True Delta leveling system with thermal insulation

thingiverse

As much as I like using software leveling, manual adjustment is a more reliable and intuitive way to get your heated bed leveled. I designed a compact, low-profile, and adjustable heated bed mount for Kossel Mini that also includes thermal insulation to improve bed heat-up time and ability to reach higher temperatures needed for printing ABS. This thing is currently designed for precise 170mm diameter aluminum printbeds, but glass may work as well although tolerances are pretty small. If anyone wants it, I can share the *.SLDPRT files too. E1: This system probably benefits from nylon insert lock nuts if you're using weak springs, but with proper springs, tension of turning the screw is okay. E2: Not weak springs that I used work well for printing, but they make removing prints difficult since the printbed is quite loose. I ordered proper springs from Aliexpress and hope these will make a difference. The springs arrived, but they were a bit too long for my M3 screws so I had to cut off about 5mm. In retrospect, I would recommend looking for 15mm springs. Performance of the springs is very good; now the build platform is very sturdy and easy to adjust. E3: Maybe in the near future, I'll make a modification of Kossel corner pieces with integrated bed mounting holes. Then the whole thing will be more compact and minimal! E4: I made a slight modification and added a slot to apply some tension to the print surface because I experienced the situation when the bed rotated inside its holder. Also, I added some additional holes for fixing plate A and B. The new V2 part should definitely be printed with ABS because PLA will soften over 50C and lose its flex. E5: Added bed holder v3.1(B) which includes a nut trap for easier use. This version eliminates the need of cluing the nuts to the holder. v3.1 is for M3 self-locking nuts, and v3.1B is for regular M3 nuts. Although self-locking ones are recommended since they're harder to turn, allowing finer adjustments, also they will not come loose due to vibrations. E6: superjamie pointed out that I was missing some nuts on the heated bed holder. So that's fixed now. Added nut traps everywhere I could to ease up the assembly. No more worries about nuts falling out while trying to put this thing together. There may be a slight loss of adjusting space due to the nuts near the adjustment screw. When adding supports, try to keep nut traps without support. With part B, slight drilling (0.3mm) is required to create a hole in the nut trap. If anyone wants to remix, then I can share the Solidworks file as well. It's bit too messy to put it up for everyone to see. I designed this when I was quite noob in SW. I could design a version with a thumbwheel for quick adjustments, but I don't know if anyone would be interested in this kind of thing. Let me know if this addition would be good. Print Settings: * Printer: Kossel Mini * Material: ABS * Print Bed Size: 170mm diameter * Layer Height: 0.2mm * Infill Density: 20% BOM: A three pairs of printed parts Purple heated bed Ikea Cork Trivet (http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/87077700/) 12x 6mm M3 bolts + 15x M3 nuts 6x M4 bolts for mounting to the printer frame 3x 15mm springs 3x 10-15mm M3 bolts (depends on mostly what springs you use) How to put it together? Start assembly from the place where is the thermistor cable. There is a small hole for it in the holder where you can conveniently put it through. If necessary, cut away some excess cork to make room for the cable. Repeat! Prepare the holding brackets Use pliers (and super-glue if necessary) to press M3 nuts to their place. V3.1 has proper nut traps so super glue is no longer necessary! Mount brackets to the frame Later on, I found out that when you mount the brackets with nuts upside due to tensions of the springs, nuts could come out of their slots. To avoid that, I would recommend gluing the nuts to the brackets (to be sure they don't fall off) and mounting the brackets with nuts facing down. Mounting the bed Connect all the wires and place bed to its place. Insert M3 bolts and springs and connect the heated bed to the frame. DONE!