it is appreciated.

I wanted to personally thank you for developing these and then sharing with us. Great job and I wanted you to know it is appreciated.

Sharing is caring...or something like that.

It's no problem at all. Since I'm new to this whole 3D printing thing, I feel this is a great way to start out. It's teaching me a ton about the printer, and ultimately resulting in an upgrade that I feel is needed. I'm actually printing a slightly modified version now. Made the smaller bearing brackets a bit tougher...I think. I had an ABS rat nest this morning...failed print. I didn't use enough hairspray apparently.

esbowman wrote:
Atoff, I thought PLA was more brittle but this is my first printer and I've ONLY printed in ABS so far. Admittedly a newbie.

ABS is stronger, but PLA is pretty tough too for something like this, where it's a nice chunky piece of plastic. I printed a test print of the tensioner I was working on in PLA and it was rock solid. It also makes my room smell nice. The ABS gives me a headache.

atoff wrote:

esbowman wrote:
Atoff, I thought PLA was more brittle but this is my first printer and I've ONLY printed in ABS so far. Admittedly a newbie.

ABS is stronger, but PLA is pretty tough too for something like this, where it's a nice chunky piece of plastic. I printed a test print of the tensioner I was working on in PLA and it was rock solid. It also makes my room smell nice. The ABS gives me a headache.

Haha. Ok. Cool. I have two spools of the stuff and need to crank something out with it. Surprisingly the ABS doesn't bother me. Maybe my sinuses keep me from being bothered.

If anyone is interested, here's v27 of the Belt Tensioners. I basically added a bit of extra support material for the smaller bearing brackets, in hopes it will help prevent any warping/breaking under stress of the adjustment screws. Oh, and I'm a bit O.C., so there ya go.
Here's a screenshot of the changes to the smaller bearing brackets. You can see a bit of added material to the front of the small brackets.

Thanks for sharing it. I guess I'm lucky that I haven't had the time to print the other 2.

atoff wrote:Thanks for sharing it. I guess I'm lucky that I haven't had the time to print the other 2.

Yeah. I think v26 is fine as it is, but v27 should be a little bit better.

I stuck with the V26 Tensioners. These work very well and adjust easily.

I found that while the 8-32 Cap Screws tension the belt, the actual locking is still done by the bearing axle spacers. I also use Allen Socket Button Head screws for the axle spacers. The allen head screws are much easier to tighten than the Philips head screw normally used.

Thanks a lot for developing the tensioners, your work has really paid off for me at least.

nitewatchman

Very cool man, and thanks for the pics!!! So cool to see them installed. Glad you're digging them.