Monthly Tech-Tip | No tracking! No ads! |
The upper is my drawing of what needs to be 3D printed to turn this filament spool into an 8-inch turntable. The 3D printed shell fits down over the spool and the center hole is filled with plaster (the plaster exits the diamond-shaped holes to fill the inside of the axle part). I 3D printed small funnels that glued over the holes in the spool, which enabled filling the outside section with plaster (you might choose to drill those bigger for easier filling). A heavy banding wheel upper is the product - when mounted on a base it spins a long time. One mistake I made: I should have poured a little plaster into the shell and then pressed the spool down into it, that would have prevented air pockets from forming under the working surface. This project could have been done without inserting the spool, but its hub fits tightly around the bearing mount, adding strength and rigidity where needed most.
This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.
The cheapest Shimpo banding wheel right now is $155. So I 3D printed my own (as a small test). The middle section is designed to fit inside the upper. To make it heavy, I turned over the upper section, filled it to the brim with plaster, then pressed in the middle section until the plaster came out of the holes. The base is also hollow, so it could be filled with plaster too. A standard roller bearing (40.2mm outer, 17mm inner), which costs less than $5, fits tightly into the recess in the middle section (and the base fits tightly inside of that). The resultant turntable rotates super smoothly and turns remarkably true. It would be straightforward to upsize this to get more weight. And a bigger bearing could also be accommodated. It would be easy to make as many of these as needed.
Buy me a coffee and we can talk