BETA - Remote Tool Lock System

Written By: Kris Brickman

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

Introduction

This option replaces the Nema 8 Tool locking motor with a remotely driven cable drive system.

Reducing the carried weight on the carriage can result in higher quality prints at faster speeds/accelerations.

THIS GUIDE IS IN-PROGRESS!

Install (2) M3 brass inserts into Print_RemoteLockMount
Slide worm gear (drive) over 5mm linear rod. Leave loose.
Slide (1) 3.16x5mm brass coupler onto linear rod as shown. Seat completely. Firmly tighten grub screw(s).
Use a hand file or other tool to remove all grub screw material from beyond the outside diameter of the brass coupler.
Slide (1) 9x17x5 bearing over the previously ground grub screw.
This should ideally take a bit of effort to do. You may choose to use a socket and small hammer to drive the bearing into position. If the fit is too tight, use some sandpaper to reduce the O.D. of the coupler in small increments until the fit it just right.
Slide the worm drive gear up and against the brass coupler. Tighten grub screw firmly.

Place worm gear drive assembly into the printed mount.
Install and loosely secure Print_RemoteLockClasp using an M3 fastener into the previously installed heat-set insert.
Slide (1) 5x10x4 flanged bearing over the opposite end of the linear rod until the bearing sits nicely in the printed housing.
Like the last bearing, the fit here should be snug.
Be sure the printed part is nice and round. A 10mm drill bit or a rotary tool can clean up any drooping plastic from printing.
Do not drive the bearing too far. Doing so will result in bending of the mount. This bearing does not see much load, and is more-so there to guide the rod assembly.

Slide the CNC_Tlock into and through the worm gear (driven) so that the flat protrudes past the surface. Line up the slot with the grub screw in the driven gear and secure.
Depending on your worm gear, the grub screw may land on the round part of the t-lock. This is OK for now.
Slide Print_LockIndexTool over the t-lock and against the face of the driven gear. Use a transfer punch or similar tool to mark the center of the (2) outer holes.
Drill 2 1.6mm holes into the driven gear using the marks as a locator. Drill depth should be at least 6mm. Use an M2x0.4 thread tap (preferably a bottoming tap) to carefully tap the brass threads.
These taps are tiny! Always tap by hand with lubrication.

Press (1) 3.16x3.16mm magnet into Print_ToolLockIndex until flush. A small bit of superglue can help retain the magnet if the fit is too loose.
Attach the adjustable lock indexing assembly to the driven gear using (2) M2x5mm fasteners. Adjustment will be carried out later in this guide.

Finish Line

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