Unicorn Mills Peppergun Spring Cam

prusaprinters

<h3>Why make this?</h3><p>My grandfather's peppergun broke, so he asked me if I could fix it or buy him a replacement. He's been using it for over 30 years. So I looked online on the official website (http://www.unicornmills.org/faqs.html) and the peppergun was discontinued. So I checked ebay and to my surprise it was $100. So I decided to open it up and make the broken part and put it back together for him.</p><p>He was ecstatic. :)</p><h3>Assembly</h3><p>Assembly is somewhat straightforward. Once you open the top of the peppergun (yes it will take some force, and yes you will have to glue a part in place to keep it closed again) you should see at the top a tension spring and a locking ring. Both parts are included here.</p><ol><li>Disassemble peppergun by pulling the top piece off. This should expose the grinder's main shaft it was mounted on.</li><li>Remove the broken spring cam.</li><li>Remove locking plastic piece for the shaft to grinder component.<ol><li>This is also provided as the original one was slightly tighter than the printed one which this makes the printed one a looser fit and better performant.</li></ol></li><li>Replace broken spring cam (it's the part at the top that the shaft fits through)<ol><li>Break and grind off any remaining plastic from the previous spring cam, you are replacing that whole part.</li></ol></li><li>Glue the spring cam back to the edges of the peppergun so it sits in place. The original glue gave way after 30 years. I printed my part in PLA so I used CA glue for this.</li><li>Add spring back. This step is extremely finicky and a huge pain.<ul><li><strong>NOTE: </strong>The spring legs need to be squeezed past each other and then inserted onto the cam.&nbsp;</li><li>One of the legs should be locked in place by the cylinder found on the printed cam.&nbsp;</li><li>The other leg will need to be inserted behind the top <strong>as you are assembling</strong> the peppergun.</li></ul></li><li>Once the top is reassembled, it should be pressure held onto the grind shaft that runs through the center of the device.</li></ol><p><strong>Note:</strong> I would add pictures here but it's already reassembled and I <i>really</i> don't want to go through that again. This is an integral part of the peppergun, but also the most heavily taxed piece through use.</p>