Balanced / small Xcarriage for prusa style printers

thingiverse

I've always been eager to upgrade the mount on my Prusa clone, hoping to gain a larger usable print area and a more stable platform for a Z probe. So, here it is - This mount balances perfectly on the X-axis rails, with the motor positioned behind and the extruder in front. However, there's a catch: you'll need a motor with a minimum shaft diameter of 22mm. Unfortunately, most thin motors have a 20mm shaft, despite claims from distributors that they're 22mm. They often add a 2mm base platform thickness, but some motors do boast true 22-24mm shafts like the E3D Titan motor. Therefore, double-check the design diagrams rather than relying solely on parameters. With this design, the plane of extrusion is remarkably close to the X-axis plane, resulting in improved precision when using a touch-based Z probe like the Precision Piezo. The force of the touch mainly acts on the sensor itself, minimizing rotation of the X assembly - a significant issue that affects some other piezo sensors, which are even designed to trigger on rotation rather than actual touch. I've included a set of pictures illustrating the assembly process, using a Titan extruder as an example. While this design can accommodate various extruders, the Titan setup leaves a bit of space in front of the motor shaft, allowing me to secure additional components like a cooling fan using a screw. This design utilizes brass sleeve bearings, available in two common types: 8x11x22mm and 8x11x30mm. I've included both designs for your convenience. On these photos, you'll notice that I'm using my piezo mount found on Thingiverse (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2886915). In fact, some of the same photos are being used here.