Parametric Carriage Base for V-Slot Printers

thingiverse

I originally developed this OpenSCAD script to be utilized with my Emmett-Delta 3D printer that features 2060 V-Slot for the vertical columns & 3/4" EMT for the horizontal supports. I took additional time and made this parametric to facilitate altering it for diverse configurations. It appears kind of like a dog bone in this setup, but you can change 17 distinct variables to make it in almost unlimited configurations. The carriage that holds the belt and rods is a separate file, so you can use your own carriage. You just need to have the module that draws the carriage named DrawCarriage(). The first variable in the file, W_X_Offset, is the horizontal offset between the center line of the carriage & the wheel. I utilize 39.9mm for use with 2060, 19.9mm for 2020, 29.9 for 2040, and 49.9 for 2080. Those numbers work for me, but you might need to adjust them for your configuration. Most of the variables should be described well, but you can easily change any to see how the part adjusts. Sometimes you may have to change more than one variable to make the geometry work out as I did not program this to handle all the problems. Some cases just will not work, like trying to create the top or bottom side below outside diameter of the corner wheels. You can put it flush with them though by setting any of the three variables, FlushTop, FlushBottom, FlushSides = 1. The default height (Ht) is set to 6mm. A minimum of 3 will work with ledges on. You can go lower than that if you turn ledges off. The maximum height is only limited to how thick you want it. I like the dog bone style since it allows me to get a little more height on the carriage before hitting the end stops. It also seems to be pretty strong having the curves & ledges. Even though this was designed for V-Slot, you can probably use this design for a lot of other possibilities. I drew this up in 2D first using DraftSight to see how the geometry looks and utilize the dimensions to work backward to get the formulas I need for the OpenSCAD script.