That is probably a good thing to have ordered 4 rolls. It can take a while to go through a roll, but when you first get the printer, you’ll want to do some tuning, and that can usually mean a bunch of printing that will fail or not be very good until you dial it in. Once that happens, then you’ll start looking at places like Thingiverse and then start seeing what the printer can really do!
One of the prints I was doing for the Met-Z was the entire carriage plate that holds the router. That was just over 24 hours to print. For ease in printing, I had it laying flat on the print bed with the 2 arms for the router clamps sticking up. I printed 2 of those as I mentioned earlier. They both failed in use as the clamping arms separated under the tension of the bolts/threaded inserts as they were pulling against the layers. Had I printed it standing up, the tension would have been pulling with/along the layer lines, which might have held up better. At that point, I just said screw it, found the other clamp I posted earlier, and just decided to do it all over again. I also want to mention that this second time around, I had my Maslow tuned a lot better, and had put a new router in with variable speed, and the second try at the Met-Z was much cleaner cut and just better all together.
Wow, since all my stuff is in the mail…I am gonna try this over the weekend! Jonatpridesleap, your weights on your picture, what are they? Do you have some drawings for that assembly?
You can probably get them any place that sells loose weights. On my original sled I needed a total of four to get the sled weight right. If you are building the MET-Z as it is originaly designed then you may not need any additional weight. I shaved off so much weight with my version that I had to add weights back to the sled. so I incorporated some weight clamps on the side of the carriage baseplate supports. It’s not an ideal location for them because they do raise the Center of Gravity of the whole sled a little. I am currently running the sled with two (2) 2.5 lb weights on each side.
If you are going to go the dumbell weight route, I recommend using someting to fill in the space of the center of the weight. I believe the standard size is a 1" bar so the hole is just a bit bigger than that. I think I used a 1’’ O.D x 3/8"ID nylon bushing.
I do but i really need to clean them up before I start showing them. Otherwise they will just be confusing and messy. I might be able to whip up an assembly drawing real quick though.
a note on sled weights. (looking at first pricipals and why the maslow is the
way it is)
There’s nothing magic about the stock weights. They are what Bar happened to use
in his prototype (the weight of bricks), he did try much heavier weights and
moved to lighter weights.
In the initial design, the weights prevented the sled from tipping and moving
the bit.
In the current design, the only reason for the weights on the sled is to prevent
the sled from rotating against the stops of the ring/linkage system. So if you
can put lighter wights on it (and calibrate with those lighter weights) that
reduces stress on the gears and strain in the top center. It may mean a little
less force in the bottom corners (but with less mass to move I expect this is a
wash, and a longer top beam helps), and it may mean that the chain sag is larger
(a factor that calibration should take into account)
I don’t think you could have a sled light enough, but also watch that the sled
doesn’t lift away from the workpiece as you plunge into the workpiece.
No don’t worry about it, I better first learn to walk…those Jaguars will probable tear me up! Once I get one operational, I can modify. But thanks anyway!
