Bearing Cleaner (fully printable)

This is a remix of @AdamOellermann’s awesome bearing cleaner. While the original model requires to buy a bolt, this model is fully printable… kindof. You only need something to seal the cap (gasket paper or foam rubber) or get your hands wet.

As the original model, this model is parametric. You can adjust it for different types and number of bearings. I rendered two versions for 608 bearings: one can hold up to 4 bearings and the other up to 8. I use the 4-bearings version and never printed the 8-bearing version.

Another change to the original model is the shape and size of the spacers. This model uses spacers that have the same width as a real bearing. This way, if you need to clean less bearings you can simply add additional spacers.

The current renderings have high tolerances. Thus, even if your filament/printer is not calibrated perfectly, it should work. However, if you shake the bottle, you may notice that the bearings can move just a little bit. If you don’t like that, you can tighten the tolerances in the scad files. But keep in mind that you need to get the bearings off the bolt, which is fixed to the tube ;-)

My print settings:

• Material: PETG
• Layer height: 0.2mm
• 6 walls/perimeters
• Infill: 25% Gyroid
• Top/Bottom shell layers: 5
• No supports

Instructions:

• Print tube, cap and spacers. For the 4-bearing version you need to print 3 spacers. For the 8-bearing version you need to print 7 spacers. Print additional spacers as needed: if you want to clean less bearings, simply replace bearings with spacers.
• Add some gasket paper to the cap (foam rubber will also work temporarily) to ensure leak-free usage.
• Add bearings and spacers alternately to the bolt.
• Fill tube with cleaning fluid (e.g. IPA) up to 30%-70%.
• Screw cap on tube, the bolt will be fixed by the spacer in the cap.
• Shake for 30 seconds, leave for a minute. Repeat this step multiple times.
• Rinse, dry (!!!) and lubricate the bearings. I use Bones Speed Cream to get cheap and even pretty bad bearings spinning again.

• Added bolt to the tube
• Whole design is based on configurable number of bearings
• Changed shape of spacer. Spacer width matches bearing width.
• The tube and the cap already contain one spacer each.