Kossel Slide Carriage Alignment tool

thingiverse

I noticed there's a shortage of tools for aligning Delta printers. Instead, we're relying on the quality of the print and a prayer to get the geometry right. I'd like to standardize on a set of tools for validating the physical geometry of deltas is correct. This is the first tool. This is a concept tool for aligning the Slide Rail carriages on a Kossel Mini. The carriages need to be perfectly parallel to the towers (or slide rails). The mounting holes allow for a small bit of play which can let the guide rod mounting not be square with the towers. This directly translates to effectuator twist. Effectuator twist will cause a whole host of issues, but most notably poor layer adhesion at extremes and skewing of the print at different points on the bed. You want to minimize effectuator twist although it can never be 100% eliminated. How to use: With the belts removed, move the carriage to the bottom of the guide rail. Insert a 400mm piece of 3.2mm diameter music wire into the hole that will keep it parallel to the centerline of the carriage. The tool then slides into the G2 belt clamp in the carriage. Looking at the rod, you'll see if it's parallel to the towers since even a minor twist will be exaggerated after 400mm. Future revisions will include mounting a laser pointer and a target to the slide rails. This was created using Tinkercad. https://tinkercad.com/things/aCS9uNheoCa