Z Stabilizer for Maker Select Plus (and other Wanhao i3 Clones)

thingiverse

WHAT: Remixed this part so I wouldn't have to take the top gantry off - good for people who have a Z brace already installed and don't want to disassemble that as well. WHY: Instead of disassembling the gantry, you can slip in the base behind the Z axis rod and drive screw and bolt the cap on - similar result, but less work in my opinion (with more required hardware as a tradeoff). Takes about 10 minutes to install including the time to "tap" the holes with a bolt before installing. PARTS INCLUDED: > 2x Base > 2x Cap PARTS REQUIRED: > 4-6x m3x16 bolts for the cap (m3x12 also works, minimum is 2 per stabilizer but I included 3 holes so I could fine-tune the pressure on the 2 different rods) > 4x m3x20 OR m3x16 bolts for the base (Use m3x20 if you use a Z brace, m3x16 if you do not - Z brace adds thickness to the section and a longer bolt is needed to grab the stabilizer PRINT SETTINGS: Material: PLA (or whatever, just don't use TPU) Layer Height: 0.1-0.2mm layer height (lower resolution makes the bolt holes print better in my experience) Supports: No Infill: 20-40% (just needs to be rigid, doesn't bear any weight) Wall thickness: 0.8+ (need enough strength for the bolt threads to bite into the part) Layer adhesion: Dealers choice (I like brims) Orientation: print flat (not a requirement, but makes it marginally stronger and easier to print) POST PROCESSING: take one of the bolts you'll use to assemble the part and screw it in to each of the base holes BEFORE assembling to the printer. This is a lot easier to do than cranking it down while its on the printer. Don't over tighten it, you can start to bore out the hole and make it wider if you do and the bolt will be too loose. The cap does not need to be threaded because the holes are oversized on purpose. only the base is threaded. ASSEMBLY: shimmy the base behind the lead screw and the guide rod of the Z axis. place it at the very top two bolts of the gantry bolts, at the very top of the lead screw. (optional): you don't need to screw it in to these bolts, clamping it to the guide rod can be enough. bolting to the frame provides more stability though, and that's... kind of the point. Holding the base so it doesn't fall, unscrew one of the gantry/frame bolts and replace it with a longer m3x20 (or m3x16 bolt if you don't have a Z brace) and thread the bolt all the way down until snug (don't over tighten). repeat that process with the second gantry/frame bolt. screw on the cap with the m3x16 or m3x12 bolts - DO NOT OVER TIGHTEN! repeat the process on the opposite Z axis. Turn on the printer, and go to the move menu. move the Z axis up and down to ensure that the axis doesn't bind. if the axis' can't move, or make a loud noise while moving, untighten the cap. you want it snug enough that it can't wobble, but not tight enough it can't move. (optional): Take a small dab of oil or grease and lubricate the drive screw/cap interface to reduce the friction. IMPORTANT LAST STEPS: re-level the X-axis gantry! to do this, put a level on the Y axis guide rods and note the angle/bubble location. Take the same level and measure the angle/bubble location of the X axis gantry. twist the Z-axis drive screws until the level matches the Y-axis guide rod angle. This can go out of alignment while testing to see if the Z axis is too tight, and is IMPERATIVE to leveling the bed easily. Re-level the bed. Tighten the bed leveling screws slightly to ensure that the nozzle will not contact the bed while leveling. FINAL NOTES: the hole diameters for the m3 bolts are 2.25mm in diameter - this works great for my printer, but your printer might print that slightly too large/small for an m3 bolt to thread into. I included the solidworks file in the download if you can pop that into another CAD program, otherwise you could modify the STL directly using tinkercad or by importing the STL as a solid into another CAD package. Note that the cap holes are NOT THREADED. they are oversized so that the bolt only threads into the base.