Pool Solar Cover Reel Bearing

thingiverse

One of my bearings exploded without warning on my Odyssey solar reel for the pool. I yanked out the good one, took it apart and reverse engineered its design. I reinforced the cage significantly since conserving plastic was not a priority and I wanted to ensure it could withstand being assembled. The old bearing looked like nylon while the new one is made of ABS. It's working smoothly - my reel is back up and running again. Print rollers stand upright without any support and I applied Loctite Gel Control Superglue only in the dowel holes of the two cage halves. Probably should have lubricated the roller axles with WD40, but I forgot to do it. You'll likely need to enlarge the bore of the rollers where they touch the printer table using a 9/32 drill - just about an eighth of an inch deep and slightly taper the flare on the roller due to the same issue by attaching a portable drill and pushing against a piece of sandpaper on a flat surface.