The V Wheels I am referring to are those that ride on the vertical rails behind the Z axis plate. See attached image, these are internal type V Wheels, it looks like the entire carriage needs to be disassembled to have access to adjust them? The bottom two V Wheels are not in contact with the rails at all, the plate pivots about 1/8 of an inch at the bottom. Just wondering if there is an easy way to get to these bolts so I can reset the eccentric nuts and tighten the setting?
It has been a few years since I needed to work on mine. I thought, I think, they are adjustable. Try backing the bolt off a bit, watching the pulley to see if it moves one way or the other. Then turnn in to see if it changes.
Good luck for a quick solution.
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As noted on support, it should work to adjust those V-wheels by using matching holes on the back plate to access them, if the V-wheels aren’t so worn as to no longer be fully tightened up (this is a Launch edition machine and it’s been in use for a decade or so now), probably time for a Maintenance Kit though:
and if you’re going to do that, and if budget allows, you’ll really get an effectively brand-new machine if you also upgrade to an HDZ:
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In order to get to these holes on the back plate, it appears I would have to remove the entire carriage from the gantry?
There should be an upper pair of holes which you can reach — I will admit that I actually considered drilling holes through my X-axis gantry rail and using long hex keys, but instead, I just always paired Z-axis V-wheel adjustment w/ replacing belts or other maintenance which warranted removing the Z-axis.
I see the two holes on the back plate just above the Gantry, and I can access the two upper V Wheels but the front plate does not rise high enough to access the lower V Wheels. When I raise the front plate to its highest position the holes are about a I/2" above the lower V wheels.
I can remove just the front plate, but the belt for the stepper motor assembly doesn’t allow me to raise it high enough. I would think I must remove the belt? Not sure how to proceed at this point?
As noted on support, usually it’s possible to tighten the lower V-wheels sufficiently using a screwdriver against the end of the bolt, then, fine adjustments may be made of the top V-wheels using the access afforded by the openings.
That said, the best thing to do is to get a Maintenance Kit and do a full rebuild — you’ll have your machine back to like-new in no time.
I removed the springs on Z plate, and the stepper motor front plate and pulley, then I was able to raise the plate high enough to adjust the lower V Wheels, through the hole in the back plate. It is working perfect now!!
Concerning the V Wheel assembly they contain a bolt, a washer, the V Wheel and the eccentric nut, does the washer go between the bolt and the V Wheel or between the V Wheel and the plate?
It’s a precision shim and it should go between the V-wheel and the plate.
I noticed the shim is flat on one side and rounded on the other, what is the proper orientation, flat side to the V-wheel or flat side to the plate?
flat to the plate, rounded to the V-wheel to make it easier to spin.