Quick Fit Carriage System: OpenSCAD Blank

thingiverse

This OpenSCAD script generates an almost identical blank plate for the Quick Fit Carriage System by lukie80. The dimensions came directly from Plate-Custom.stl. Although it doesn't have chamfered edges and the bottom guides are not angled, the print fits well onto the carriage remix from tximy. The holding tab at the top may still need some adjustment but I need to finish building the carriage and see how things go. I'm going to use DB-15 connectors instead of the DB-26 HD connectors because they're easier to find and cheaper. They both have the same shell dimensions. Fifteen pins are sufficient, at least for now... The plan is to change out the stock carriage on my Anycubic Chiron and replace it with the QFCS so I can change out nozzles as complete units (fans and all). It'll also allow me to make heads for pen, possibly laser etcher, and nichrome wire pyrography (the constant 24V into a high current step-down box should be modulatable with the cooling fan PWM signal...). Eventually, I'll build a separate CNC pyrography machine, but I can use the Chiron to test the hot wire end of things. The method of generation in the script could probably have been done much more smoothly but I am still learning OpenSCAD. (I'm predominantly a hardware person who dabbles in software...) Just sent off these adapter board files since I hate soldering in tight spots. These are still untested but I see no reason why they won't work. (But I always think that...) 1. Chiron orange to carriage DB-15: https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/Qh7fiS7A 2. Plate DB15 to whatever: https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/lBnXn9lQ As I won't have the official plastic shroud Anycubic uses and I can't find it anywhere but on Chinese web pages, caution must be used in order to keep the orange connector from pulling off the 2mm header. The spacing for the JST connectors may not be correct but I was going to use pigtails off the board if I don't end up using headers or actual JST connectors. I'm assuming Anycubic used two grounds and two thermistor pins for redundancy with a mind towards safety. I used only one for each side because nothing is moving on the plate side of the carriage so redundancy is not needed. Three pins on each side of the hotend is still way overkill (D sub connectors are good for 5A per pin), though. I'm also going to move my XMIN switch to the frame on the left side and route the wires through the X extrusion and then through the cable chain to the back of the carriage. This frees up one pin going to the plate (I've included a resistor option so it can go to the front, too). What all that does is free up 4 pins of the 15 in the connector which would allow putting a stepper motor on the plate for direct extrusion. Extra cabling would need to be routed back through the cable chain but it would not be all that difficult. So why didn't I use the DB-25 HD connector and get tons of extra pins? They're very expensive in comparison to the DB-15 variant. The DB-15 HD (VGA cable connector) is cheap but then the cutout for the connector would need to be resized. AND, soldering the HD pins would be more of a pain than what I've done.