Been reading way too many maker blogs. Here's my contribution
More Upgrades – X axis Linear Rails
Finally got a few hours over Christmas to knock up the X axis linear rails upgrade for the printer.
Printer seems to run nicely and i’ve printed a few small things….I’ll work on quantifying any improvements next as, right now it only ‘seems’ better, and print quality improvements are really marginal. The biggest difference was on the Y axis bed, and I suspect there are now easy further improvements to be had………
Photos Below
Side view showing the new Carriage (designed by someone else)The new idler mount – this was needed as existing thingverse ones don’t have space for the rail at the topTop down view of the new rail carriageside view of the new idler and it’s tension adjustment screws
Early Fourties, Wife, two kids in primary school. Both of us work full time...5 years now we’ve been Back in Blighty after a decade away...It's a new country for everyone! Still finding time to tinker!
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5 thoughts on “More Upgrades – X axis Linear Rails”
Greetings! I’ve recently acquired a D9 Mk1, the Monoprice variant, and I’m planning on upgrading at least the X and Y axes to rails, among other ideas. Not many people have written up their upgrades, your posts are very informative.
It looks like you went with a full-width MGN12 rail on the X, but it also looks like the extruder has some physical travel limits thanks to the carriage and adapter bracket. Do you think it’s necessary to run the rail out to the full width of the gantry, and to modify the belt tensioner for it? I was considering shorting the rail by a bit and using an unmodified tensioner, something along the lines of 420-450mm worth of rail, if I recall.
Similar question with the Y axis – it looks like you ended up going with adapting the existing Y-carriage mounts to a single 12H carriage per rail, but given the travel needed, wouldn’t ~450mm rails work fine atop the stock extrusions?
The big plan was to use TWO carriages to create a 90mmish ‘base’ to be more stable.than the 47mm of a single carriage
The 500mm would allow for a bit of extra front to back movement keeping the original 300mm travel.
The supplier of rails sold me three broken carriages, so I stuck with just one on each rail, which works perfectly!
I planned to mount the stepper motor behind the printer rather than in the frame and used a longer belt as that would have provided the extra 60mm travel needed.
And finally, it would be sensible to use shorter than 500mm rails as you can then access the screws to adjust the stock extrusion!
You won’t need to buy extra right angle mounts 🙂
It’s good to hear that the 4 carriage setup isn’t necessary on the Y axis. Hadn’t even thought of leaving some of the stock adjustment screws accessible. I think I’ll definitely short the rails a little bit, compared to your build.
I’m just ‘borrowing’ the newish community part-sourcing guide from the Voron printer group, and they seem pretty serious about their build quality.
Did you ever switch to rails for Z? I’m not sure how worthwhile that would be. On the other hand, my D9 came with at least two, likely three, (still diagnosing) out-of-round wheels, so those may not be great long-term, and it wouldn’t cost much to grab an extra pair of rails and carriages.
Bleugh.Biz Blog Thingy 
Greetings! I’ve recently acquired a D9 Mk1, the Monoprice variant, and I’m planning on upgrading at least the X and Y axes to rails, among other ideas. Not many people have written up their upgrades, your posts are very informative.
It looks like you went with a full-width MGN12 rail on the X, but it also looks like the extruder has some physical travel limits thanks to the carriage and adapter bracket. Do you think it’s necessary to run the rail out to the full width of the gantry, and to modify the belt tensioner for it? I was considering shorting the rail by a bit and using an unmodified tensioner, something along the lines of 420-450mm worth of rail, if I recall.
Similar question with the Y axis – it looks like you ended up going with adapting the existing Y-carriage mounts to a single 12H carriage per rail, but given the travel needed, wouldn’t ~450mm rails work fine atop the stock extrusions?
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The big plan was to use TWO carriages to create a 90mmish ‘base’ to be more stable.than the 47mm of a single carriage
The 500mm would allow for a bit of extra front to back movement keeping the original 300mm travel.
The supplier of rails sold me three broken carriages, so I stuck with just one on each rail, which works perfectly!
I planned to mount the stepper motor behind the printer rather than in the frame and used a longer belt as that would have provided the extra 60mm travel needed.
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Thanks for the compliment
400 will do the job just fine for the X, it doesn’t have to cover the full width
450 does the full Y length with no overhang, 400 would do also but not ‘look’ as nice 🙂
I only got 3 sets of 500 as it was easier and cheaper to buy 3 the same 🙂 and it looks a bit better
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And finally, it would be sensible to use shorter than 500mm rails as you can then access the screws to adjust the stock extrusion!
You won’t need to buy extra right angle mounts 🙂
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All the info is much appreciated!
It’s good to hear that the 4 carriage setup isn’t necessary on the Y axis. Hadn’t even thought of leaving some of the stock adjustment screws accessible. I think I’ll definitely short the rails a little bit, compared to your build.
I’m just ‘borrowing’ the newish community part-sourcing guide from the Voron printer group, and they seem pretty serious about their build quality.
Did you ever switch to rails for Z? I’m not sure how worthwhile that would be. On the other hand, my D9 came with at least two, likely three, (still diagnosing) out-of-round wheels, so those may not be great long-term, and it wouldn’t cost much to grab an extra pair of rails and carriages.
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