Integrated Modular Carriage for AM8 or Anet A8 and V6/BLTouch

thingiverse

This two-piece carriage system is designed specifically for the AM8 and A8 printers. The rear piece, mounted on the printer's X-carriage, features built-in bearing/bushing holders, a belt holder/tensioner, and a mounting point for a BLTouch sensor. The front piece, attached to the rear piece with four M3x8 screws and nuts, securely holds an E3D V6 (or clone) hotend in a bowden configuration, the parts-cooling blower, and your preferred choice of A8-compatible cooling nozzles (not included). This design aims to simplify quick tool changes by minimizing printer disassembly. With minimal modification, the included hotend mount could easily be converted into a direct-drive setup. Implementing a laser engraver/cutter should also be relatively straightforward, and even a pick-and-place tool for electronics assembly is within reach. Photos show an older version that required some adjustments: the belt tensioner was positioned 3.2 mm too high, and the BLTouch mount was 1.4 mm too high. The included OpenSCAD and STL files have already been corrected to address these issues and are ready to use.