8. XY Plane

Front & rear pulley sets

• Bolt M5x10 (x4)

• Flanged nut M5 (x4)

Actions

Attach front LEFT pulley set at the LOWER holes in the front left pillar, and front RIGHT pulley set at the HIGHER holes in the right pillar.

Attach rear pulley sets to the holes in the rear pillars.

For the front pulley sets, it's just an aesthetic reason to face the bolt head outside the frame. Place the flanged nuts outside if you feel it's easier to access.

Y rails

Y rail to Y bridge

• 2 380mm MGN9 linear guides

• Bolt M3 x 08 (x5)

• Nut M3 (x5)

Y-max stopper (optional)

• Bolt M3 x 40 (x1)

• Nut m3 (x1)

• Printed Y-Max stopper block (optional. Please download the STL here)

Actions

Choose your Y rail position and attach Y rails to Y bridges with 3 ~ 5 bolts per rail.

• Default setup: Leave 2 holes in front of Y rails
  The rear pulley housings act as Y-max stoppers so no printed stopper blocks are needed.

• Alternative setup: Leave 1 hole in front of Y rails
  Use this setup if you want to leave more space at the rear side and flip the whole X axis so the extruder carriage faces backward. Printed Y-max stoppers will be needed at the rear side of Y bridges.

Exams

Install the bolts and nuts for the Y rails but leave them loose as you will need to adjust the X rail alignment and squareness later.

[Aluminum] XY joiner & X rail

XY joiner to linear block

• Printed Y-min endstop finger (aluminum version STL here)

• Bolt M3 x 6 (x3)

• Bolt M3 x 8 (x1, for Y endstop finger)

• Washer M3 x 8 x 0.8 (x1, for Y endstop finger)

Linear rail to XY joiner

• 500mm MGN12 linear guide (x1)

• Bolt M3 x 16 (x4)

• Nut M3 (x8)

• Washer M3 x 8 x 0.8 (x4)

Actions

Attach XY joiners to X linear blocks as shown in the picture. Secure X rail to XY joiners with 2 nuts per bolt.

[CF] XY joiner & X rail

XY joiner to linear block

• Printed Y-min endstop finger (CF version STL here)

• Bolt M3 x 6 (x3)

• Bolt M3 x 8 (x1, for Y endstop finger)

• Washer M3 x 8 x 0.8 (x1, for Y endstop finger)

Linear rail to back tube

• Carbon fiber back tube (x1)

• 400mm MGN9 linear guide (x1)

• Bolt M3 x 8 (x8)

• Nut M3 (x8)

• Washer M3 x 8 x 0.8 (x8)

Back tube to XY joiner

• Bolt M3 x 10 (x6)

• Nut M3 (x6)

• Washer M3 x 8 x 0.8 (x6)

Actions

Please note the orientation of the carbon fiber back tube. Attach the linear rail to the back tube with M3 x 8 bolts.

Attach XY joiners to X linear blocks as shown in the picture. Secure the back tube to XY joiners with 2 nuts per bolt.

Attach the Y endstop finger (CF version) the same way as it is in the aluminum XY joiner.

Check Smoothness

Exam

Before putting on the XY belts, if you feel uneven pressure while sliding the X rail along Y direction, loosen and re-tighten these bolts gradually and evenly:

• Y bridges to the frame (related to vertical unevenness)

• XY joiners to Y linear blocks (squareness of X to Y)

• Y rails to Y bridges (parallelism of Y rails)

• X rail to XY joiners

Wrong
Fasten nut A to 100% --> nut B to 100% --> nut C to 100%

Correct
Fasten ALL nuts to 50% --> ALL nuts to 75% --> ALL nuts to 100%.

[Aluminum] Extruder Carriage

• Extruder carriage

• Countersunk bolt M3 x 6 (x4)

Actions

Attach the extruder carriage to the linear block as shown in the picture.

Assemble the extruder plate (between extruder and stepper) later in Chapter 10.

