30mm Superball Damper feet for 40 Profile

thingiverse

I was browsing around my local "The Range" store when I stumbled upon these little superballs. You know the kind; you toss them hard, and they bounce higher than a house (not too difficult, as my house doesn't bounce), then ricochet off about 200 miles to where you'll never find them again. They're approximately 30mm in diameter (just under an inch and a quarter in old money), and seemed to me to be a much neater solution than squash balls. They also have the added advantage that they're dirt cheap. I paid £1.49 for six of the little buggers in a packet. Having said that, I ended up buying five packets! Mainly because I intended to have five printer feet, and I wanted them all to be the same color/design. I say "intended" because I only made four in the end. But, anyway, you only get one of each design in a pack, so I ended up with 26 extra unwanted balls! Each ball holder takes around an hour to print if you do them in the orientation specified. They print happily as a full set though, so don't do them one at a time! If you DO print them as per the instructions, you will need support, obviously! The small holes on top are designed to avoid trapping air, and to allow for any potential expansion or contraction. Let's face it: No one wants their balls popping out on a hot day! I originally tried a couple of experimental prints that were supposed to snap in place. But I found that the ones that clipped in easily were too sloppy, and the ones that were tight enough broke on fitting more often than not. So, in the end, I chose to remove the factory pads from my Ender 3 so that I could simply slide them on. For a wonder, they are neither too loose, nor too tight! I noticed some of my balls had different density according to color (stop giggling at the back there). The green ones were super soft, while the multi-colored ones were rock hard. But I consider the "Goldilocks" balls (there's a phrase I never imagined ever saying) were a nice dark aubergine - eggplant to those outside the UK - color. Don't go by the pictures; they look far darker in person - more like the pictures in the packet. They're about the right hardness, and don't look too bad at all when fitted. So, have fun with your balls, and happy printing!