Belt Tension Gauge

thingiverse

A simple yet effective tool for ensuring even tension is applied to the belts on a Core XY printer. Specifically designed and tested against the SK-Go, this gauge will likely work well with many other Core XY printers as well. The gauge features two types of wheels: one that accommodates an OD16mm ID8mm ball-bearing bearing (recommended), and another that does not require a ball-bearing at all. To test the gauge's accuracy, I attached 500g of sugar to it, along with a plastic bag. Then, I held the gauge against the center of each rail on the machine, as shown in the photos. The results were eye-opening: despite using the "same tone" method and attempting to judge tension by feeling the belts, my left belt measured 20mm on the Gauge, while the right belt measured a much lower 9mm! This significant difference was especially surprising, given that the actual load will be logarithmic and inversely proportional to the gauge measurements. I had assumed that manually checking the belt tension would be inaccurate, but I thought the tone method would be a reliable alternative - it turns out I was wrong. To avoid overloading the belts in the future (a mistake I've made before), I have since equalized my belt tensions at 15mm. The gauge's block with two pegs allows for adjustable height settings, making it easy to measure the higher CoreXY belt on the right side of the SK-Go.