FT5 Conversion Gantry

thingiverse

This is a motor/extruder mount for an ultimaker style rod setup, but with the motor mounted on the center, rather than at a distance with a bowden tube. After looking everywhere for this, I finally decided to design one myself. I wanted an ultimaker style gantry that allowed me to mount a direct drive extruder directly onto the gantry, rather than a bowden tube setup. I have been trying to print large prints with Ninjaflex, but bowden tubes kink up, even with an adapter on the extruder motor, they still manage to wrap around the extruder motor. Therefore, I decided to mount the extruder motor directly onto the cross bar style gantry, but still leave an opening for the motor, fan, and extruder setup. This eliminates the bowden tube problem, and still allows a reasonably large print volume. I converted my Folgertech FT-5 completely to accommodate this design. The way I made it uses the existing parts in the kit, but increase the bed plate from 12x12x12 to 18x18x16. The only thing I needed were the bearing mounts and pulleys, also on my page, and 4 8mm smooth rods. I also used 2 5-8mm adapters for the z axis. I used the exising rods that came with the kit to make the ultimaker style rods for the gantry. I will post the complete build pics eventually. This design is created to mount onto 4 15x24x8mm bore bushings. This will slide onto an 8mm rod. However, you may need to widen the holes slightly with a file or sandpaper, as it is a screwless compression fit. Two bearings are endstopped to fit flush with the surface, and the rods slide into that. The NEMA 17 motor also fits snugly into the channel left for it. I recommend expoxying the motor onto the mount to prevent it from sliding. Hot glue may work, but may soften with the heat of the motor.. At any rate, screws and a bracket somewhere would work too. This mount is designed to fit a 40mm fan that blows perpendicular to the fan on the motor. The gantry motor is mounted to the direct drive style extruder that has a fan, then heatsink, then extruder, then motor, all held together with two long screws. The fan mounted on this assembly should be 40mm. Adjust the height as needed with your firmware. This is definitely a project for an advanced builder. If you are not sure what any of this means, feel free to ask, and I will help you when I can. Enjoy! Update: I added a 16mm notch that will allow the electrical connector of the nema 17 motor to slide onto the gantry. This will allow you to put a 40mm fan on the back side to cool it or a bracket to hold the motor down.