By no means would it hurt. I didn't use it but in hindsight wish I had "just in case".
Note, I've not really had any issues with stuff coming loose though in the nine months I've been printing with mine.
As an aside, I've had my Makerbot Replicator1 for over four years now, it has no threadlock on anything, and still seems just as tight as the day I bought it.

 

I've figured out a bit different of a solution. I reworked a piece of the tube holder to be mounted on the end of the y-axis gantry and to accommodate the bundle and elongated it to gain a bit of clearance over the machine. It's a very crude rework, as I struggle a bit with the various design apps (123D, SketchUp ect) but it was effective as the bundle can go to the far end and back with no drooping below the gantry or binding. I'll post a pic later when I get home.

 

@Carl Feniak

Any chance I could get a drawing of the stepper motor offsets similar to the one you did for your vslot indents? I'm working on a single-piece bracket in the same vein as the single-piece bottom corners. I'm mostly interested in the size and placement of the belt opening and the correct placement relative to the extrusion that it should rest against.

Also I was wondering, why is the top front cross beam lower than the top of the extrusions it rests against? I was thinking of changing this but didn't know if doing so would make it less stable.

 

I went uber cheap and ugly, I used rubber bands tied back to the cable chain. They work great and even trained the tube to be vertical even when not taut now.

 

I noticed that's how some others were doing it, or something similar. I was just trying to stay away from the cable chain all together for the top. (no offence to all those using one) Just my own personal aesthetic preference.

 

I can only assume so that it doesn't interfere with the belts just above. Current position seems like it allows more rigidity by being able to fasten that crossbeam directly to extrusion rather than a plastic bracket. Then again, I could be talking out of my butt .... lol

 

Just wondering since I have no plans to go bowden, but is there any reason why nobody mounts it to the middle of the rear top extrusion? That is the best supported place on the build, and mounting in the middle would allow you to have the shortest tube without either having a moving extruder or having it hang overhead somehow.

 

I thought about doing that, but it's access to the extruder that is important. Putting in front left is easiest access for switching out filaments.

 

I would have to agree as I considered that too, but access to filament and a larger depth of footprint made me change my mind, even though I was running direct and not bowden.

 

One of the simplest and cleanest ways to manage wiring to the print head is just bundle wiring and bowden tube in a piece of black plastic tubing, would work for direct drive too.

 

Yep, that's exactly how I do it too. Simple, effective.

 

@trublu832 That's how I have it as well but it still flops around like a half cooked noodle. Perhaps the split loom that I'm using isn't quite as rigid as what others are using.

 

I have tried that several times and it just keeps flopping over. Can you give a link to the tube you used?

 

This stuff works pretty well - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00U8LA25O?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00

 

Thanks! There's no huge rush -- for the time being I'm just eyeballing it and making sure to set a variable for every offset so I can plug in the values when you have them ready.

 

Actually I just ran a stiff piece of wire through it and anchored it to either end. @sheffdog had given it to me, I'm actually not to sure what it is. Almost feels like a really thick\stiff piece of solder.
That probably would have been beneficial to mention before... but I didn't think of it until you asked

 

I had thought of getting some stiff wire from the hobby/craft store to do that. But I like the cable chains so spent probably twice as much on plastic and spent several hours more making the chains.

 

I prefer the cable chains as well. They're fun to watch and the whole concept is just generally cool.

 

Oh don't get me wrong. They're very neat. When I first printed mine, before installing it for the heatbed cables, I was playing with it like a kid with a new toy. Lol

I'll have to take a browse through Depot when I have time. I'll have to tear it apart again anyway when my 3mm ptfe tubing and BLTouch arrive.

This is the pic I took that I was referring to earlier


Crude, but effective.

 

Can anyone provide some instruction as to how the relay should be wired, I have the one from eh BOM (30A High Current Contactor Switch 12V Electric Relay Board DC Power Control new)

A diagram would be great as I have read the forum describing how to do this but still a little unsure

Much appreciated

 

That is pretty much what I ended up doing as well. I have a small on e on the direct drive carriage and one on the rear right corner. Helps keep the tube vertical at the ends and then I just inserted an old length of 1/4" poly line I had lying around into the bundle and made sure it was secured at each end with the zip ties. Rigid enough to keep it upright and stable, but with no issues flexing with the movement.

 

A poly line huh? That's actually a pretty good idea! lol Could even run a couple wires through it to save space. Nice!

 

It's been awhile but finally I have gotten my parts printed. I've had this build planned for a very long time and I've had the Extrusion and most of the other parts for quite a while but have not had the time because of work or because of my printer being down to be able to print the parts..
I've also been working on printing the "mostly printed CNC" and a ceramic or clay auger driven extruder for my Delta.
Unfortunately I've gotten behind and I've only been able to read a few pages here and they're in this forum. Will have to sit down one night and get all caught up.
I want to thank you all for your contributions and expecially Carl for making the new robust parts, kind of glad I waited and printed them now but I have a few questions I know Its been covered but going back over the many pages I just can't seem to find the answers. One question right now is could you all chime in on your thoughts about using just two lead screws on the z-axis if my height is going to be about 800mm. I want to go pretty tall because I might convert over to printing Ceramics in the future and would like the height for different objects.
I would like to go to 3 lead screws but I already have two lead screws 1000mm.
@CapnBry
@Elmo Clarity
What gear ratio did you use for your z axis.. I am getting ready to order the pulleys right now.. I'm almost positive I saw that you posted some pictures of your setup but I can't find them.
@Carl Feniak
@Matt Mathias
I noticed quite a few pages ago there was a conversation about beefing up the Z slider.. I haven't printed these parts yet because I was still deciding on exactly what I was going to do. Any advice from you guys would be greatly appreciated and like I said I'm behind I need to get caught up to this point but was going to order some parts and wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing.

 

If you haven't built it yet and want to be a lab rat, you could try out my Bottom Frame Corners for Modified C-Bot by spiffcow and let me know how they work out.. I have tried them on some spare extrusions and they are insanely strong and rigid. I haven't actually put them on my own C-Bot yet because it'll require a complete teardown, and I have a few other pieces I want to modify at the same time.

 

I we'll take a look at them when I get home. Because of the height I probably need all this stability I can get.
I will try to be a good little rat

 

If you really are interested, PM me and I can either generate some specific corner pieces that will be even more sturdy or show you how to do so. I have some improvements on my comp for these corners that aren't on Thingiverse yet.

In a few days I hope to also have some very rigid combined motor mount 3 corner brackets as well.. Those should be a bit easier to retrofit though

 

What program are you using? I have downloaded the basic free 3D programs that everyone uses but haven't specifically learned any one just yet. I fool around with blender and tinkercad but was just this week considering or narrowing down to one choice so I can learn the program more efficiently

 

OpenSCAD. I'm thinking of starting over using an OpenSCAD generator though (probably this one Graphics.OpenSCAD, but maybe this one GitHub - SolidCode/SolidPython: A python frontend for solid modelling that compiles to OpenSCAD). I've never used any other 3D modeling software, but I really love the ability to write code to create 3D objects.

If you're interested in checking out what I have so far, my latest code is up on GitHub - spiffcow/r-bot: R-Bot is a collection of modifications for Carl Feniak's C-Bot 3D printer

Also, just as a disclaimer.. I am a Software Engineer, *not* a Mechanical Engineer. I'm semi-confident in my ability to model things correctly, but I'm relying on @Carl Feniak 's design/specs/etc. for all the critical stuff, and just trying to throw a bunch of snugly fitting plastic at it to see if I can improve on it.