Skip to main content
3D Printing

Return to Question

Bumped by Community user
fixed capitalization, grammar, SI units; removed wording from title that wasn't referenced in the question
Source Link
agarza
agarza
  • 1.7k
  • 2
  • 16
  • 33

Are there specific advantages in using ball bearings on the extruder drive bearings because I just had a ball race fail and the print job stopped

I'm probably going to answer my own question because I ordered a set of ball bearings to repair the extruder and then walked passed my lathe and realised all I had to do was turn some brass bushes the same 10mm od10 mm OD and 6 mm id mm ID to replace the ball bearings. 30Thirty minutes later the printer was back on lineonline. 

Now thinking about it, I wonder why ball bearings are used. There is no critical clearance between the filament and the drive cog as the filament is spring loaded-loaded against the drive. Thus as the bearing wears a little overtimeover time it's only a matter of increasing the tension. There would be no sudden collapse in the middle of a print job. Of course, there might be good reason to once every 100 operationaloperational hours to re-grease the bearings. There would be plenty of warning of impending drive failure and plenty of time to figure in a new bearing. I expect however the brass bush to last the life timelifetime of the printer. Has

Has anyone been down this path with any sort of success?

Are there specific advantages in using ball bearings on the extruder drive bearings because I just had a ball race fail and the print job stopped

I'm probably going to answer my own question because I ordered a set of ball bearings to repair the extruder and then walked passed my lathe and realised all I had to do was turn some brass bushes the same 10mm od and 6 mm id to replace the ball bearings. 30 minutes later the printer was back on line. Now thinking about it I wonder why ball bearings are used. There is no critical clearance between the filament and the drive cog as the filament is spring loaded against the drive. Thus as the bearing wears a little overtime it's only a matter of increasing the tension. There would be no sudden collapse in the middle of a print job. Of course there might be good reason to once every 100 operational hours to re-grease the bearings. There would be plenty of warning of impending drive failure and plenty of time to figure in a new bearing. I expect however the brass bush to last the life time of the printer. Has anyone been down this path with any sort of success?

Are there specific advantages in using ball bearings on the extruder drive bearings

I'm probably going to answer my own question because I ordered a set of ball bearings to repair the extruder and then walked passed my lathe and realised all I had to do was turn some brass bushes the same 10 mm OD and 6 mm ID to replace the ball bearings. Thirty minutes later the printer was back online. 

Now thinking about it, I wonder why ball bearings are used. There is no critical clearance between the filament and the drive cog as the filament is spring-loaded against the drive. Thus as the bearing wears a little over time it's only a matter of increasing the tension. There would be no sudden collapse in the middle of a print job. Of course, there might be good reason to once every 100 operational hours to re-grease the bearings. There would be plenty of warning of impending drive failure and plenty of time to figure in a new bearing. I expect however the brass bush to last the lifetime of the printer.

Has anyone been down this path with any sort of success?

Source Link
Rod The Bod
Rod The Bod
  • 31
  • 1

Are there specific advantages in using ball bearings on the extruder drive bearings because I just had a ball race fail and the print job stopped

I'm probably going to answer my own question because I ordered a set of ball bearings to repair the extruder and then walked passed my lathe and realised all I had to do was turn some brass bushes the same 10mm od and 6 mm id to replace the ball bearings. 30 minutes later the printer was back on line. Now thinking about it I wonder why ball bearings are used. There is no critical clearance between the filament and the drive cog as the filament is spring loaded against the drive. Thus as the bearing wears a little overtime it's only a matter of increasing the tension. There would be no sudden collapse in the middle of a print job. Of course there might be good reason to once every 100 operational hours to re-grease the bearings. There would be plenty of warning of impending drive failure and plenty of time to figure in a new bearing. I expect however the brass bush to last the life time of the printer. Has anyone been down this path with any sort of success?