Simple plotter head for TAZ6 (and maybe other versions too).

The "v1" design is loosely based Tech2C's "over-engineered" plotter design for the Hypercube printer (also here on thingiverse). I basically re-used his pen holding cart (carriage) and made a new holder that would fit the TAZ "V-groove", reverse-engineering existing Lulzbot STL files for dimensions.

As you can see on the photo with owls, the pen was held very high up, which was still okay, but accuracy suffered (+-0.5mm).

"v2" was supposed to address these issues, but since the "V-groove" didn't allow for mounting any lower, "v2" screws directly to the X carriage, so you need to unscrew the "V-groove" (4 screws) before mounting "v2".

Since you might not want to trade convenience for accuracy, I uploaded both "v1" and "v2".

STEP files provided as usual, in case you want to modify or CNC cut the design.

...

Note (random facts):

*Do not disconnect original TAZ extruder, just unscrew it and put it away. Disconnecting produced weird buggy movements for me, even after hacking MINTEMP with a resistor.

• The rubber band can be adjusted and held in tension by screws, for optimal pressure for the given pen (and fine tuned by how much you lower Z).
• Most bullet-point pens have significant slop of the tip inside the housing (pen). This can be easily eliminated by wrapping the drawing element in a few layers of tape and forcing it back inside (without the spring).
• See v2 in action: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Ra8TNE9k4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Ra8TNE9k4) (sorry for bad quality)
• I printed mine in ABS, but modified the hole dimensions to default to PLA. If you print ABS, you may need to drill the M3 holes.
• Great and simple software for generating gcode from SVG is [http://jscut.org/](http://jscut.org/) (slight gcode modification needed to make it work with Marlin)

Post-Printing

Extra parts for v1:

• 2x short (~55mm long) 8mm rods
• 2x LM8UU or any 8mm ID and 15mm OD bearing/bushing
• 1x M3 screw (20mm or more) and M3 nut, for holding the pen
• 1x rubber band

Extra parts for v2:

• 2x short (~55mm long) 8mm rods
• 2x LM8UU or any 8mm ID and 15mm OD bearing/bushing
• 4x M3 hex-head screw (20mm or longer) or M3 threaded rod with nut glued to it
  • Inserted from the back side of the carriage, sliding left/right to adjust for clamp size
• 4x M3 brass inserts to serve as long nuts (cheap on ebay/banggood)
• 1x rubber band
• 2x M3 nuts and M3 flange screws (or just normal ones), 5-10mm long
  • For holding the rubber band at a preset tension

Category: 3D Printer Accessories