Linear rods on ender3max and ender3pro 3v2

In the shop page included with patronage: HERE

If you have any doubt or questions as to the order of install, please ask me on discord!

This was only tested on an Ender3Max Neo (with about 305mm of printable surface on Y out of the 320mm bed)

ender3max Neo can sometime be found rather cheap refurbished (https://www.ebay.com/itm/355169345340 this is where I got mine from, out of stock now, but keep an eye on it if interested in that size bed )

Compatible with ender3pro/3v2 but untested, there is some Y space lost, not exactly sure how much, but I would guess about 20mm or so, be careful and consider it alpha, as the end stop is untested, you may need to slide the rear rod mount forward if using sensorless homing so that it hits the rod mount before the bed hits the motor (depends on the size of motor) — I also included a tweaked Y motor mount that allows securing an endstop switch to its side.

Original Ender3 with 4020 Y extrusion isn't compatible (sorry), but compatible with ender3pro,3v2, etc

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Cheap rod bearing seem to be a bit worse than cheap linear rails, but can be made fully functional.

I bought all the stuff from the magic dragon store on aliexpress, but will be testing other brands to see if there are better cheap ones, one that caught my eye is MYT, they cost a bit more but still only $2.3/bearing if bought in a pack of 10 — ones I have tested are $0.9/bearing, in a pack of 10 — top quality Misumi cost $13/bearing to give you an idea, that's excusing the rods )

A minimum of 3 bearings are needed, but ended up trying 6 bearings on my setup (4 maximum on ender3pro/3v2)

Rods are cheap to buy compared to rails, (price difference is even more noticeable on the 500mm length required for the e3max), most rod bearing seems low quality from what I read online, and need a really good clean and grease/oil. There is a scratchy sound coming from the rod bearing I have. I will buy another brand of bearing to compare, otherwise top of the line are Misumi bearing, but no more price advantage at that point (a minimum of 3 is needed, but I am now testing with 6 bearings, ender3 can use up to 4 bearings)

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the STEP files has additional parts that are functional, but were older iteration of the parts (like rod mount with 1 t-nut instead of two and slimmer profile, the exported STL are the sturdier final version of those parts)

warning: the end of the rods are really sharp they likely won't do deep cut, but they can easily do small cut that may go unnoticed initially, happened twice — I included end caps for handling them, or pushing them in from one side, also useful when greasy to keep hands clean-ish

Huge thanks to WesSnipes711 (discord) for helping with this and going down the rabbit hole of a rod based setup

• Hardware:

  • (2) 12mm Linear Rods 500mm on e3max, 350mm~360mm on e3pro/3v2

  • (3) LM12UU Bearings, up to x6 in e3max, up to x4 in e3pro/3v2

  • (2) M5x12 SHCS (Tensioner)

  • (4~8) M5x8 SHCS (Rod Mounts)

  • (4~8) M5 T-nuts (Rod Mounts)

  • (4) M4x12 SHCS (Rod Clamps)

  • (4) M4 Hex Nuts (Rod Clamps)

  • (4) M3x8 SHCS (Bearing Clamps)

  • (4) M3x4x5 or M3x4x4.6 Heat Inserts (Bearing Clamps)

  • Stock: (6) M5x30 BHCS & Lock Nuts (Bearing Clamps/Bed Carriage)

• Printed Parts:

  • Tensioner

    • 6 walls, 6 bottom, 6 top, 60% infill

  • Rod Mounts (Endstop & Back-Left)

    • 11 walls, 6 bottom, 6 top, 80% infill

  • Bearing Clamps

    • 4 walls, 4 bottom, 4 top, 40% infill

    • Bottom Dual, Bottom Single, Top (Separate or connected)

• Installation:

  • 1) Secure Rod Mounts (M5x8 SCHS w/ T-nuts) & Tensioner (M5x12 SCHS) to extrusion

  • 2) Guide 12mm rods through mount holes on Tensioner and slide appropriate LM12UU bearings (1 left/2 right) onto rods before guiding into back Rod Mounts (don't tighten Rod Clamps yet)

  • 3) Place Top Bearing Clamp(s) onto bearings and snap into place

  • 4) Insert (6) stock M5 Lock Nuts & (4) M3x4x5 Heat Inserts into Bottom Bearing Clamps, snap onto bearings, and secure to Top Bearing Clamps with (4) M3x8 SHCS

  • 5) Secure Bearing Clamps assembly to Bed Carriage with (6) stock M5x30 BHCS

  • 6) Secure Rod Clamps at back and on tensioner with (4) M4x12 SHCS & Hex Nuts