Galileo 2 extruder build questions

[xyleth]

I've just finished an initial build of my G2 extruder kit (see my build log for pics) and I have some questions for people who have done this before me.

1) How smooth / clunky should the pivot of the main body in the housing be?  Mine does move but its quite rough and clunky from position to position.  I think I may need to do some sanding to get it smoother but wanted to check that wasn't by design.

2) Should I still be able to turn the drive shaft by hand once the mounting bolts are tight?

I followed the instructions for inserting the stepper and it went in with no force and I can rotate the drive shaft by hand with it in.  It's smooth but not easy - to be expected I guess as you are working against the motor.  However once I put the M3x30 bolts in and screw down the extruder core stack to hold it all together I can no longer turn the shaft by hand at all - is this right?

I have an old BTT Mini E3 v2 with a blown fan Mofset and a bunch of old Pi 3's knocking about that I'm thinking of spinning up into a simple klipper rig to let me bench test the extruder before I mount it on the toolhead.  But it'd be good to know if I've done something wrong that needs attention before even that!

[ChicagoKeri]

Hi!

The main body - to - motor/gear pivot should pivot freely. It doesn't move very far, however.

The driveshaft should turn by hand with the bolts tight. There should also be noticeable end play. With mine, the included metal shim was too thick and caused the shaft to stick.   Leaving the shim out gave the recommended 1 - 2 mm endplay and allowed the shaft to turn freely.

 

[xyleth]

Ah yes, I did notice that there wasn't that play either.  I shall dis-assemble it tomorrow, remove the shim and try again.  And it sounds like I need to do some sanding to get the body to move freely on the pivot.

Thank you for sharing!

Edited March 17 by xyleth

[claudermilk]

It should move smoothly. On my second build for a standalone I pulled the motor/pinion out and reinserted a couple of times before things rotated smoothly.

[xyleth]

Thank you for the feedback both.  I stripped the extruder down today and re-built it after sanding several of the parts to improve the fit.  I guess I hadn't appreciated quite how much fettling would be required in assembling something from scratch.  I also ran the gears in with my electric drill as suggested in the documentation just to be sure.

As detailed over in the build thread I hooked it up to a control board I had lying around and it turns nicely now pulling filament through.  Won't know for sure until it's used in anger but for now I'm satisfied.

[mvdveer]

On 3/18/2024 at 5:47 AM, xyleth said:

How smooth / clunky should the pivot of the main body in the housing be?

Mine was quite tight and could not move the gears by hand when assembled. Happened to have mounted the 3 x black gears (with the ball bearings) mounted upside down/wrong way around. Flipped this and all is good - moving smoothly.