2023-02-25 Update: I have created version 2.0 of these which use conical bearings and consequently runs much smoother and more freely. Although they are in different sizes I recommend these newer versions as opposed to the older ones described here. The new versions are linked here.
Lazy Susan Mechanism 2.0 (Conical Bearings)
Original Posting: I was recently working on a thrust bearing for another design (that I will eventually finish) and the bearing came out so well I thought this would make an excellent lazy susan (spinner) for a lot of different uses. So in classic fashion, I got distracted and here it is…
My first application for it was a charcuterie board to keep the wife amused. We often just share charcuterie, cheese, nuts and bread on a board with a glass of wine so a rotating board for that is fantastic. Especially with friends and a larger board.
My second application was a large turn-table for working on my printers. Being able to rotate a printer on the turn table while working on it brings amazing convenience in a tight space. The large lazy susan under a small piece of plywood easily supports a 50kg Voron and turns it effortlessly.
I designed 3 sizes and all function extremely well. They are about 130mm, 230mm and 330mm in diameter each. The designs do differ slightly as the increased size required an adjustment to design tolerances.
There are no fasteners involved all parts snap in and together but are easily separate for cleaning or whatever.
The design consists of a top and bottom shell, inside which a pin carrier holds cylindrical bearing pins. The bigger the diameter the more pins I used (as opposed to changing the pin diameter. All of these designs use the same pins.
I printed the body parts in PETG for convenience and printability. The pins though I printed in ABS for greater rigidity. The parts could all be PLA I suspect. But I would not print the pins in PETG as it is too soft (I tried – I know).
I used my relatively standard setup for printing which is a 0.4mm nozzle, 0.2mm layer height, wall count of 4 (i.e. 1.6mm walls), top and bottom layers = 2, and 40% infill.
The pins are printed in sets of 9 and you just need to print as many sets as needed to fill a particular carrier. The pins are tapered at the bottom so you can just snap them off the carrier after printing and use them. No cleanup is needed. The pins just push into the carrier (retaining rings) and can be removed if necessary.
- 130mm ring requires 24 pins
- 230mm ring requires 36 pins
- 330mm ring requires 72 pins
I did experiment with fewer pins, especially in the 300mm diameter design but it was not good.
I did learn recently that one of my printers was not square and that alone would be a problem for these designs – especially the larger rings. Obviously, the rings need to be “perfectly” round to rotate freely so it is a good test for your printer setup.
I added 4 screw mount holes to the top of each design so they can be attached to whatever you want.
Printing
Material: I choose to use PETG for its durability and flexibility.
My Setup:
Nozzle = 0.4mm
My Settings:
Layer height = 0.2mm
Line width = 0.45mm
Wall count = 4 (1.6mm)
Infill = 40%
Support = Designed to print without supports.
Orientation: As shown in the screenshot.
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