3d printer parts sources

twicx

Hello all,

I figured this forum might be my best bet as far as help with what I'm looking for.

I own a Felix 1.5 Rev. E 3d printer. I got it last january and as far as I know, it's a variation on one of the Reprap models. It's served me well so far, and I'm planning a few modifications for it (one of the major benefits of open source!). I need to get some parts for it though, and I thought someone here might be able to help.

The parts are available from specific 3d printer parts sites, but they have a massive markup, so I'm avoiding those if possible. Please excuse me if I get the parts names wrong, I'm no engineer!

1. The first is some sort of coupling. It's going from a 3mm diameter motor shaft to an M8 threaded rod. Although a coupling that's threaded on one side would be great, there's a lot of printers out there that just use ones that have a sort of perpendicular fixing screw on both ends, which also works well. I've also seen one solution which is an actual M8 threaded rod which fits over the motor shaft and has the same perpendicular fixing screw, but I can't seem to find them.

2. There's a part on the printer used to grip the filament, it fits onto another 3mm motor shaft, but is like a small toothed spindle, with the toothed part having a diameter of about 6mm. Mine's getting a bit worn now.

3. Some sort of a linear rail bearing. Now, I know there's a lot of options out there for this, but on my Z axis, it's a dual rail. The new version of the printer uses a single rail, so if I was going for a single rail, what should I look out for so it's pretty strong? (It's supporting a gantry with the heated print bed)

Any help is much appreciated. Cheers

CatFromHue

Do the 3D Printing websites not have more indepth descriptions of the parts you need as opposed to your descriptions of the parts?

If not you could ask for a quote for the parts which should include a full description of each part.

Some sites I've used in the past that may be of help were Radioncs, Farnell, Wixroyd, Ondrives, Screwfix, and of course just putting the description of the part alone into Google will come up with some results.

mr potato head

Hi twicx

You mentioned the benefits of open source hardware, unfortunately the downside is the number of variants out there (fragmentation). The Items you are looking for are roughly these:

1. Flexible Coupling
   Even from engineering suppliers these are not cheap, you are better off sticking with the ones which use set screws to z-axis lead screw.
   You could look on Ebay: flexible shaft coupler
   Or the other option would be somewhere like Adafruit: Aluminum Flex Shaft Coupler - 5mm to 8mm
   
   
2. Hobbed Bolt / Drive Gear
   I'm guessing you mean this:
   
   As far as I know this isn't an off the shelf part, they are generally made from other components which are modified.
   The prices on RepRap.org - Drive Gears don't seem too steep.
   
   
3. Linear Rail
   Why do you want to change this?
   When you say your printer has a dual rail, do you mean one on either side of the z axis or two rails on the one side?
   Also is there any mechanical reason for upgrading this which will lead to better print quality?
   • Play in the system
   • Bent/Twisted rail
   • Vibration or Binding during movement

Generally I'd say approach everything from an improvement to print quality viewpoint.

edjennings

You can! The bad thing about the old 3D printer model is that it lacks some vital parts. And worst, some of it is not yet available in the market. I guess you just can try 3D printing some mechanical parts like perpendicular fixing screw. Or try to experiment on 3D printer filaments like 3d2print's nylon filament and create your own filament holder to grip the filaments. What do you think?