Voron toolless panel clips

Background

As soon as I started building my Voron 2.4 R2 based on the Formbot kit I was wondering where the hammerhead t-nuts came in, I looked at them and thought they were the stupidest invention ever.
After trying to use them I've confirmed they're the stupidest and most unreliable way to quickly attach or detach anything ever...
So the quest started to find an actual solution and I didn't want to break out the tools whenever I wanted to take out a panel, but I wanted my panels to stay on securely otherwise. Magnets didn't appeal to me so I figured I'd make my own design.

Features

I wanted this design to be simple, cheap, effective and easy to use for anyone, as a result I made certain choices;

• No hammerhead t-nuts, in my eyes they are too unreliable and usually require tools

• No magnets, though effective they have their limits in regards to holding power, plus they require VHB tape to stay put

• No supports, this needs to be easy to print

• Voron standard hardware only

Which results in the following features:

• No supports needed for any of the parts, just set your slicer to auto-orient and print it

• Can be done/undone easily, enough friction to stay in place, but requiring little force to manipulate

• Multiple alignment points, the panel, the t-nut clips and bolt positions make sure you can't miss alignment and everything is squared up.

• Every base uses the same hardware regardless of thickness variant

• Theoretically universal to any 2020 frame panel mounting

Getting to it

Print instructions

Before you decide to print a whole set of clips and bases, take into account what thickness panel + foam tape you use, 4mm clips will fit 3mm+1mm panels etc.

Print with standard Voron spec. so 0.4 nozzle, 0.2 layers, 5 top/bottom 5 walls 40% infill etc.

Material wise, I'd suggest any stiff material that can withstand your heated chamber temperature will be fine. I used PCTG and it works well.

Required materials

Each clip requires:

• 2 x 20mm M3 roll-in t-nut (standard Voron hardware)

• 2 x 8mm M3 SCHS bolts (standard Voron hardware)

I've included my t-nut clips as well, these pop over the t-nut, they help prevent strain due to over-tightening and make it easier to assemble because it has a lip and secures the t-nut into place. you need to print 2 per clip.

Calculation guide

The top/side panels require 8 clips each, for each of these panels you need

• 4 x printed corner bases

• 4 x printed corner clips

• 4 x printed edge bases

• 4 x printed edge clips

• 16 x printed t-nut clips

• 16 x M3 T-nut

• 16 x M3X8mm SCHS bolt

The back panel requires 7 clips in total for a Voron 2.4/Trident

• 4 x printed corner bases

• 4 x printed corner clips

• 3 x printed edge bases

• 3 x printed edge clips

• 14 x printed t-nut clips

• 14 x M3 T-nut

• 14 x M3X8mm SCHS bolt

If you do the back + left + top + right panels together you need this:

• 16 x printed corner bases

• 16 x printed corner clips

• 15 x printed edge bases

• 15 x printed edge clips

• 62 x printed t-nut clips

• 62 x M3 T-nut

• 62 x M3x8mm SCHS bolt

Installation instructions

1. Pop the t-nuts into the corners, with the threaded hole facing away from the corner

2. Align and slot the t-nut clips over the t-nuts and press them into the extrusion, they should sit tight and flush

3. Get one of your corner bases and put the 3x8mm SCHS bolts into the holes, position it over the extrusion where the corner will meet the panel

4. Make sure your t-nuts are aligned, slide them up against your corner base until the lip on the t-nut clip sits against it, use the back of your allen key to help the t-nut along if it won't move

5. Tighten the bolts, but not completely, repeat all steps up to this point for all corners before proceeding

6. Put the panel on for alignment, make sure it's not too loose or under tension

7. Secure the bolts on all corner bases fully, slide the corner clips in to secure the panel in place before moving on

8. Measure your panel, make sure you put the edge bases in the middle, or it will look terrible

9. Insert the t-nuts and t-nut clips the same way as step 2, with the bolt holes facing away from eachother.

10. As soon as the position is right, you can go ahead and tighten the bolts and put the edge clips in

11. Repeat above for all panels :)

12. Done, stand there and be proud of your hard work!

Additional notes

Be aware that using these clips might scratch your panels because of the sliding, but there's a cool printed clip there so nobody will be able to see anyway. It'll be our little secret.

If you need any other panel height for these clips leave a comment specifying which size, so panel+foam. I don't intend to design this for sizes nobody needs so consider it on-demand.