Fully Printable Roller Bearing (NO SUPPORTS NEEDED)

thingiverse

I designed a roller bearing because I grew tired of supporting ball bearing designs with prints. This creation was meant to be more of a fidget than a bearing for actual use (that's why it has textured rings), yet it works surprisingly well under modest loads. These designs have been scaled up and down successfully. The smallest red bearing in the photos measures 30mm outer diameter. Larger red bearings are 40mm OD, while green and glow bearings reach 43mm in their native size. Scaling up to 70mm results in a print that turns out fine. Bearings of 60mm or larger print without any fusing of the rollers occurring. Interestingly, the smallest (30mm) bearing spins the longest after an initial fusion issue, but once separated, it spins amazingly well. Please post your thoughts and comments on this design! Don't worry if the rollers fuse slightly together; I use small needle nose pliers to separate them by inserting the pliers into the gaps between the rollers and twisting them gently. This usually breaks them apart enough for the bearing to spin freely after repeating the process for each roller. Note: Hatchbox PLA prints well, but Hatchbox Silver PLA tends to fuse much more than other colors or brands, so printing this bearing in Hatchbox Silver PLA may require a 50mm or larger print size.