Captive Bearing Spool Wheels

thingiverse

I found that the plastic spool wheels didn't rotate as smoothly as I hoped and they would grunt and rattle as the spool turned. It also seemed like the extruder drive motor was having to pull too hard (as evidenced by the filament line being more taut than I would expect). So I created this to allow for a smoother and quieter experience. Simply orient on the print bed as shown, print with supports (unfortunately I couldn't think of a good way to break this down to have a solid through piece that wouldn't cause more problems than it was worth). Just push the two halves together with a 12x24x6mm bearing between them and drop into place. You can superglue the halves together if it brings you extra confidence, but it shouldn't be necessary. Happy printing!