Bearingless Extrusion Carriages by Matthew813

Last crawled date: 3 years, 1 month ago

https://cad.onshape.com/documents/836f06f47bc1413878a214c1/w/de43917f29760e7e6655d59b/e/8977885da2700f041dd55800
Go to the link to access ALL the sizes for carriages.
The sizes I have designed for the extrusions so far are:
15x15 Extrusions
20x20 Extrusions
25x25 Extrusions
30x30 Extrusions
20x40 Extrusions
20x60 Extrusions
There are two parts in each studio: the 35mm version and 50mm version. If you need a slimmer bearing for larger print area, you can try the 35mm. The 60mm version is highly recommended as it tends to bind less. The taller the carriages are, the less they’ll bind.
(The Filamolder uses 80mm Carriages.)
If you use these bearings and need to add a hole or mounting point you just bring it into your favorite software and edit it however you want.
(Scaling the bearings in the z doesn’t change the effectiveness of the carriage.)
Aluminum Extrusions are strong, Light, smooth, and widely available both on eBay and amazon. But the biggest issue with aluminum extrusions is if you want to use them as a linear rail then you have to acquire 4 V slot wheels, 8 bearings (2 per wheel) and make/or buy a carriage that is made for the specific rail you are using.
$16.61 PER CARRIAGE (Only for wheels.)
Then you have the trouble of finding/or designing a carriage that works for the specific extrusion you are using and make sure your wheels are accounted for into the design of the carriage. Then you need to buy nuts and bolts and washers and eccentric nuts. In the end, it costs more to make the fully assembled carriages then it actually costs to buy the extrusions.
24.43 PER CARRIAGE (Everything included, like bolts nuts washers carriage plate.)
You can use linear rods or linear sleds, but then it gets even more expensive and there is always the possibility the rod will get bent during shipping. (Sometimes rods can be weaker then the structured aluminum extrusions.)
I was toying around with 3d printed carriages and wheels for my Filamolder 3d printer a while back and was near giving up and going to buy linear rods, but by chance I was scrolling through the thingiverse page and saw some 3d printable IGUS bushings for linear rod. I thought I’d try a version for aluminum extrusions. I never looked back.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n2uR3FW1mo