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DIY Astrosyn

Posted: Mon Feb 02, 2015 10:34 pm
by tjb1
Just made this up today after reading a bunch of threads on the Astrosyn dampener. Have not tried it yet but it feels like it should work decently, not sure about plate thicknesses though. I printed the plates in PLA and the dampener in Ninjaflex and ended up gluing them together with super glue.

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:664281

Re: DIY Astrosyn

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:23 am
by Jimustanguitar
Looks good, awesome idea! Let us know how they perform!

Re: DIY Astrosyn

Posted: Tue Feb 03, 2015 8:32 am
by BenTheRighteous
Very interesting, I am also curious to know how well they work!

Re: DIY Astrosyn

Posted: Wed Feb 04, 2015 7:19 am
by 0110-m-p
Interesting...blue trimmer line nylon would be a great material choice for this since it is a bit more flexible than ABS and a lot more flexible than PLA.

Re: DIY Astrosyn

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 4:30 am
by RocketMagnet
I personally really enjoy seeing printed solutions and these look really good.

Not sure but I reasoned that the mounting plates on the Astrosyns were metal for deliberate rigidity (so I agree with tjb1 in wanting rigidity for the plates) and secondary as a little heat dissipation.
You don't want the mounting plates moving about and flexing so I'd go for ABS or the most rigid material you've got IMO. You also certainly don't want those plates to crush
or deform over time or they could go out of line with the belts.
The spacer "rubber" does all the damping and if you've ever had hands on with the Astros you'll notice how surprisingly rigid they are. Not sure but
I'd guess there is a sweet spot between damping,lifetime and being so soft they cause belt issues but here you can test different materials and densities.

I'm not totally sure but I do think Astrosyns use a very rigid rubber for a reason so I've always wondered when I've seen peoples homebrew versions with softer/flexible damping materials?
Does anyone know for sure?

Yet saying all this I'm impressed, if they work and have a good lifetime then these look great, Astrosyn only supply lots of 10 and can be hard to find outside of the UK.

For your reference I've just measured up some Astros and get the following:
Each Astro mounting plate is ~ 1.45mm
Astro Total thickness = ~ 5.70
So the damper rubber is 2.8mm thick.

Some variation over the 7 spares I've got but it's roughly +/- 0.05mm

Re: DIY Astrosyn

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:33 am
by tjb1
The whole assembly is 6mm thick, I adjusted the dampener diameter so it is easier to fully seat. The dampener is 4mm thick and glues to 1mm thick walls. I believe both flanges are 2mm thick except for the extra height where the nuts are. The dampener is quite stiff, I think mine was printed with 2 or 3 perimeter and 3 solid layers top and bottom. I suppose I could make them thicker and only leave 1mm or even less free space between them but I've never had an Astrosyn and I am not sure how much they do move.

Trying to sort out a problem with my Kossel Mini right now so I can run FSRs and a heated bed but the FSR input in Johann's Marlin uses all the variables for the heated bed so it can't be moved to T2 on RAMPS unless you have a very good understanding of Marlin(I don't) and all the variables between the different files. I think I will be moving the FSRs off RAMPS onto an external and triggering Z- so I won't be able to test these on my delta for a while. I don't think this style dampener would work on my cartesian.

Re: DIY Astrosyn

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 10:29 pm
by KAS
I'm sure everyone here has a little extra copper RTV that could be smeared around that ninja flex for a little more rigidity :)

anyways the Astrosyn's do flex a bit under hand force although I've never noticed it moving while printing. Then again, I've turned my jerk settings down and print somewhat slow.