Parametric Deep Groove Ball Bearing

This is not a file to just download and print. It requires you to load the model into Fusion and find the parameters that works with your needs and then export a print-file from there. 

This is also not a completely 3D-printed bearing design, it assumes that you have the appropriate balls to model for. 

I use 4.42mm steel balls made for airguns as they are cheap and consistent in diameter and finish for my bearings.

Parameters to use:

ball-count: number of balls in the bearing, spacing of 10-15mm ball to ball is a good start…

ball-diameter: diameter of the steel balls (i set this to 4.5 for my 4.42 balls)

ball_radius: in this version this is a calculated value dependent on the outer diameter and material thickness

bearing_outer_diameter: outer diameter of the bearing

bearing_width: the height of the bearing

bearing_thickness: thickness of the material in the inner and outer ring

clearance: tolerance to distance balls from walls

cage_thickness: thickness of the cage ring

chamfer: rounding of the edges

!!Observe!! there are no safeguards in the parametric model, so be careful not to enter ‘crazy’ numbers, that will break the model and generate strange things… for instance the cage thickness can not be more than about 40% of the ball diameter.

When printing on a FDM-printer you will most likely end up with seams in the grooves of the rings that may introduce extra friction and those might needs to be sanded/scraped to make the bearing flow smoothly.

Assembly of  bearing:

Print the three rings, should print fine without support.

Place the inner ring inside of the outer ring on a flat surface. Push the inner ring all the way to one side of the outer ring. Drop the balls in the slot created between the rings. Push the inner ring up against the balls, this should lift the balls up into the groove. Spread the balls evenly around the groove. Lift the two rings with the balls on top of the cage. Align the balls with the slots in the cage using for example some tweezers. Press down on the rings and the balls should ‘pop’ into the slots of the cage and make for a finished bearing.

Example: a 608-style bearing

using my 4.42mm steel balls, set the ball count to 5, outer diameter to 22, width to 7, cage thickness to 1.6 and bearing thickness to 1.2 - this should give you a bearing close to a 608 bearing… Update - a .3mf file of this example is in the files section.