Damper mounts for Ender 3 X and y axis using stock press-fit stepper motors

thingiverse

### Update: 6-11-19 -- Later in the day V3 X-mount printed and working! Added picture, the sensor holder works great. Also forgot to mention, I made the captive nut holes slightly larger for an easier fit. The sensor placement is not perfect, it could be scooted back slightly to let the X axes move slightly further. To adjust you just need to tweek `sensor_inset_down` and `sensor_inset_back` values in the openscad file. As it works nicely for me as is I don't plan to tweak those and re-print. If I re-assemble in the future I might do so. ### Update: 6-11-19 V2 X box, new design with sensor mount plate pushed into the top. The V1 sensor was way too far away to do any good. things almost fit but not quite enough room for the plug and did not like the way the box could flex without the one corner support where I pushed the sensor mount plate into the box. V3 X box, new design, this time the end stop is at an angle mounted above to hit the wheel. Likely needs adjustment in position, doing a test print to see how things fit. ### Description Those are x and y spacer boxes, to allow mounting of dampers, with the press-fit factory gears in place. My printer is MUCH quieter with those installed. I currently have the Y box mounted and working, the X box is untested and may need additional work. Tagging this a work in progress, until I have both sides working. Also X bracket is intended to swap the sides of the stepper, so you will need to reverse direction, I run Marlin so I assume I can easily do so, but have not looked into it yet. I do notice the y is somewhat quieter, hopefully I will get some improvement on the x as well once I have a damper in place. I unfortunately found out, my Ender 3 has the press-fit factory gears on the stepper motors. I had ordered dampers, and was looking forward to an easy project to make the printer quieter. Turned into a weekend of reading about how others went about making dampers work, and designing my own parts, as nothing I found struck my fancy. I included lots of links at the bottom to hopefully make the research faster for others. Whether you decide to use my parts or someone else's, or you make your own I welcome discussion. Even after designing the parts I am not exactly fully happy, I may yet go purchase new steppers and gears, will see how things hold up and if I notice any loss in quality. The parts are designed to use a captive M3 nuts for pcb board mounting. The captive nuts are designed for a tight fit. Using a hammer to tap them into place may be needed. For a looser fit, change the up the "head_diameter" in the .scad file. Parts needed* (for each mount): - (4) 20^ mm M3 bolts (mount box to bracket) - (2) 25^ mm M3 bolts (mounting damper to mount box) - (4) 8-15^ mm M3 bolts (2 mounting damper to stepper, 2 mount sensor PCB) original stepper motor mount bolts can be used here - (6) M3 nuts (only 4 on Y) \* Needed is a bit of an overstatement. I did not have the correct size bolts so I used 30mm ones and printed a spacer to take up the extra space. Uncoment "post" in "Which parts to make" section of the .scad if you want some spacers of your own, adjust the length for whatever works for you. ^ I am guessing on those sizes, should be close but I am lacking 20mm and 25mm for testing. Tools needed: - Alan keys (ones that come with Ender3, or I also use a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FA4RI9W/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00FA4RI9W&linkCode=as2&tag=kprint3-20&linkId=8a3e409bc3649b54c472a7a9d634c91d">Metric Hex Driver Bit Set</a><img src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=kprint3-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B00FA4RI9W" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" />) - Hammer may be needed to tap captive nuts into place I purchased the dampers from Banggood: https://www.banggood.com/5Pcs-53_853_84mm-Nema-17-42-Stepper-Motor-Vibration-Damper-Shock-Absorber-for-3D-Printer-p-1409962.html I found out they had a wider pattern for the damper screws then the stepper motor mounts. I did not expect this, so I had not designed the parts to accommodate. I ended up adding the extra damper bolt wings. Originally I had planned to use two of the holes to mount the damper to the box all the way from the other side of the metal bracket. You can change "damper_bolts" to "0" if you have dampers with the same mounting pattern as the stepper motor. That will remove the wings and two of the captive nut holes will be replaced with a basic hole. Also originally had some X supports on the sides, I dropped them once I discovered I needed damper wings but they are still in the file, just uncomment "supports();" in the y or x cube to enable. #### Assembly ##### Y side You will need to move the end stop sensor to the other side of the extrusion(unless you decided to turn the stepper motor the other direction). I created a part to allow mounting the end stop on the other side. