FUNCTIONING BALL SCREW

thingiverse

The story behind this display piece is quite fascinating. I was intrigued when the Maker's Muse, a YouTuber, mentioned that if he were to design a 3D printer, he would use ball screws instead of lead screws. As an engineering student in college, I was curious about what he meant by "ball screw." Upon researching this topic, I discovered a lack of high-quality 3D animations for ball screws, and I decided to take on the challenge. This is the result of my efforts. Due to PC performance limitations with SolidWorks, I was only able to animate 7 out of 59 bearing balls. Once I had completed the animation, I thought it would be a good idea to create a desktop model as well. To achieve this, I "cut" the side of the return tube so that you could see the moving bearing balls. The finished product is now ready for viewing. If you decide to print this display piece, please note that you will need to purchase the following parts: 1 Threaded Rod End, at least 2 threaded rod middles, 2 Threaded Rod Supports, 1 Handle, and 1 Ball screw. You can buy a section of 10mm rod and 59 1/4in bearing balls separately. To assemble this model, I used some 5-minute epoxy and assorted screws that I found lying around the house. Please be aware that there is a slight wobble due to my poor gluing skills and the fact that the guide rod is loose. This custom section was created using SolidWorks 2016, and it features 7 animated bearing balls out of a total of 59, plus an additional single bearing ball with a defined path.