Are there any recommended belt tensioners that I can print for a HTD5M Belt, it needs to be durable and preferably short,
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Do you need something for inline tensioning or something with bearings etc?
I need something for inline tensioning, I dont really know the terminology so I’ll just try to describe it. I need something like a chain turnbuckle for belts that I can 3d print, it will be used to make one loop with an open loop belt, thanks a lot
That seems like an unrecommended use for belts. Can you share some of your design?
That said, take a look at this:
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We designed these to use 10-32 hardware and they worked really well until we swapped over to the Last Anvil ones. I’ll upload and post the files later.
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The belts are not in cad right now so explaining might be better, I’m trying to do a zombie arm style 2 stage arm for ftc and looking to use open loop belts, it’s similar to this robot by Barker: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SnarXNfdNI I thought a 3d tensioner might be suitable since it’s not under a ton of force
Thanks a lot, they look really nice
Here’s the link to those tensioner files, it’s designed for 15mm wide belts but should also work for 9mm. I’ll try and remember to make other sizes this off season 
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I know you asked for 3D printable but Anvil also makes an adjustable tensioner that can work on open or closed belts that might be worth looking at depending on your application and packaging. Continuous Belt Tensioner – Last Anvil Innovations
Another alternative is a spring loaded tensioner like this used on a lot of smaller dirt bikes and mini bikes like this: Amazon.com: CNCMOTOK Heavy Duty Chain Roller Tensioner w/Spring 110cc 125cc 140cc Dirt Pit Pro Dirt Bike 4 wheeler Black : Automotive. These come in a number of different widths for different chains and some will work OK with 15mm wide timing belts (and I’d imagine those would be OK for 9mm belts as well. These will need some sort of structure to mount on and work against though I could see how you could modify it to be adjustable and use a bolt to secure.
Other alternatives can use a torsion spring like Amazon.com: ThtRht 20 Pack GT2 Belt Tensioner Torsion Spring 2GT Locking Tension Springs 6mm + 10mm Width for Reprap Ultimaker Timing Synchronous Rubber Belts 3D Printer Parts : Industrial & Scientific. These come in up to 10mm size which would be OK for 9mm belts. Their tension range is “modest” but still useful. There might be larger ones but I haven’t run across them - you could make your own from a torsion spring.
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Hi Mert,
I’m actually a part of Last Anvil, but I’m happy to share some 3DP versions that my team (7525) used for their 2023 robot 
The first version is what we used, and they surprisingly stayed strong enough to last the whole season. I was worried it would break during comp, so there is a version 2 as well that is designed to be more robust. These were printed in PLA+ and are for HTD-5mm 9mm wide belts. I figured I would share the whole arm assembly so you can see the use-case for it.
Best,
Chris
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Thanks a lot to everyone, I’ll let you guys know when I try them out
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