Spool Hub and Spacer

thingiverse

After making the top mount hub holders (found here http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1752018), I didn't like my method of spool hubs. A simple plate style hub mount is fine when you work with one company for filament, and they don't change the spool design, but what about when you want to switch out to something like a Taulman 910, or a different brand? That's where the progressive hubs come in handy. I looked at several designs and either I didn't like the slop, or the diameter, or the fact that they didn't have an inner bearing, so I ended up designing my own. I'm a fan of overkill, so these hubs have a bearing mount on the outside AND the inside. Is it necessary? Not totally, you can just use a hub that doesn't have one, but I already had a few dozen bearings, and since they're not only cheap, they work well, I designed it with inner and outer bearings. I did notice less drag on this version versus my version without the inner bearing so that sold me. These use standard 8mm X 22mm X 7MM 608ZZ bearings (aka skateboard bearings). They require a bit of pressure to set them in because I didn't want them to come loose. The holes in the design are simply for cosmetic and to save filament/time. Also included is a spacer since the 608ZZ bearings are kind of flat, and if you're using larger nuts like I am, the outer ring of the bearing was rubbing on the bolt. I normally have dual filament spools on my top mount system so I use three spacers, one on the left outer, one in the middle between the spools, and one on the right outer. This setup never snags, almost zero resistance (outside of electrical superconductors, nothing is ZERO resistance on Earth). Thingiverse is a place for sharing, if I don't want to share, I don't post. That being said, as with everything I post, 123D files are available to those who want to modify this. Please feel free to message me and I'll send you the design files. If you have a Prusa i3, do the combo, it works great. Top Spool Mounts: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1752018. Filament Guides: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1904096. And these spool hubs and spacers. The combo works with single and dual filament. Print Settings: Printer: Prusa i3 Rafts: No Supports: Yes Resolution: 0.2 Infill: 20% Notes: I used supports just for the section of the bottom bearing. But you know your printer and its capabilities, my buddy built them without supports, it's just safer to do it with them (in my opinion). For some reason the Thingiverse "printer brand" "printer model" doesn't have one of the biggest names in 3D printing Prusa i3, so I set it to "Other", but I'm using a Prusa i3.