Prusa i1 to i3 upgrade - Build day 4

Real date 16/03/2014
As with Day 3 I was feeling terrible, so didn't spend as much time as I had planned (was aiming to be printing Saturday night).


As previously mentioned I'm following this guide and will only be documenting things I have trouble with or do which the guide doesn't state.

Z Axis

The motor and Z axis holders have 3 holes on one side and only 2 one the other.
Do not drill the blanked side out.

As you can see adding a screw in into the frame at that position wouldn't make sense.
I suspect the generation script doesn't fully remove the extra screw hole which is used on another variant.

Once you have the motor holder and top rod holder in place, remove the screws from the top piece.
This isn't show or said in the guide, but you'll need to be able to add the X axis to the frame.

X axis

The assembly is one of the easiest parts, however getting the Z axis rod to move smoothly throught the nut is a little tricky.
In the end I used a 6mm drill be to enlarge the hole, this means the 5mm threaded rod doesn't snag or attach to anything but the washer.
I wouldn't go any larger then 6mm as the M5 nut would run the risk of slipping out.

Note I reused one of the 608zz bearings for the X axis and the belt looks like its not going to slip. However the is a gap so I will be on my list of parts to order.

Extruder

I got a new extruder a freebie from 3DPrinterPunk because they forgot to send me the Y corners.
Its a Herringbone Greg's accessable extuder.
The assembly is pretty much the same as Wades only with less parts which is always nice.

The thing to note is the extruder uses a 17mm piece to hold the idler bearing in place as opposed a 20mm piece used in my old Wade.

Its worth noting with the compact X carriage and this extuder you can't double the nut at this side as the clearance is small and the second nut will catch on the X carriage.

End of Day 4

Getting the belts right on the X carriage took a while as did getting the Z axis threaded rod moving smoothly (I started with a 3mm drill bit and worked upto 6mm).
I've not documented it, however about 1 hour of the build time was actually disassembling my old Prusa as I needed the bearings for the extruder (I used the extruder bearings for the X and Y axis).

Prusa i1 frame vs Prusa i3 frame

Days build time: ~2 hour
Total build time: ~6 hours