Old vs. New UM3 Printhead Bearings

[dfrez 21]

This is more of a PSA than anything, since I didn't find anything in my search about needing to replace them. I wanted to share the difference that new printhead bearings on my UM3 made. I bought the machine used and it seemed that no matter what I did to the speed/accel./jerk settings, I could not get rid of the ringing. 

 

Some background:

I was working on the printhead and noticed that the Y bearing felt smooth when moving the shaft axially, but if I spun it I could feel the bearing binding. The X (long) bearing did not exhibit this behavior, it was smooth axially and rotationally. Initially, I didn't think this was an issue since the bearing is only meant for axial motion. I also noticed some play in the printhead when it was installed. I compared it to my UM2+ (which had much less play) and I figured the bearings could use a refresh. 

 

Needless to say the new bearings made a huge difference. Both cubes were printed with the Default PLA settings in Cura. The green cube was printed with the old bearings and the orange cube is with the new bearings.

 

 

Edited February 8, 2022 by dfrez