How to Disassemble & Maintain Lubrication for the MP Mini Select 3D Printer

  

 

How to Oil + Grease

 

 X&Y Axis 

 

      One thing you'll notice is that the X and Y axis rods are easy to get to. Generally, without any special tools you can apply a good drop of oil to each rod before their bearing, and move the extruder head back and forth (slowly to not damage any motors, especially if unplugged). These can be easily lubricated at any time. 

     I also take a soft cloth or paper towel and wipe away any residual gunk that has built up from the bearing. It normally accumulates at the ends of rods where your bearings maximally travel to.

Recommended Oil Cycle for Rods with Consistent Normal Usage: 

1 drop of oil per rod, per month. 

I will relube my printers after large projects as well. 

Easy to lubricate, even while operating.

 

Z Axis

Difficult to reach rod and more within the tower.

    

     This is where it will get a little more difficult, and probably why you're here. Since the Z axis rods and lead screw are located in the chassis tower, we will need to disassemble just one of our panels. You'll have the option of taking off one of the two panels of the tower in order to access the inside. I did the back panel. 

     1. Begin by carefully laying down your printer on its back, securing it from sliding around, and protecting the build plate, gantry, and other parts from damage, and remove the 6 screws from the floor plate. NOTE: The electronic controller board is attached to the bottom of the plate, and maintains a connection to the rest of the printer, so be cautious. 

      

     2. Next, decide if you'd like to take the rear or the front panel off. I chose the rear panel because it appeared to be less of a load bearing part than the other. However, after looking at it with it open, it appears that it would not matter which one you chose. The front panel being larger would give you more of an opening to access the bearings and lead screw, but may be a fraction harder to take on and off due to its larger shape and insertion. 

     2B.  Remove the associated screws of the chosen panel from underneath the platform.

 NOTE: If you're disassembling the front panel screws in blue, one of the screws is next to another type. The one you want is the screw to the right, if in the perspective of the above photograph. 

     3. Finally, remove the associated screws from the top of the machine. Be careful not to lose the lock washers. 

Your panel should now be able to be removed with a little pulling. 

     Next, we will want to oil up our Z rods just as we did with our X & Y, and also apply grease to the lead screw. 

For this, I use a flexible oil applicator to reach onto the rods, and simply my finger with white lithium grease for the lead screw. 

Flexible oil applicator, white lithium grease, and the type of oil I use.

     4. Lubricate the linear bearings using oil. 

     4B. Lightly apply the lithium grease to lead screw evenly. Don't over do it, a small amount works best, and too much will cause improper operation. Operating the Z axis will smooth out what you apply.

     I just used my hand for the photograph, but I recommend using gloves. Not only do you need to wash your hands afterwards if you don't use gloves, but for perfection's sake, any foreign material such as skin cells, hair, and oil on your hand will not be applied.

     NOTE: Accessing the controller interface and raising or lowering the Z axis will allow you to better access the lead screw. After applying some grease up top, I raised my Z axis to the max and applied the grease below. A simple homing of all axis distributed the oil and grease easily as it descended from top to bottom automatically. 

Recommended Grease Cycle: 2-4 times per year 

     5. Reassemble, and you're done! You should now be able to print much more dimensionally accurate parts with less noise!