Prusa mk3 linear bearings (snap-on)

thingiverse

I needed to replace my Igus linear bearings (RJZM-02-08) on my Prusa mk3 as they were getting loose (they were never that tight-fitting to start with) so decided to print some (like many others have). I wasn't that happy with the published ones that I tried so I designed these instead. My primary design aims were 1) Tight fitting The Prusa 3 bearing design is very sensitive to the bearing/rod fitting tolerance 2) Ease of fitting I'm lazy so I didn't want to take apart the y-axis carriage. The bearings are designed to clip-on to both the rods and the carriage. 3) Minimal post-processing Using other designs I've had to do a fair bit of post-processing in the form of 'friction-melting' PLA parts to the rods. This can give a very tight fit but is time consuming and (as I've already mentioned) I'm lazy. The fact that the bearings are 'open' seems to make them more forgiving to extrusion variables but maybe I was just lucky. The best way I've found to fit these is to first snap them onto the y-axis carriage (into the slots where the standard bearings normally go) and then press them (all at once) onto the two rods. Be gentle but firm! I hope this is of interest to someone and I welcome constructive feedback. Please use at your own risk.