Hypercube X carriage bushing with POM/acetal filament inserts

This is a printable bushing for the X carriage of the Hypercube 3D printer by Tech2c and it's intended for use with carbon fiber tubes; it's a replacement for the original dual bushing holder and the expensive Igus bushings.

Instead of trying the almost impossible task of printing new bushings entirely on POM, I made this one so I could just insert POM/Acetal/Delrin filament sections into PLA printed bushings. I decided to make 4 slots in 90 degrees spiral, so the carbon fiber tubes I'm using on the X axis are completely covered in their circumference.

I included a parametric OpenSCAD file, so you can adapt it to your needs (not all carbon fiber tubes are made equal). After printing and assembly, I had some bushings that were a bit tight on the tubes; to fix it I quickly passed a hot carbon fiber tube (10mm) back and forth inside the bushing in order to improve fitting. You could also try to find your ideal parameters in the file through trial and error.

After a couple of months of use I'm completely satisfied with the quality I'm achieving with these bushings. I think these fit much better than the Igus bushings I had bought, I have virtually no play in the X carriage now, and these are way cheaper!

Post-Printing

For this to work you have to have a very well tuned printer, with good tolerances.

After printing insert POM/acetal filament (1.75 mm) pieces through the 4 slots. Test the bushings in a 10 mm carbon fiber tube before installing; if it doesn't slide easily you might need to slightly increase the value of the variable 'tolerancia' in the scad file. Also, rapidly sliding a stove-heated spare carbon fiber tube inside an assembled bushing can help fine tuning the diameter for your carbon fiber tubes.

Category: 3D Printer Parts