The Last and Best Thomson Super 8 Bearing Block You Will Ever Need and The Last One I Intend To Design

thingiverse

This pillow block is designed to fit Thomson Super 8 linear ball bushings, which slide onto 1/2" round guide rails with precision. Compared to a previous design, this one has a slightly larger footprint and relies on a screw for fine-tuning its "fitment", much like the original Thomson design. A crucial feature of this pillow block is its use of small retention bumps that accurately center the bearing inside the housing. To assemble the pillow block correctly, please refer to the provided diagram, which clearly shows all essential dimensions. When creating this model using slicing software, I found Cura- to be more suitable than slic3r, possibly due to complexities in the design. This print was made with a coex3d MG94 ABS material and layered at 0.2mm thickness with an infill of 30% and no support structure required. To secure fitment adjustment, a 6-32 x 5/8 or 3/4 screw accompanied by a washer will be necessary. For mounting the pillow block itself, four 6-32 screws are needed. Notably, these mounting holes have a depth of 13mm. Regrettably, the measurements used here may seem inconsistent to some; metric requirements are prevalent in 3D printing, but suitable hardware with metric specifications can sometimes be hard to come by in many parts of the US.