Craft tube bearings for Smartrap

thingiverse

Walk into any Ace Hardware or hobby store, and you'll discover an array of hollow tubes available in various sizes and metals. To upgrade my Smartrap, I decided to use these craft tubes as smooth rods, and I'm finding they have a multitude of advantages over traditional solid rods. These benefits include: Smoothing the movement by eliminating friction found in conventional rods available at hardware stores Priced lower than custom-made rods for linear motion, ideal for saving resources without sacrificing quality Their readily accessible availability in most hardware and craft stores makes them a perfect choice. They weigh significantly less compared to traditional smooth rods. Different tube sizes allow for versatile use; smaller tubes can fit easily within larger tubes with minimal clearance. This flexibility enables them to serve as bearings as well. Bearings constructed from these tubes exhibit smoother motion than those printed, but are also more affordable and easier to source compared to LM6UU bearings. For the Smartrap project, I'm utilizing 7/32" brass tubes for smooth rods and 1/4" aluminum tubes for bearings (displayed above). Due to their slightly larger diameter - by a few hundred microns compared to standard 6mm ID bearings - adapters are necessary to ensure proper compatibility. To incorporate these findings into your own experience, here's what you can look forward to: On August 9th, 2014, I successfully upgraded and tested my smartrap. After several rounds of updates, the y-axis functions admirably – moving smoothly with exceptional levelness without even utilizing glass supports for stabilization. Unfortunately, consistent issues have been present while achieving similar results on the x-axis. In recent developments, however, it's come to light that the culprit might be linked not with these bearings but perhaps a combination of some newer design changes incorporated into later revisions around version 0.45 or beyond. This most current modification involves reduced component numbers at the bottom plate; consequently, an omission now occurs which wasn't present before – namely that nothing secures the Z-axis rod's alignment properly in line with the board itself, thereby rendering leveling extremely problematic if not virtually unfeasible altogether unless proper precautions are undertaken by introducing support features or revising structural designs.