Adimlab Gantry - E3D and Gold Extruder Mount

Based off of Garrett Waltrip's idea posted on the Adimlab Facebook group. You can use this to have a (relatively) quick disconnect of the e3d hotend and also mount the gold mk8 extruder that's a popular upgrade for these printers. I've included the filament guide and a z stop spacer as well. You will very likely need them.

Bonus: Using the mount eliminates the stock metal extruder mount (both pieces of it). So now you can use the mk8 gold extruder without having to drill out a hole.

Bonus 2: Jeff Dickison from the Adimlabs facebook public group modified a filament guide so that you can cut a piece of ptfe tube that runs from the heatsink, through the mk8 gold extruder threaded hole, and plugs into a small recess into the filament guild. This makes a nice clean path for the filament. Why does this matter? With some filament, the heat from the stepper motor transmits to the aluminum heatsink, which in turn transmits to the filament. This can make the filament soft and bendy, which causes the filament to jam, spring out of the extruder, and ruin your print.

Note: I eventually noticed the rear m4 12mm hex cap bolt that mounts the printed block to the carriage came in contact with the heatsink fin and fan. Perhaps a low profile bolt head will work. I ground down one of my heatsink fins and cut out a corner of my heatsink fan mount. I've attached photos to show this.

Prerequisites:

1. Firmware upgrade for a dedicated part cooling fan.

2. The solder bridge to bypass the resister on the pwm fan socket

3. Mount a part cooling fan

Instructions:

1. Insert m3 nut on side and 2x m4 nuts on the top.

2. Mount the mk8 gold extruder base to printed mount via m4x20mm bolt. There is a recessed hole on the bottom of the mount. The extruder base should rest against the "ledge" on the top of the mount to keep everything lined up. The tip of the bolt will extend through the extruder bottom plate so it can support the idler arm tension spring.

3. Attach the extruder to the stepper motor and attach the extruder arm assembly as you normally would.

4. Add m3x25mm bolts for the bottom extruder-to-stepper motor mount holes. The screws go through the filament guide plate, then the extruder, then into the stepper motor.

5. Mount the assembly (stepper motor, extruder, mount block) to the carriage using m4x12mm bolts. They should catch on the nuts we inserted earlier.

6. Assemble E3D v6 hotend.

7. Cut a piece of ptfe tubing. It will run from the e3d v6 heatsink all the way up to the recess in the filament guide. There might be some trial and error on cutting the right length. Once measured, it's easier to attach the ptfe tube to the recess of the filament guide first before inserting the e3d v6 assembly.

8. Slide the e3d v6 all the way up into the large hole for it (while also inserting the ptfe tube into the heatsink). Insert an m3x20mm bolt and tighten it down. For extra tightness, the m3 nut was inserted in the side of the mount block in step one. The bolt should catch on the nut.

9. Snap on the z stop spacer (regular, large, or none at all depending on your need) so that it is aligned with the z stop sensor. This will give you some room to play with the new height of the hotend. Adjust the z stop as needed.

10. Plug the E3D cooling fan into the "fan" socket. Plug the part cooling fan into the "pwm fan" socket.

Print Settings

Printer:

Adimlab Gantry

Rafts:

Doesn't Matter

Supports:

Yes

Resolution:

0.2

Infill:

80% or higher

Filament:

Notes:

Printed using high density supports (touching build plate only). This will support the recessed hole on the bottom of the mount.