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That center pin looks fragile, especially if it's printed along Z axis. How about printing teeth that'd mesh with the belt?
If you printed teeth, you'd have to make sure the teeth in the top loop are precisely aligned in relation to the teeth in the bottom loop based on the length of the belt, right? That seems like it could be limiting
This is why I thoroughly enjoyed building my Prusa as a kit. You see little tricks like this, including this exact one. Or how they embed threaded nuts, or how the print is shaped and oriented to be made without supports, etc. Building the prusa saved a bit of money, but was also a crash course in how to design.
This is indeed a very elegant fastening method. I wouldn't be surprised if the designer of that CNC machine borrowed it from the popular Prusa MK2 3D printer, which uses a very similar design for its Y-axis belt: https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/2-y-axis-assembly_79992#81120
It's been a standard method for decades. Theres a lot of cases where even the center post isn't required as the zero radius 180 won't fit back through the slot.
Overall I'd classify this as a "Gutless wonder": Something Engineered that seems like it'd be complex, but has been cleverly reduced to a triviality.0
> Attaching the timing belt while maintaining tension can be somewhat challenging
Sounds like a bad design: no tensioner? How do you take up the slack as the belt ages?
That center pin looks fragile, especially if it's printed along Z axis. How about printing teeth that'd mesh with the belt?
FTFA > Attaching the timing belt while maintaining tension can be somewhat challenging Sounds like a bad design: no tensioner? How do you take up the slack as the belt ages?
This is why I thoroughly enjoyed building my Prusa as a kit. You see little tricks like this, including this exact one. Or how they embed threaded nuts, or how the print is shaped and oriented to be made without supports, etc. Building the prusa saved a bit of money, but was also a crash course in how to design.