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Putting the gantry together

Now you lift the whole assembled extruder bar onto the two upright rails. Three things must align: the rollers onto each rail, and the lead screw into the feeder’s threaded hole.
Ender 3 with the extruder bar mounted on the gantry

The assembled gantry, ready to move up and down

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Step-by-step

1

Line up the rollers

Hold the bar level and set each pair of rollers into the V-slot of the left and right upright rails. It should rest on top of both rails.
2

Thread onto the lead screw

The lead screw needs to enter the golden threaded hole on top of the filament feeder. Gently push the bar down; when it stops, guide the screw into the hole and turn the lead screw by hand - the bar will thread down onto it.
3

Confirm the wire path

The cables and white PTFE tube must run up and over toward the back. If any wire is trapped under the bar, lift the bar off and reroute it.
4

Test the motion

Turn the lead screw by hand - the bar should rise and lower smoothly. Do not force it.
The extruder bar rides on both rails, threads onto the lead screw, moves up and down smoothly when you turn the screw, and all wires run to the back.
That lead screw is the whole Z axis in action - turning it raises the print head one layer at a time during a print. Seeing it work by hand makes the “layer by layer” idea concrete.

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Up next

Next you install the belt that drives the print head left and right.