Z-belt connection

This refers to the kit supplied from BitsFromBytes with the Laser cut parts.

We have reached the stage of assembling the Z-belt, having done the X and Y belts. The X&Y belts did not have to be joined as they are not continuous, but the Z belt is continuous and so needs to be joined.

Reading the instructions for the non-laser cut parts I seem to need a belt-splicer, which I think is two bits of moulded plastic which go between the jaws of the G clamp. But looking at the laser BOM I can not find anything labled as a belt-splicer. What are we supposed to use?

David

I ran into the same problem. I ended up making one out of a lump of polymorph (handy stuff to have around). Melted it, made an impression with a piece of belt, then used that to splice the belt.

Another thing you'll probably run into is that the belt might be a bit loose. A lot of people have run into this and have improvised various belt tensioning rigs to compensate. There's also a set of parts for a belt tensioner. Not sure if that's part of the BitsFromBytes kit yet, though.

I had thought of using the bit of belt that is spare (there is about 15cm of overlap) as the template act as the "female" part of the belt-splicer. So you would end up with three layers of belt between two bits of wood or acetate between the G clamp grips and both the outer layers would be flat.

Yes the belt tensioner is part of the BitsFromBytes laser cut parts kit.

I also used a piece of leftover belt to align the join. Then just clamped the pieces with a small vice. Just be careful were the excess glue goes when it squeezes out of the join.

I actually used two clamps, The first held every thing in alignment while I glued one end of the join. I then used the second clamp to clamp the glued end and then released the first clamp and joined that end. Finally re clamp and leave overnight.

I hope that explanation wasn't too confusing!

My solution was to super glue both ends with all plastic super glue.
Once the belt was in place with no tension.

Then I found some flexible plastic and cut it out and glued that to the back of the
belt covering the join for added strength.

1/2 splice bolt belts and then glue as per the RepRap wiki, i simply align the ends using a small off cut/ X or Y belt, peel back one side and glue (sparingly) super glue works best when less is used, I do all this in my hands as i find it easier to visually ensure they are all lined up correctly and then after the glue has held it in position i clamp it for 10 minutes or so.

So far this has always worked well but i do use a flexible super glue (Loctite 4850) and the appropriate primer (Loctite 770) without the primer it is probably better to leave it for longer in the clamp.

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Ian
[www.bitsfrombytes.com]