[CF] Extruder Carriage

• Extruder carriage (4mm thick)

• Belt handlers (x2)

• Printed X endstop base

• Printed washers (x4)

• Bolt M3 x 40 (x2)

• Bolt M3 x 16 (x2)

• Nut M3 (check the sequence in the picture)

• Washer M3 x 8 x 0.8 (check the sequence in the picture)

Extruder carriage to linear block

• Countersunk bolt M3 x 6 (x4)

Actions

Install belt handlers to the 4mm-thick extruder carriage first before attaching the carriage to linear block. Install the 3mm-thick extruder plate in the later chapter.

You might want to stick belt handlers and printed washers to the extruder carriage carefully with super glue. Under minor misalignment, bolt holes can still be adjusted with a drill.

Assemble the extruder plate (between extruder and stepper) later in Chapter 10.

Exams

Fasten the nuts on M3 x 40 and M3 x 16 bolts thus they build the rigidity in the extruder carriage. A loosen structure here might result in unwanted wobbling and can be noticed by seeing multiple peaks in the resonance frequency measurement graph, if you enable input shaper in the firmware.

Y endstop

• Optical endstop

• Printed endstop base (STL here)

• Printed Y endstop trigger finger (STL here)

• Bolt M3 x 10 (x3)

• Nut M3 (x3)

• Washer 3 x 8 x 1.0 (x3)

Maybe you'll be interested in this alternative solution from SK-Tank owner doumas:
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4885998

Actions

Attach the endstop and mount at the front most hole in the right Y bridge. Pass the cable through the bridge.

Usually the default Y endstop base (STL here) is applicable. Use the alternative base only if you want to attach Y rails at the alternative position.

Exams

Manually pull the X axis and make sure the Y trigger finger blocks the endstop.

If you print the trigger finger in light color, paint the frontend black so it can block IR light.

XY belt tensioner & stepper

• Stepper (x2)

• Pre-assembled XY belt tensioner (x2)

• NEMA17 stepper mount (x2)

• Pulley GT2 10mm 16T B5 (x2)

• Bolt m3 x 08 (x4)

• Bolt m3 x 10 (x4)

• Washer m3 x 8 x 0.8 (x8)

Actions

Loosen the M4 x 12 bolts and attach the stepper mounts. The left stepper pulley (the right one if looking from the rear side) should align with the lower (smooth) pulley in the left rear pulley set. The right stepper motor pulley should align with the top (smooth) pulley in the right rear pulley set.

When attaching the belt tensioner and stepper, fasten the M3 x 8 bolts after you find a proper belt tension.

The left XY stepper

Actions

For the left XY stepper, if the length of the D cut is not long enough for the holder screw in the pulley, please lower the black stepper mount to the bottom and raise the 20T pulley and belt tensioner idler a few mm.

Left belt routing

• 2GT belt

• Printed belt clamp (x4)

• Cable ties (x8)

Actions

Totally about 8.5 meter belt is needed for two XY and three Z belts. One 9-meter roll or two 5-meter rolls are included in the kit depending on delivery groups.

Route the belt as shown in the figure. To prevent a wrongly short cut, it's safer to pass the whole belt through the CoreXY route, leave 3~5 cm tooth meshed length at the extruder carriage.

If you're using the aluminum extruder carriage and planning to migrate to the carbon fiber carriage, leave 5~7 cm meshed belt because the carbon fiber carriage is narrower thus needs longer belts.

Take the heights of pulleys in XY joiners as a reference, and adjust the heights of other pulleys if needed.

Fix and tighten the ends of belt with printed belt clamps and cable ties.

Exams

Make sure there is no clicking sound between belt edge and pulley flange.

Right belt routing

Actions

Do as the same instructions shown in the previous page.

Exams

Check and fasten all bolts in X & Y rails.

Secure belt with clamps

• Printed belt clamp (Optional. Download STL here.)

• Cable tie (x8)

Actions

Secure belts with printed belt clamps, or just some cable ties without a clamp.

Exams

Cable ties should not block while approaching XY joiners.

Proper Belt Tension

In this video the XY belt tension is too low and belts vibrate when the extruder moves quickly. The vibration propagates back to the extruder and results in undesired vertical fine artifacts.

Please tense you XY belts to a level that they won't vibrate in the fastest speed in your common use cases. Note that too high belt tension will bring extra load to the stepper and reduce the life of pulley system.