Hypercube X carriage bushing with POM/acetal filament inserts

thingiverse

This is a printable bushing for the X carriage of the Hypercube 3D printer by Tech2c designed specifically to work with carbon fiber tubes. It replaces the original dual bushing holder and the expensive Igus bushings. I chose not to attempt printing new bushings entirely on POM, instead opting to create one that allows me to insert sections of POM/Acetal/Delrin filament into PLA printed bushings. I designed four slots in a 90-degree spiral pattern so that carbon fiber tubes used on the X axis are completely covered. A parametric OpenSCAD file is included for easy adaptation to individual needs, as not all carbon fiber tubes are created equal. After assembly and printing, some bushings were found to be slightly too tight on the tubes; simply passing a hot 10mm carbon fiber tube back and forth inside the bushing resolved the issue. Through trial and error, users can also find their ideal parameters in the file. After several months of use, I am completely satisfied with the quality achieved with these bushings, finding them to fit better than Igus bushings and providing virtually no play in the X carriage. These bushings are significantly cheaper than their expensive counterparts.