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3680040 0. Print the part and push captive nuts into place (my need a light tap with hammer) 1. Take off the stepper motor, bracket and sensor holder with sensor 2. Re-attach bracket and sensor holder to opposite sides 3. Attach the printed mount to the bracket with 4 screws, ensure you have the correct length so they don't stick out too far or use spacers on the bracket side (but not too long on the bracket side or they will hit the underside of the bed) 4. Attach damper to stepper motor with two screws 5. Attach damper to mount plate being careful to put the belt into the correct position as you put the stepper into place ##### X side For the X-side you need to do some software updates. As I use Marlin, I just opened up Configuration.h and changed "INVERT_X_DIR" from "true" to "false". Recompiled and uploaded the new firmware. I first attempted to do it in Gcode but it seems Marlin does not support <a href="https://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M569:_Stepper_driver_control">M569</a>. I saw a <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/4381/is-there-a-way-to-invert-motor-direction-with-gcode-instead-of-firmware-in-marli">stackexchange</a> where it was suggested to use a negative value in the steps for a <a href="http://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M092.html">M92</a> command to go the other direction. I tested that, it goes the other direction, however does not work correctly with the end stop sensor. 0. Print the part and push captive nuts into place (my need a light tap with hammer) 1. Remove QR code sticker to reveal 4 screws 2. Remove all 4 screws keeping a hand on the box and stepper motor so they don't fall 3. Take off the stepper and the box, remove sensor from the box with two screws 4. Screw sensor into the mount piece 5. Attach damper to stepper 6. Attach damper to mount piece 7. Attach the mount piece to bracket, being careful to feed the belt in and around the pully #### Other options There are other prints I found on thingaverse, before/during the design of my solution. I am listing them below in case one of them may work out better for you. Also the reason's I did not choose one of them for myself. Y axes bracket. I did not use as I don't like the idea of replacing the metal bracket for plastic. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3083500 Y axes bracket/cube. Another bracket, a bit more support then the other one, only for Pro version. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3339725 Y axes bracket. Yet another bracket, same idea as the other brackets. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3024360 Y axes bracket. Still yet another bracket, same idea, I still don't like. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3316057 Y axes cube, I liked this one better but I wanted to see the pulley so I designed mine to be open. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3245255 X axes bracket. I did not like the idea of replacing the metal bracket for plastic. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3271077 X axes super glue on extra gear https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3315807 #### Some interesting discussion on the issue https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3/comments/aa74g1/ender_3_pressfit_stepper_pulley_solutions/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3/comments/alsyzr/installing_stepper_dampers_on_newer_ender_with/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3/comments/ab9i0a/new_ender_3_and_stepper_dampers/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3/comments/b8p1v0/install_dampers_on_steppers_with_pressfit_pulleys/ https://www.reddit.com/r/ender3/comments/a9xa2q/adding_motor_dampers_to_the_ender_3_with_non/ ### Links I list some items I use below, I earn a small kickback if you purchase the items from my links. It does not cost you anything extra so we all win. For longer m3 bolts I use this set. Only issue with it is it does not come with any nuts. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B072F5WF4T/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B072F5WF4T&linkCode=am2&tag=kprint3-20&linkId=1fbf0dcf09df8bc70532665855614e54">100 Pcs M3 x 30mm/35mm/40mm/45mm/50mm 12.9 Grade Alloy Steel Hex Socket Head Cap Screws Assortment, Black Oxide Finish</a><img src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=kprint3-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B072F5WF4T" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> I use this set of hex bits to allow me to use my electric screwdriver. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FA4RI9W/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00FA4RI9W&linkCode=as2&tag=kprint3-20&linkId=8a3e409bc3649b54c472a7a9d634c91d">9-Piece Metric Hex Driver Bit Set</a><img src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=kprint3-20&l=am2&o=1&a=B00FA4RI9W" width="1" height="1" border="0" alt="" style="border:none !important; margin:0px !important;" /> License: If you want to do something not allowed under the license please contact me.