Hi all. I’m new to Maslow and new to the forum. I’ve learned a lot from the discussions here, so I thought I’d take a moment to share my solution to chain skipping and wrapping.
After several failed cuts, endless adjustment to the motors/sprockets, beefier bungee, and trying other chain guides out there for a bottom-fed setup, I gave up and made my own. I went through 3 versions of this design, and with the latest version, I finally had success tonight. I was hands-off for the first time with this machine!
My solution uses two 3D printed parts that surround the sprocket and chain to align and press the chain down onto the sprocket and also peel the chain off to prevent wrapping. The “base” piece only provides chain alignment and mounts to the motor bracket using 2 screws; the other two remain in place. The “cap” provides alignment if the sled is ever proud of nominal and it also has the chain peeling features, so no matter how slack or sticky the slack end of the chain is, the cap kicks it off the sprocket.
Pictures below. Hopefully this is helpful to someone. I’ll put the design files (STEP and STL) in the Community Garden tomorrow.
makes sense, that way one can see how much the chains are moving especailly when calibrating. laser cut polycarbonate would work. perhaps with a vertical line so so 12 o clock is easeir to see
The sled is hanging in on a hook from the top beam, so the chain is slack and out of plane. However, with these chain guides I can run jog the motors while the sled is hanging like this and with with the bungees slack.
There are features that peel the chain off the sprocket, so it cannot wrap up around the sprocket.
