I saw this awesome MakerBot accessory over at and had to make one. This thing glides nice and smoothly and looks freak'n sweet. I also managed to find a place in town that I can get roller bearings from for cheap in the process, by the hundreds if needed! This spindle is headed down to the space for use with our (hopefully) soon to arrive MakerBot. I made a few minor changes to the design and will probably make a few more when I make one for my personal bot. One issue I encountered that I hadn't even noticed till I dropped this baby off at the space is the fact that the separation between the two outside plates had grown as I spooled the plastic onto the roll and many of the bridging pieces weren't making contact with the second plate. I'll have to try and address this problem as well as the fact that the filament likes to unravel when there's no tension on it in the next one. Here's some additional pics of the assembly of the bearing clamps if you want to make your own:
Tags: 3D Printer, Makerbot, Thingiverse