IMPROVED Ball Bearing Filament Guide for Side Mount Spool
So I previously created a ball bearing filament guide to use for when you side-mount your spool. I run my printers in shelves so I have no overhead clearance for a spool. My previous design worked great for a while, however eventually the filament would cut into the side of the guide between the two bearings, and then the filament would start to get stuck, causing obvious problems.
Today I decided to try to improve the design and I think this new "V2" should work much better.
Basically, I added some guide pulley rings to the bearings, which will more secure center the filament, as well as reduce or eliminate the friction from the filament dragging along the side of the guide, since the filament will now be completely 'encased' between the two rotating pulley grooves, so no more dragging along a non-moving side surface.
And even if these little pulley rings do start to wear, it's a 5 minute print to make another set and replace them, instead of the hour or so to re-print an entire guide body.
So here it is, my "V2" ball bearing filament guide. Tested and working, there is virtually no resistance on the filament coming off the spool now.
Also, sorry about the picture quality, no idea what happened, apparently my S22 Ultra temporarily turned into a potato 🙂
I will share this out on printables soon.
RE: IMPROVED Ball Bearing Filament Guide for Side Mount Spool
Here's the STL files:
https://www.printables.com/model/335509-ball-bearing-filament-guide-for-side-mount-spools-