{"id":2829,"date":"2022-05-25T09:56:55","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T15:56:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/?p=2829"},"modified":"2022-05-25T09:57:47","modified_gmt":"2022-05-25T15:57:47","slug":"i-learned-how-to-3d-print-stuff-just-for-trackball-bearings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/?p=2829","title":{"rendered":"I learned how to 3D print stuff just for trackball bearings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>As I wait for replacement parts I thought I&#8217;d post a quick update on the state of CST trackball bearing replacement kits. In short: new 3D printed kits are in the works. This has absorbed a lot of my time and put me behind schedule with the new guitar pedal prototypes.<\/p>\n<p>Right now, on eBay, is the last of the hand-machined brass kits. These have great bearings in them and work just fine, but they are very not-fun to make. I started charging more for them just to make it worth the time I spend wearing a respirator in the garage, but people wanted them so I kept making them. Even so, I think they&#8217;re too expensive. I started thinking: what if the little adaptor bushing spacer thing was 3D printed?<\/p>\n<p>Advantages:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Can offset the height so the trackball will no longer be 0.2mm high<\/li>\n<li>Pretty<\/li>\n<li>Can be the exact diameter and shape of the bearing holder slot<\/li>\n<li>Easier to assemble &#8211; I can sell them cheaper!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So, I bought a used printer off eBay, which immediately needed new bearings, new fans, and a lot of modification. The first thing I learned is that printing tiny parts with exact dimensions is more of a craft than a science. But I&#8217;m using prototype bearings now and they are very cute.<\/p>\n<p>So, after much trial and error, new bearing kits should be ready soon, in quantity, at reasonable prices. Of course, I&#8217;ve been saying this every day for a month now, but I&#8217;m almost there!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I wait for replacement parts I thought I&#8217;d post a quick update on the state of CST trackball bearing replacement kits. In short: new 3D printed kits are in the works. This has absorbed a lot of my time and put me behind schedule with the new guitar pedal prototypes. Right now, on eBay, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[294,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-byteheaven-dev","category-other"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2829"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2831,"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2829\/revisions\/2831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekhedd.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}