Sovol SV01 Filament Sensor Rail and Swivel

thingiverse

Read me This is a working design for the Sovol SV01 filament sensor that allows the sensor to slide across the x-axis and also allows the sensor itself to swivel allowing the filament to take the most direct path to the extruder without awkward bends in the filament. It should also reduce the drag of the filament as it travels through the sensor. The bearings used in this design are 4x8mm (3.96x7.96mm actual) with a 3mm center. They are a common size for drone motors so I had plenty available. I may make further improvements to this design and I have not printed an object that takes up the entire build height to see how it performs yet. You are free to remix and make alterations to this design as you see fit to accommodate your own ideas or improvements or to use different size bearings. You may need to lightly file the opening for the bearing to seat in on the rail car. You will need nuts for the filament sensor back plate as I didn't size the holes for the bolts to thread into the pla. It's possible the hole near the bearing might interfere with rotation if you put a bolt and nut there. 2 bolts is plenty to hold it together. The rail end caps re-use the bolts and t-nuts that were used for the original filament sensor bracket. The endcaps are a tight press fit onto the rail. The two holes in the rail itself are unnecessary and not used. 10/15/2020- JustinL42 11/16/2020 - After printing with this for awhile I finally had a print that caused an issue. There is now a file added that has a guide that mounts to the backside of the gantry with two m5 bolts and t-nuts. This piece guides the filament into the top of the sensor making sure that the filament always feeds straight into the filament sensor and not at an angle. This will ensure the sensor does not bind up when the filament starts pulling from the outer edge of the spool. I definitely recommend printing this new piece to ensure the railcar doesn't jam and pop off the track. I've printed an item roughly 220mm tall with this current setup now and everything was nice and smooth during the print. Also credit to thingiverse user Just_Some_Dude, I ended up using just the hole from his filament guide in the filament guide I made. And also for the inspiration to design my own variant of the filament sensor rail/swivel using the size bearing I had on hand.