Ender 3 V1 Sprite Cable Support and Spool Adapter

thingiverse

This Set contains 3 items: 1/ A Spool Adapter which fits to the top of the gantry. This spool adapter is based on similar spool adapters on thingyverse of which there are many. This spool adapter when aligned correctly will give the filament an almost vertical drop (in the Y plane) into the sprite extruder. Its designed for a 1Kg spool and using the original Ender 3 metal spool holder piece. See pic. Obviously, the X carriage moves so this will prevent perfect alignment in the X axis but with the spool centered at the top of the gantry it's as good as it can be. It also allows the weight of the filament to be centered on the gantry uprights. This mount has been designed to give clearance for the mechanical dual Z screw upgrade which i purchased from Bangood, to allow easy fitment of the T nuts and be a vertical mount. A bit of background info: In my experience of electronics I have used ribbon cables and have found them not to be very reliable especially in environments where there is vibration or movement. So when watching sprite installation vids, I cringe when i see the ribbon cable twisted and cable tied to the original extruder mounting plate. For this reason I wanted to keep my Sprite ribbon cable existing straight out the back. Any flexing of the ribbon will be at the rear of the machine, will be taken up by the excess cable and should help reduce fatigue on the cable (See pics). This is the reason for the next two items... 2/ An End stop cap for the Sprite carriage(optional). I noticed that when the X axis carriage homes, the ribbon exiting the Sprite can foul the left side of the gantry putting stress on the ribbon cable. The cap extends the End-stop arm by 2mm which means the cable doesn't foul the gantry. You might lose 2mm of usable bed in the X direction. 3/ A Rear exiting Sprite Ribbon Support Mount. This provides support and clearance from (the original extruder mount metalwork) for the ribbon when existing straight out the back. This is fitted by removing the sprite extruder from the carriage, by unplugging the hot end plug, removing the 4 retaining bolts,carefully placing the sprite out of the way, unscrewing the two Nyloc nuts on the two upper carriage rollers, fitting the Sprite Ribbon Support Mount and then tightening the nuts back up. refit the sprite in the reverse order it was removed and then place the Sprite ribbon in the two cable holder clips. Parts needed for the spool mount: 4 x M4x12 bolts, 2 x M4 washers and 4xM4 T Nuts. After installation of the Sprite Ribbon Support Mount I noticed that the z offset to the bed needed tweaking again. Some of these items may work on other Ender versions but I only have the original Ender3 , so that is what they were designed for. Print settings I used, Everything was done in Eryone white PETG Spool adapter 0.2mm layer 4 walls 50% infill Supports everywhere and sitting on its base on the bed I used supports in the T nut slots with support line distance of 2mm in a grid pattern. The support pulled out of the slots cleanly with tweezers and a bit of twisting and pulling. Endstop cap - printed sitting on its its narrow end and standing upright on the build plate. 0.2mm layer height speed 15mm/s no infill no support 3 walls Sprite Ribbon Support Mount 0.2mm layer height 4 Walls 100% infill Speed 50mm/s Supports on build-plate only Sitting with the carriage plate on the bed (carriage bosses facing down, first 2 layers are support) and with the arm upright in the Z axis. Use your best judgement if you have more experience at printing. This is my first upload, I am still struggling with FreeCad. Hence, the models might not be the greatest so please be kind. Use at your own risk but they work on my printer!