The Simple Elegance of the Integrated Timing Belt Loopback Fastener

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.

That center pin looks fragile, especially if it's printed along Z axis. How about printing teeth that'd mesh with the belt?

Also works well with a zip tie or 2. The belt holds itself in place as long as the tension is there.

Most of my old printers still use this method on them. [1] You can also use another ziptie as a tensioner.

[1] Very old example. https://flic.kr/p/db51Ue

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

Prusa Core One uses that technique, or I miss something.

https://help.prusa3d.com/guide/5-corexy-assembly_835522#8648...

Author appears to have concerns about the belts working out of the top of the housing, but is seemingly ignoring the four existing screws that could be used to fasten a top plate to prevent this?