Ender 3 Z lead screw support for use with filament guide

thingiverse

Support for the top of the Z lead screw on an Ender 3 3D printer. This is to prevent accidentally bending the lead screw by rotating it by hand unsupported. This is a new version of my earlier design with screw fixings https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3355230, however the screw fix version interferes with the mounting bracket for an excellent filament guide. I therefore remodelled my push fit version https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3358957 with a shortened mounting key to enable both the lead screw support and filament guide to be used together. For the filament guide see: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2917932 UPDATE: 20th Jan 2020 I have created a NEW & IMPROVED VERSION of this design that combines both the z leadscrew support and mount for the filament guide into the one piece. see https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4107804 It is designed to be used in conjunction with a Z knob by techboner (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3179667) fitted to the Z lead screw. Jan 22, 2019 Update: I have designed a new Z lead screw knob with a finger depression to enable a rapid Z traverse to go with this lead screw support. See: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3373265 I have also designed a matching extruder knob, see: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3373315 When attaching this to the printer raise the gantry to the top, and then remove the upper rail of the printer to enable the support bracket to slide into the T slot. Replace the top rail taking care to position this support bracket to align with the Z lead screw. Check that there is no pressure or friction on the lead screw, and that it can rotate freely. Then fit the knob (http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3179667), and again check that the lead screw and knob rotate freely. Note I created two versions: a tight and loose fit into the T-slot. If you like it, make it. If you make it, post the make. If you like it and make it, any tips are greatly appreciated. The difference between the Z lead screw designs are: My initial version (https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3355230) attaches to the upper rail using screws and T nuts. I designed it this way as I had lights mounted to the upper rail that made it difficult to remove the upper rail to mount the lead screw support. This design allows the lead screw support to be mounted without any disassembly. It also allowed for some small adjustment for position/alignment. I subsequently designed a new lighting system for my printer which is far superior to the previous version, and therefore removal of the upper rail was no longer a problem. I also found that I really did not need the adjustment that the first design provided, so I redesigned it for a press fit. see: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3358957 This allows the lead screw mount to be inserted into the end of the upper rail and has a cleaner appearance, however it requires either removal of the upper rail or removal of the lead screw to install it, but it fits very nicely (I used the tight fit design). The above two designs are not compatible with the mounting block for the filament guide, so I redesigned the press fit version so that it can work together with the filament guide. This design also requires either the upper rail or lead screw to be removed to install it to the printer, but it works very nicely together with the filament guide. I also used the tight fit version on my printer.