This is a great mod.
It's worth mentioning that my bearings had so much drag from the factory (between the grease, balls and the seals) that the filament spool would just SLIP on the part called "outer cylinder" instead of actually turning it, defeating the whole purpose. The fix for me was to remove the rubber seals from the bearings, wash out the factory grease (e.g. with IPA), then re-lubricate the balls with lower viscosity lubricant. Now it works like a charm.
Ideas for improvements:
I'd like to be able to directly hold the spool onto the outer cylinder since my filament spools often 'walk' off onto the high-drag stationary clear plastic factory part of the hub. I can imagine several ways to do this. The ideal method would hold the filament such that the entire F-Box could lay on its side if desired (i.e. on its actual feet), while having the bearings carry the spool instead of dragging on the inside walls of the F-Box. (edited)
Stacker F-Box Bearing upgrade
Makes
Comments
@karlfife_1116878 One of the problems I ran into was that some of the ID of spools I have don't have enough room for me to make the inner cylinder any bigger, and some spools were too wide to have the bottom flare out. You're welcome to remix, or if you like I can send the STEP files.
@StephanieS_86341 Thank you! That would be amazing if you could provide STEP files!
End cap was just too tight and the clips broke, changing the part orientation to orthogonal (did it axial by default) might strengthen it
It works like a charm, the parts fit so well that even with a single clip it stays solid
I printed my own bearings from a remix I made here: https://www.printables.com/model/679979-6906-roll-bearing
@LuisGG_692949 The orientation was selected for the easiest printability. You can increase print temperature to make it a little stronger.
Thanks for the printable bearing. I looked into it but didn't find one in the right size.
@StephanieS_86341 PETG ended up doing a much better job for me at least after more trial and error, the increased elasticity sure showed up in the clips. Thanks for the awesome model
This is a great design, thank you for sharing it! Initially I printed the End Cap with PLA but the little tabs snapped. I reprinted it in PETG and it worked like a charm. 5/5
I designed an XL mount to fit into your hub, will post it as a remix. (edited)
@NorthStrider that looks great! I'm so happy it all fit together for you, it was hard to get all the tolerances right and I didn't want to resort to screws. Let me know if you need anything, like a sleeve for spools with a larger inner diameter.
Great work! Where can I find the mount you picture, printed in white? (edited)
@jbaron_124151 That's a model I designed specifically for my printer, it's made to fit on a 1/4in aluminum plate. It's not really optimized for material use or anything beyond being quick design, but if you want it I can see what I can do and upload it.
@StephanieS_86341 I think it is worthy of posting! Haven't seen anything similar out there for mounting an F-box that way.