Prusa i3 MK3 Z axis vibration damper

cults3d

This is a fast and easy-to-print z-axis vibration damper for the original Prusa MK3. The MK2 had a hole in its Z-top parts for the Z-rods. For my MK2S, I designed some z-rod holders a while ago. The new Z-top parts for the MK3 are closed at the top. The hole for the z-rods on these parts is much larger than the rods themselves - this is intentional and should let the rods move slightly. Most people agree that giving the z-rods some space to do so is a good idea. However, on my MK3, the rods sometimes touch the Z-top parts at certain z-heights, causing a rattling noise. To fix this issue, I quickly created a small damper that can be slid over the top of the z-rods to eliminate the vibration. The walls of this damper are very thin (just one perimeter) and still provide plenty of room for the rods to move. The top of the damper is only 0.2 mm thick, so it won't touch the Z-axis top part. Print this with TPU or TPE to see the noise disappear without any impact on print quality. Update: I revised this design on May 26, 2018. To avoid warnings about thin walls, I increased the single wall thickness from 0.42 mm to 0.45 mm - your slicer and settings may not require you to turn off 'detect thin walls' anymore.