Fixing a ChaoticLab CNC Tap V1

I noticed some play in my Voron 2.4r2 printhead. It seemed to come from the CNC Tap I had installed some time ago. I was one of the earlier adopters of the ChaoticLab CNC Tap version 1. It was advertised to use a genuine HiWin rail, so some further investigation was in order (before pulling the trigger on a new CNC Tap). I first removed the Tap and did what the manual says you shouldn’t do: I removed the 4 screws holding it together:

 

If you remove the screws…

 

You get to the indeed genuine HiWin MGN7H linear rail. Being from HiWin we expect absolutely no play in the rail or the carriage. And indeed, I was able to see the rail moving minimally when i applied force to the carriare. So further disassembly is due…

 

You can just push the carriage off the rail. And while tightening the screws I noticed that the lower screw was loose. Having opened the thing I replaced the screws with inox screws and applied liberal amounts of threadlocker (and high-endurance grease to the carriage-ballbearings)…

When you put everything back together you have to be VERY careful to not loose any of the really tiny bearing balls in the carriage. Be. Very. Careful! (ask me how I know…)!

…And use threadlocker on everything. It’s a must.

And then…

You’re done. You just saved 50€ for a new Tap probe.

If that is ever happening again I will glue the rail in place, probably with some high strength epoxy. Be sure to degrease the parts before gluing…

 

Now start calibrating …. … … …