Belt Deflect-O-meter
Description
**An accurate and repeatable way to measure belt deflection and thus determine the tension in your printer belts.** This project grew out of a mistake I made purchasing a "belt tensioner" from **AliExpress** for $20, which turned out to be just a cheap digital tire tread depth gauge and some (very poorly) printed parts with a few hair elastics as the "spring"... Suffice it to say, **it was hot garbage** as sold, but I was intent on making it useful. Fast forward 3 weeks of design, I reverse engineered the main clip on part for the foot of the gauge, the rear slide clip and added some features: - Now snap fits onto your gauge and has optional thru holes for permanent mounting with screws. - Uses a compression spring for better reliability, repeatability. - Rear slide clip has retention pin and screw for better mounting. - Has a proper "normal" pin spacing of 50mm. (was 62.5 previously ?!?) - Included STEP files for anyone who has a different fitting gauge and wants to make changes. Hardware required is simple: - M3x20 screw (1) - M3x10 SHCS (1) (+2 for optional permanent mounting) - M3 hex nuts (as required) - Compression spring (I used what I had, OD 14.25, 70mm long, 0.7mm wire, 14 turns) from an old medical device. The trick is to find a spring that is just right; not too strong so as to damage the belts and still strong enough to return the slide reliably back to start _consistantly_. BTW I printed my parts in ABS and the design accommodates for some material shrink, so if you are using PLA be advised. (_I don't do PLA, ever!!_ )
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