Just done a few small tweaks. Due to the Z rails being slightly short, I left 10mm of Z height on the table. Extending the rails only increased the BOM by maybe £2 or something. The SuspenseSmall is now at a 240mm Z height.
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/2190541659629183951.png)
Next, I've added the concept rollers for the X axis. These are cut from the same polished 19mm tube as the roller. So far, the Suspense would need a metal saw (for the aluminium channel) and a tube cutter, which I don't think is that bad. I'm also hoping that I can design the printed parts to fit inside the Ender3 (and various clones).
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/1350271659629934186.png)
I've also added a cover to the top of the cleaning roller, which also has a channel for the string. There's not much clearance though, so I'm still wondering about how maintenance is going to work. I just hope that the string is consumed slowly enough to only have to worry about it. I'm thinking of holding the cover with magnets.
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/2883051659630349076.png)
Reducing the required controllable motors of the Suspense to 22 has resulted in a notable saving on the BOM. This is under the assumption that a mini servo motor can be used to push the continuous fibre to the fibre arm roller and that the conductive silver paste can also double as solder paste. I can't imagine the second point going well, but I just remembered that I can print a support layer over the PCB that would act as a dissolvable soldermask stencil, though the PnP may not be usable. There's also connecting both Z axis motors to the same stepper driver, a method of using a servo/DC motor for the string puller instead of a stepper or just using a cheap stepper extension board and using 3 spare pins somewhere. Perhaps there's a slow curing silver paste that will allow the PnP to place the components in before it solidifies.
![](https://cdn.hackaday.io/images/5258131659630019315.png)
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