K8400 Rods Lengthwise Movement Stopper

thingiverse

After using the Vertex K8400 printer for about six months, I discovered that rods started to move lengthwise due to worn-out plastic end-caps. Several solutions addressing this issue have been posted here, but I decided to come up with my own solution that uses steel balls from old 608 bearings. The balls allow me to minimize the area of contact with the rod, which reduces friction. To make this modification, you will need eight balls in total. One bearing contains seven balls, so you will need to disassemble two bearings. You will also need four M3x16mm cup-headed bolts and four M3 self-locking nuts. First, print four copies of the rod_holder.stl file. I printed small cylinders with a 0.1mm resolution and bigger things with a 0.2mm resolution. No support or brim is required. The infill should be set to 20%. Next, remove the end-cups from the front and right side of the printer. You will need to drill a recess in the very center of each end-cap using a 3.5mm drill-bit. The depth should be between one-third and one-half of the ball diameter. Then, glue the balls to the centers of the end-caps as shown on the images. After that, remove the remaining four end-cups. We will replace them with rod_holder things. Place an M3 nut inside the bigger thing and fix it in this position using an M3 bolt. Slide the small cylinder into the bigger thing with the cut edge facing the nut. Place a ball inside the small cylinder and mount this assembly to the printer, making sure the ball does not fall out. Once the glue dries, mount the end-cups to the other ends of the rods. Tighten all end-cup mounting bolts. Finally, tighten the M3 cup-headed bolts just enough to stop the rods' lengthwise movement. **Printer Settings:** * Printer Brand: RepRap * Printer: VERTEX K8400 * Rafts: No * Supports: No * Resolution: 0.1 and 0.2 * Infill: 20%