Core Assembly Techniques

Throughout this manual, you will encounter a few specific assembly techniques. Understanding them from the start will make the process much smoother.

Heat-Set Inserts

This printer makes extensive use of brass heat-set inserts to create strong, durable threads in the printed parts. The insert is heated with a soldering iron and pressed into the part, melting the surrounding plastic. As the plastic cools, it solidifies around the knurls of the insert, creating an extremely resilient bond.

Illustration showing the tip of a soldering iron gently pressing a heat-set insert into a plastic part.

How to Install: 1. Set your soldering iron to a temperature slightly above the printing temperature of ABS (around 240-260°C). 2. Place the insert over the hole in the printed part. 3. Gently press the tip of the soldering iron onto the insert. Do not apply excessive force. 4. The insert will heat up and sink into the plastic. Keep it as straight as possible. 5. Press until the top of the insert is flush with or slightly below the surface of the part. 6. Quickly remove the soldering iron and let the plastic cool completely.

Blind Joints

The aluminum frame of this printer is assembled using "blind joints." This method is both rigid and cost-effective but requires some practice. The technique involves sliding the head of a screw (usually a BHCS) into the center channel of an extrusion and then tightening it through an access hole in a second, perpendicular extrusion, locking the two together.

A cross-section diagram showing how a screw, inserted into the channel of one extrusion, is tightened through an access hole in a second, perpendicular extrusion.